Suitable-from-birth stroller-type buggies vs ones with a removable carrycot

[Laquila]

Hi all,

Can anyone enlighten me as to the arguments for and against the above? I thought I wanted a travel system with a carrycot (prob BJ Versa or Uppababy Vista) for the first few months, as opposed to a lie-flat stroller suitable from birth, but am starting to wonder whether the former is a waste of money.

We were planning on using the carrycot for overnight sleeping but I'm now thinking that seeing as Moses baskets are so cheap, the carrycot option is not a good reason to buy a travel system. Although we'll be in and out of the car a LOT, so we definitely would like something that the car seat can attach to.

Any thoughts or recommendations? Thanks very much

I promise after this one I'm going to stop replying on your threads and being annoying

There is a reasonable list of strollers, in one form or another that also take carrycots. All the current baby joggers do for example if you like those.

Something tiggy and i saw earlier in the year that could work for you, except question over the wheels, is the New Maxi Cosi Loola. I'm not a massive fan of the aesthetics but the fold is a great size for smaller cars, the seat is massive, lie flat and suitable from birth plus if folds with it parent facing. Car seat options too.

There are maclarens that take a soft carrycot, the cybex callisto has a full size one, the petite star zia evolve, the njoy bubble which is a parent and forward facing stroller, the britax b agile and b motions take full size carrycots.. all of these mentioned above are suitable from birth without the carrycot also. There must be lots more too.

Where I come unsuck is forward facing a 6 (or irl a 5) month old baby after looking at it surrounded by cushy carrycot all that time. None of my babies have cared I should add, but I have!

We bought the mamas and papas sola www.mamasandpapas.com/range/sola/4928/ as I wanted something with a carrycot (you can buy adaptors for £20 to attach a maxi cosi car seat). I'm really happy we got something that has a proper carrycot as it means my baby can sleep in it downstairs during the day instead of going up to put her in her moses basket and when we go out it's much better for her as it's properly flat (none of the suitable from birth lie flat strollers actually go 100% flat) and there's no straps bothering her as she sleeps. Unless money is really a problem I would spend the bit extra and get the carrycot, I'm really happy that we did.

I'm debating this, too. We just bought a new Sola. The seat of the Sola seems to have that little dip in the bum area, even when reclines all the way (this position is suitable for newborns). I'm considering getting a carrycot cheap on eBay. It's likely to be more expensive than a used Moses basket but then we could use it with the pram or on its own. Is budget the issue, or do you just think you'd make a different decision if you didn't want a carrycot?

We never used a carrycot, I used the sling everywhere for the first year, so thought I could get away with just a cheap maclaren later on... DS had other ideas, he much prefers parent facing, and having tried friends' bigger pushchairs, I eventually realised that a good pushchair like a bugaboo or iCandy is so much nicer and easier to push than a maclaren even if the latter is lighter. So if I were doing it again I'd go for the full travel system in the beginning. I do think buying pushchairs is hard though. I've been through 5 now and you just cannot tell what's going to niggle until you take one out fully loaded for a decent walk outside. I have a long stride and I find myself kicking most pushchairs as I walk, but do I ever find this out in the shop? No, however hard I try, I can't kick the display models

I had my dts in the jane twone carrycots for a few months. They are now in the BJCM GT Double as they love aeeing the surroundings - they fussed in carrycots.

I don't regret the BJ but I wish I got a RF double. Hoping to replace it with the StrollAir when it hits the UK.

Ds1 never had a carrycot and just went in forward facing buggy.
Dt's had carrycots but are already in buggy forwardfacing and have been since 3 months. They fuss less this way and like being ever so slightly not flat.
Every baby is different though. Might have gone for strollair for parent facing if it was available back in January but still happy with my babies forward facing and more importantly they're happy too.
So for me the carry cot is an unnecessary expense.

I am going to do a shameless plug for my latest new toy (yes another one of many!). It's a Britax Affinity and so far - bearing in mind its been out of the box for one day - it seems EXCELLENT!! Best of all I can't believe what you get for your money. It easily stands up alongside the more expensive Peach, Cameleon etc. The spec is one of the best I have ever seen on a pushchair TBH.

Anyway, I digress, because what I wanted to say was that like the Silver Cross Surf, the Affinity has a newborn insert - a wedge shaped baby nest which goes into the seat thus there is no requirement for a carrycot. Unlike the Stokke's though, both the Surf and the Affinity have a boot cover which gives more of a carrycot feel to the pushchair. At the end of the first 6 months you simply remove the insert and the baby can stay parent facing in the seat unit. I wasn't keen on the Surf baby nest - partly because the boot cover part was fiddly to do. However the Affinity one stays on really well. My 2 year old couldnt kick it off which amazed me because he usually can kick anything off.

I think its a good thing to think about whether you would swap a bigger travel system for a stroller in 6 months time. If this is what you really think will happen, then definitely consider a smaller option now. Its not worth buying a big system to start with. Buy something like a City Mini with the carrycot. HOWEVER IF you can find the right pushchair, which suits your lifestyle and your car boot ie that it doesnt fill your boot or need digging out from the bottom of the boot each outing, then to be honest, you should never need a stroller.

Thanks very much all for your responses, everyone :)

Ihateparties please don't stop replying to my threads - your advice has been very useful so far!

And Tiggy - I'm aware that you've replied to all three threads I'm currently wittering on about the same thing on, so thanks to you too....

Twitchytail that every kind of you to offer, bless you! I am in fact near Manchester but tbh have already been offered two Moses baskets - it was my husband saying that it would be better space-wise to have an o/n carrycot so no need for Moses basket, but tbh I'm starting to think an o/n carrycot shouldn't be a consideration for us.

To the people mentioning the Solas - I don't know what it was but I just couldn't get comfortable with the Mamas and Papas ones we tried. I think it was partially the unfold/resold mech - we couldn't see the whole system, iYSWIM, as we were trying to put it back together, which seemed to make it more unwieldy. Hmmm maybe I'll go back and have another look though....

Right, am off to look at the reviews on the Maxi Cosi Lula and the Britax Affinity...have a lovely, sunny day, all!

I suspect the new loola isn't out yet so when you google loola you get the old one. It's on the maxi cosi website