Plan for two?

[misskatamari]

Hello,

I'm currently pregnant with DC1 and am starting to look into prams/pushchairs. We are looking early as I don't want to spend a crazy amount so want to be able to stake out ebay etc if we end up wanting a fancy expensive one.

My main conundrum is - we are hoping to have children close together. Obviously though we don't actually have any idea if this will happen or not. So I am tempted to go for a pram which has the potential to convert to a double if needed, just seems like the sensible cost effective thing to do. However as you can never predict the future, I don't know if it is silly to limit ourselves.

So far it seems like these are the ones to consider:

iCandy Peach Blossom
iCandy Apple 2
Bugaboo Donkey
Mountain Buggy Duet/Freerider
Phil and Ted's Dot
Phil and Ted's Navigator
Baby Jogger City Select.

So - my main questions are:

Is it a good idea to go for one which converts and try to plan ahead OR should I avoid limiting ourselves?

Any thoughts/recommendations on the above pushchairs would be much appreciated.

So far my concerns are:

Folding small enough to fit in the boot of my nissan micra.
Suitable from birth
Will last so that we can hopefully fit a new born and a toddler
Easy enough to manouvere and not super heavy.
We live in a town so don't need a super off roader but will hopefully visit parks and maybe some grassy areas of the country etc (but this may be my idealised view of family life - I may just get as far as feeding the ducks at the park!)

It is just so overwhelming! I plan on taking another trip to a shop to have a play, but find it great to have some personal experiences to help think about the best course of action as it is so hard to know what will be suitable when you don't have a child yet.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I dont blame you for wanting to plan ahead for Baby No 2 - I admit I wished I had done so when we realised a buggy board wasn't going to work. However, I have had a huge number of double pushchairs and now realise that the age gap is important. Some double pushchairs suit any age gap, some suit a small age gap and some suit a big age gap. You may also find you never need a double pushchair, in which case having a lovely single is the best option.

To be honest, I think you can eliminate most of your list simply on the size of your boot. I suspect there are a couple on your list which wont fit in your boot at all. I suspect there are a few where you may get part of the pushchair in the boot and the other part on the front seat even in single mode (will that be practical if you go out with DP and 2 children in your car?). I suspect there's may be one on your list which will fit in with some wheels popped off.
The best advice I can give you is to head to an independent pushchair shop - not Mothercare - and find a lovely sales assistant to show you the size of some of these pushchairs folded (with seats and carrycots) so you get the feel of the size. Remember as well you will want a changing bag and probably shopping in the boot at some point too (even a box of nappies!)
ALSO given you have a smaller car, make sure a car seat fits in your car sensibly and then look at which seats fit which pushchair if you need a travel system option. Only one infant carrier fitted in my car.

Thanks for the advice. Nothing wrong with that Miaow - I had a purple micra called grimace and I loved it!

Been for a look today as I think my fave is the baby jogger. Seems like a really sturdy good pushchair with loads of seat options, massive basket and kids don't end up squished. It's not too massive as a single too. With wheels off it looks like it will fit in the boot but need to double check that.

Good points about the car seats too - will deffo check that out!

I had an old micra when dd was born and the seatbelts were too short to strap her infant seat in the back and no isofix. It meant she was in the front till 10months and dh had to sit in the back. (airbag off.of course). Handy for long journeys alone with her though.

We now have the Britax two way elite rear facing seat and that fit perfectly in the back (I have a new car now but it fit well in the old micra).

I have a Maclaren xlr which is long when folded but fit in the micra boot. It is also compatable with a carrycot and a carseat. I am.pg again amd dd wil be 2.3 when this one.arroves so am.going to get a sling and a buggyboard and just keep the one buggy (as I love it so much!)

I'll wade in with my size nines here.

I have a Phil and Teds Dot and it fits nicely in the boot of my Nissan micra with the wheels and one mudguard off. I have both seats in there and still have room for some bags. But mostly I use the footwells in the car.

Oh and I can get a maxi cosi cabriofix in the back of mine, I belt it in and have to wiggle it a little but it's fine. There is a knack to getting car seats in the back though, it's a three door as well .

Cool thanks Tribble. We're looking at the maxi cosi car seat so it's good to know it will fit. We've got a 5 door luckily so hopefully ill manage getting it in and out without too much stress!