How important is parent facing for newborns/small babies?

[Anticyclone]

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?

I never had parent facing at all; all the "better for baby" research stuff happened after that.

However, research or no research, it never hindered dd's speech. She started saying her first words from 6 months old, had loads of speech at a year old, and sentences at 18m. That's more genetic I think - all the girls in my direct family have talked early.

DD was nosey - she liked to see all around her. She also disliked laying down much too - preferred to held or propped up as soon as she was able.

I had a forward facing Maclaren, but mostly carried my DC in a sling, which gave them lots more interaction than they would have got in a parent facing one.

I think parent-facing isn't important. Like many others have said, my DD1 was talking the hind legs off a donkey in fully formed clear sentences by the age of 18 months. She was only parent facing in the pushchair for a very short time as a tiny baby.

It all comes down to practicality, not everyone needs a big pram with a seat that can face either way. My DD2 was perfectly happy in a Maclaren Techno XT from birth, that was the pram I found most convenient when I had two older children to consider too (they weren't going to wait for ages while I faffed around with a chassis and carrycot or seat unit putting the whole thing together). It takes seconds to throw up an umbrella stroller.

ThinkIveBeenHacked I'm due no 2 in 5 weeks!!

Have the double buggy though but I think I will use the carrycot as a downstairs place for the baby to sleep during the day. My Maclaren I think was second or third hand when I bought it, it's been to 4 continents and beaten up by airlines, gone on beaches and in forests and it still survives!! It's invincible

Its' not just speech development, though. The eye contact with mum/dad is absolutely crucial for emotional development, bonding, learning and communicating. Obviously babies do get "face time" when they are not in the push chair, but over a few years the child will spend a lot of time in the push chair. As a parent you should have a much eye contact with your child as possible. There are numerous studies showing how important it is. Look up Sue Palmer.

I'm sorry but unless a child spends their every waking moment in a pushchair, it really doesn't make a difference which way they are facing. If you are a hands on parent who engages with their kids, chats with them and reads with them, then a forward facing buggy is going to do no harm to their speech.

If you are the sort of 'toxic parent' that Sue Palmer describes, who never talks or reads with their child, sticks them in front of the TV/iPad and ignores them a lot of the time and puts them in a forward facing buggy, then yes their speech might be affected.

FWIW we now have DD (6 months) is a forward facing buggy, because our old travel system is knackered and we didn't want to fork out for another one when we knew she will go into a (much easier and more compact) stroller at 12 months or so anyway, just as DS did. I don't like the forward facing - I would prefer to be able to see her and her look at me (although actually she os much more interested in looking at everything else anyway). But I am under no illusions that I am damaging her in any way!

I had forward facing with dd and ended up buying a different pram so she could face me. Both ds's have always faced me. I liked it. Was easier to interact with them when out and about.

I am laughing at posters saying this parent facing is a new fangled idea. It is the complete opposite in fact. My parents had us between 35 and 45 years ago and my gran had my dad 66 years ago and all have said that they don't like this modern idea of children facing away in prams. In fact ally friends that have children older than say 13/14 had prams that all parent faced.

Forward facing push chairs were invented because it made them easier to fold up and put in car/stow away. So it was probably in the 1970s they came on the market.

I'm from Denmark where you hardly see any babies in anything forward facing, and babies only go in proper prams. Push chairs are for children over 18 months only.

In our modern society/digital era there is so much "competition" for eye contact (screens) that I personally find it very important that children have eye contact with their parents.

Here you go - best of both worlds!

The double: pick which one is your favourite and give them the "advantage"

If your favourite starts pissing you off during the journey

we have M&P Zoom which is tons cheaper these days than when we bought it 2 years ago and that has the option - sometimes i change mid journey and it lies flat both ways. perfect for us as it robust for walking and tucks down neatly on the bus

I love my pram but wish I had bought a parent facing one. We use a sling often but sometimes we need a pram and I miss not being able to chat to her as easily.

Ds is still parent facing at almost 20 months. It's not for any reason other than it suits us. My main point though is do not assume this part of your post OP

We realise that once they get to a certain age they will want to always be forward facing

Why do you think this? Ds has never shown any preference for this and he's always been massively sociable and interested in everything. He has experience of forward facing too as my parents look after him one day a week and the pushchair they use is forward facing only if he wanted to always look forward he's old enough I think he'd make it known but he doesn't.

From my own experience i think the stuff spouted about it being better is over stating and probably misinterpreting any evidence.
Personally I like it. I'm in London and walk a lot so when younger he could be in the pushchair for long periods so it wad good to be able to interact during those times. Now I've had to go back to work full time the walk to nursery and back is part of the limited time his dad and I get with him during the week so it's nice is easier to chat.

We've had outward facing from birth, and had very few issues. Occasionally if baby has woken feeling grumpy I've had to stop and reassure him I'm there but I probably would have had to stop and touch/hold him if parent facing in those instances anyway, as he must have been feeling extra clingy, ifyswim. My baby loves looking out at the world and we have a very close bind despite facing him away from me for trips outside . Seriously, don't worry about it - if they are used to it from the beginning it will be fine.

*bond, not bind! Freudian slip...