Just starting to look

[Zahrah5]

Hello

First time expectant mom here. Im overwhelmed with the choices.
We are looking to spend about 400.

What we are looking for:
Adjustable high of a handle, husband is very tall
Carrycot
Will be traveling on London buses and trains daily, ability to handle city sidewalks and curbs
Large shopping basket
Some ability to handle grass and walks on unpaved grounds- we like to take walks in the forest but these will not be on daily basis

What we are not sure:
Whether we need car seat? We dont have car. But we need to bring baby from hospital in a taxi and what in cases if baby gets sick sometimes and we call taxi to get to hospital? We might need car seat when we visit my parents as they have car but dont know if it is feasible to bring from UK one on the plane there.

Stogare-we live 3 flight of stairs up, we hope to be able to negotiate to store under the stairs on first floor if not entire pram then at least folded base.

New or used?
We like the look of Mothercare Orb but we are not sure if it wouldnt be better to buy brand name used on ebay, we see Bugaboo Chameleon whole set for about 300- 400.

What are your recommendation?

I love my bugaboo cameleon but while it is lovely to push it is heavy to carry and bulky so wouldn't be my first choice for lugging up stairs. Have you looked at the baby jogger city mini? You can get a carrycot attachment for newborns. When used as a pushchair it is light, handle is high enough for my 6' husband, but best is it folds one handed so you can carry it and your baby upstairs. You can put a maxi cosi car seat on it with adaptors. The seat is great for tall toddlers as its really roomy unlike bugaboos.
I got one with ds2 and its still going strong now for 1year old ds3. Wish i had got it sooner. Congratulations by the way!

Would you consider a sling for day to day use? A good carrier can be used from birth to 3 years without straining you, it would be my first choice before lugging a pushchair up and down 3 flights of steps regularly. I'd recommend using one for at least 6 months as it could be tricky with pushchair/carrycot and baby if you're on your own.

If not id suggest having a look at the Micralite Superlite with carrycot as it folds easily, weighs only 6kg and has big air tyres at the back so you could drag it up folded whilst holding the baby and it copes well with bumpy ground without being huge.

We don't drive either but a car seat is essential in my opinion, legally you don't have to use one for a taxi but I don't feel safe holding a baby in a car for obvious reasons. We used the Maxi Cosi Cabriofix for 16 months and found it useful to clip it onto our smaller pushchair for trips to the doctors in the taxi or if I knew we'd be getting a lift somewhere but I didn't use this option a lot.

We have 2 pushchairs, big oneone (Emmaljunga City Cross) for walking as it has amazing suspension, big wheels and is super comfy to push then a smaller one (Baby Jogger City Mini) for public transport or lifts and our sling for when a pushchair just won't work. I wouldnt recommend walking offroad with the city mini as the suspension is very hard and the wheels aren't great for really bumpy ground.

This is quite a difficult set of requirements if you end up in the position of not being able to store anything at ground level.

If you remove the off pavement walks and large basket I would go for a babyzen yoyo 0+ probably supplemented with a sling. I did use slings quite a lot but carrying shopping etc. remains an issue for full time use. For pushchairs without a big basket there are add ons like hamster bags, the joolz xl bag etc. I use the joolz bag on almost every pushchair I use.

The super lite is an awesome idea, handle extenders for the taller parent etc. A britax b motion with carrycot might also work but it's heavier, you would need to be able to leave the frame downstairs realistically.