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Pushchairs

Join our Pram forum for pram advice. Plus read our round up of the best pushchairs currently available.

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Original poster

How important is parent facing for newborns/small babies?

43 replies

Anticyclone · 09/09/2014 13:42

We have realised we can get a lot more for our money and save weight and size if we look at pushchairs that don't have a parent facing facility, and are only front facing.

DC is currently 3 weeks old and carried around in a sling, but we are starting to realise where a pushchair would have an advantage over a sling, so looking to buy!

Did you really value your parent facing time with your DC in their pushchair? Or did they spend most of the time asleep?! We realise that once they get to a certain age they will want to always be forward facing, so wondering if we can safely skip the parent facing stage?

OP posts:

MagpieMama · 09/09/2014 13:46

My DS is still parent facing at 11 months. He seems happy that way and it means we can interact but he can still look around.
I borrowed a friend's pushchair once when we went to the shops and I didn't have mine with me. It was forward facing and DS was constantly trying to look behind him and I felt really strange not being able to see him.
I think it's down to individual preferences of parent and child but I can't see us turning him to face the other way.

TinyTear · 09/09/2014 13:53

I was parent facing until 17 months when my DD wanted to turn round.

We talked and chatted and we both could point at things and it was so much easier to talk. now when i need to talk to her or she tells me something i have to stop and go down to the front as i can't understand what she tells me when we are in a busy road.

i really think parent facing is importnat

Zara8 · 09/09/2014 14:03

We had forward facing ever since DS was out of his carrycot attachment (3 months, have had Maclaren XLR from birth, still going strong at nearly 2!). Yes I do have to reach round/go to front to chat to him but it didn't bother him or me. I used my Ergo sling a lot until I got pregnant again/he was walking/could climb into stroller himself so that was when we got a lot of face-to-face interaction out on the go. When he was under 1 he would sleep a lot in his pram when we were out.

I do think you get more value for money with forward facing BUT I can see how it would be nice to have parent-facing.

Our double buggy (that we were generously given, so I didn't mind which way it faced!) is forward facing too.

It's a "nice to have" though I think if you can afford a buggy that has the option.

loudarts · 09/09/2014 14:05

You can pick up travel systems fairly cheap on kiddicare.com, you can use the car seat attached to have them parent facing while little then use the regular pushchair when baby is a bit older.

Lally112 · 09/09/2014 14:06

we went forward facing at 4 weeks when I switched from pram to pushchair and put dangly toys on the hood. mine liked it better not staring at my ugly moosh all day and looking around instead.

Iwillorderthefood · 09/09/2014 14:06

Parent facing is the best option, it helps with speech development. I have a front facing one right now with my three month old, she was a surprise number 3, and we are trying to only have one buggy to save money. However I am always looking over the top and talking to her, as well as talking to her frequently when she is not in the buggy to try and make up for its orientation.

JimmyCorkhill · 09/09/2014 14:10

Never had parent facing and DD1 can talk the hind legs off a donkey. DD2 seems to be heading the same way! You can still talk to your child if they're not facing you. Both mine were desperate to see around them once they were out of the pram too. Not look at my stunning, ha! face. I don't know how long some people have their children in the pushchairs for if they are worried about speech.

Krakken · 09/09/2014 14:11

I only had parent facing with ds1 till he was about 6 months

I don't think it makes any difference at all. Mine often fell asleep in the buggy and were happy to just look around. I still interacted with them if I wanted to and I interacted with them all the time anyway.

pasbeaucoupdegendarme · 09/09/2014 14:11

My dd is 2 and still often faces me. It frustrates us both that I can't hear what she is saying if she's facing the other way.

It's much better for development of speech to be parent facing.

LatteLoverLovesLattes · 09/09/2014 14:17

Parent facing is the best option, it helps with speech development

Sorry, but you really have been fed a lot of 'tosh'.

It is one of those things, if you have a parent facing buggy you will attribute all kinds of wonders to it and notice when you turn it forward facing, there is nothing wrong with forward facing at all. Nothing. Your child is not going to be doomed with speech delay because of it

babblingsofbecks · 09/09/2014 14:26

I had forward facing for DC1 and parent facing for DC2 and 3 and much prefer it. DD is still parent facing at 18m, she can see to the sides and behind so we chat about what we can see, she shows ne things in her book, its easier to keep an eye on her with snacks and shoe throwing...

I wanted parebt facing to keep a close eye on DC2 who had medical needs but just find it so much nicer anyway.

Kimaroo · 09/09/2014 14:28

I too think that the speech development thing is a bit of a red herring. It implies you never have face to face chats at any other time and that 10 minute dash to the shops with the buggy makes all the difference! I think it should just be a personal preference.

Leo35 · 09/09/2014 14:28

Forward facing buggy for both DSs, both appear to be unscathed and articulate (now aged 5 and 9). The study that is cited was published btw the births of my two sons and we kept the forward facing buggy as we didn't want to buy a new one. Think that the problem they were looking at in the study is set wider than whether you were transported in a forward facing buggy or not.

Mutley77 · 09/09/2014 14:55

Totally agree the whole speech development thing is a massive red herring. My DC1 (DD) was a seriously advanced talker!! And she was born nearly ten years ago before the whole parent facing thing had really come "into fashion" so she was always forward facing...

DS was also forward facing and quite late to talk but his vocab developed quickly.

I am more aware of this with DC3 (DD2) as I chose to go with a forward facing pram again (other than when she was in the carrycot until 4 months old)... Her speech is pretty advanced for her age, 14 months, and I notice that she turns round to me when she wants to talk and is in her pram- she can turn to me easily when the hood is back - or if the hood is up it has a little window that she can see me and communicate through.

I don't know how long some people have their children in the pushchairs for if they are worried about speech. - Totally agree! DD is in her pushchair probably on average a maximum of an hour a day - or maybe I will go for an hour walk as well once or twice a week. I would say far more of a thing to worry about would be how much a parent is in front of a screen while their DC is present (something i am personally really conscious of - my concentration is elsewhere and I am seriously aware of not responding to DD appropriately when she tries to communicate and I am reading forums, facebook, email etc, even though again that is probably only an hour a day absolute max while she is awake).

Original poster

Anticyclone · 09/09/2014 15:39

Thanks for the mix of opinions. If we went forward facing only we'd make sure it had a lie flat facility too obviously, but that seems pretty standard these days.

Currently looking at the baby jogger mini city GT among others, but you've all given us food for thought it thanks!

OP posts:

yomellamoHelly · 09/09/2014 15:59

Ds1 just loved watching the world go by. (Was before all this parent facing malarky.)

Ds2 would have been much better off facing me, but again was before it was "a thing" so not really possible.

Dd easy either way.

Ihateparties · 09/09/2014 18:25

I like having it, none of my dcs have cared one way or another. Some do though so worth bearing in mind.

Unless you are looking for something suitable for off pavement (you mentioned the gt which suggests you might be) then I would have a look at the babyzen yoyo 0+. Your baby is young enough to use the parent facing set up for quite a while yet it's so tiny you would never need an additional smaller pushchair.

MsBug · 09/09/2014 18:35

Dd is 20 months and usually faces me. We spend a lot of time out and about in the buggy so this is important to me. When she forward faces I really miss being able to chat to her as we go along.

avocadogreen · 09/09/2014 18:39

It's really not that important...in my experience people only worry about parent facing for DC1... when DC2 comes along they get stuck in the back of a Phil n Teds without a second thought!

Meglet · 09/09/2014 18:47

Not that important IME.

Mine never faced me and like jimmy there is a trail of donkeys missing their back legs. DS's teacher commented on his excellent speech when he started school.

And bear in mind just because they aren't facing you it doesn't mean they aren't interacting with the rest of the world. Talking to other people and being cooed over while you're in the shops does them the world of good IMO. Looking at tired mummy trying to remember her shopping list isn't half as interesting as 'chatting' to the nice old lady next to them.

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 09/09/2014 18:50

DD is 2.8 and her vocabulary has always been excellent (I have no point of reference for this as shes my only one, however we are told it all the time by people that come into contact with her). She only faced me when in the carrycot - up to about four months, then was forward facing for the remainder.

We also have her rear facing still in the car so shes even facing away from us then too but as I say it really hasnt affected her speech or our bond in any way.

ThinkIveBeenHacked · 09/09/2014 18:53

Zara I have the XLR too and jusy bloody adore it!! DDs rarely in it but Im due no.2 in six weeks so ill be bacl to carrycot mode in a couple of months.

ElephantsNeverForgive · 09/09/2014 18:54

Never had a parent facing pushchair, it's another new fangled idea lik BLW we old glimmers with teens, had never heard about until we joined MN.

Seems a good way of making pushchairs heavy, overly complicated and expensive to me.

LatteLoverLovesLattes · 09/09/2014 19:47

Have you had a look at the Out n About? I've used a lot of different buggies and I really really rate this one. It's FAB to push single handed. It's similar to the one you're looking at, but cheaper.

YellowYoYoYam · 09/09/2014 20:10

Personally parent facing is very important to me. DH, his brothers and their father are dyslexic so I do pay attention to things which may impact on literacy, so much so that when I needed a double buggy on DC2's arrival, I searched long and hard to find a double that could parent face.

Studies have found that it is not just talking, it is literacy development as a whole that can be impacted by forward facing. Studies have also found that, despite parents best intentions, they are more likely to forget to speak to their DC in a forward facing. I have to say I've found this to be true when I flip our pushchair seat around.

I totally accept that there will be lots of children who have not been impacted in any way by forward facing. But I think for DC like mine who may have a predisposition to literacy difficulties, it's worth giving it a try.

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