Do you even need a pushchair?

[JamDad]

Hi all,

Baby is still a bump, so I’m just trying to determine what we really need.

A car seat is essential.

We don’t really go shopping and buy most things online, so we’re mainly going to be between car and people’s houses, with a bit of strolling in the park.

Can we carry a tiny one in one of those papooses and not need a push chair?

Or maybe we just need a car seat and a very lightweight stroller?

What do people think?

[jennymor123]

My advice is don't buy British. Our baby car seats, prams, buggies, etc (and mattresses) are stuffed with flame retardant chemicals which are toxic, babies particularly vulnerable. The reason is that the UK has the toughest furniture flammability laws in the world. Which wouldn't be quite so bad if they worked - but the government itself proved they don't four years ago. Which means our children are absorbing flame retardants on a massive scale, both from their bedding and means of transport, for no reason other than profits for the chemical industry. If you can, buy from anywhere else in the EU (except Ireland which has the same furniture laws as us).

[fruityb]

I used the car seat trollies all the time - they were great!

[speakout]

Also have trollies that you can secure a car seat to

[speakout]

They have these at my Tesco- for babies that can't yet sit unaided- even twin ones too.

[LisaSimpsonsbff]

Ah ok - I've never seen them but I've never looked either! Carrying the car seat around out of the car is my equivalent of all the people who can't believe I can carry him in the sling for so long, though - I just can't carry the seat with a stone of baby in it, or even really get it off the floor with him in it! Which proves that it's whatever you get used to, because I know lots of people who use the car seat as transport outside the car with no problem with equally chunky babies.

[speakout]

They have trollies for babies at my supermarket.
They have trollies that you can put a car seat in too.

[LisaSimpsonsbff]

But you can't put a baby who can't sit up in a supermarket trolley seat, though, can you? We get a big supermarket shop delivered a week so most of my trips to the supermarket are excuses to get me out of the house quick trips to pick up one bar of chocolate forgotten item and I tend to use the sling then anyway, so I haven't paid it much attention!

[fruityb]

Full shop in supermarket - trollies have seats in!

[bellinisurge]

Childbirth crippled me temporarily. Without a push chair I would never have got out.

[PinkAvocado]

Pushchair is so important - you won't want to be carrying a heavy 15 month about

As lots have said, this is not necessarily true. If you carry from birth, you build up to the 15 month old weight. You adjust how you carry too.

How do people do full shop in a supermarket (if that’s how you shop) with a pushchair? I’d find a push chair so restrictive!

[GummyGoddess]

I have a pushchair and don't use it, both children prefer to be carried. My eldest has just turned 2, he sits on a hip seat on one side, my youngest is 4 months and he goes in a woven wrap hip carry on the other side and I use a backpack.

Make sure you both carry asap after birth if you're going down this route. I now carry around 50lb of children plus backpack on a daily basis and it's OK, if I had just had this weight put upon me suddenly I would struggle.

[NotMeNoNo]

It's a good idea to wait until baby is born and you know how they react /where they sleep best. If you decide to get a pram then you will have a better idea what you want, can look at what other families using etc. Also there is a great secondhand market in prams/pushchairs.

[speakout]

I never used a puchchair or a pram.

It depends on your circumstances.

A pram would have been useless for me- when my kids were young we lived in the country- muddy paths with rocks and turfs of grass in every direction.
I used a sling until they could walk.
Trips out were in the car, buggies useless for supermarkets.
I have never owned a buggy or a pram.

[E20mom]

My baby refused to ever stay in a sling. If yours is like that then the decision will be made for you and you'll need a pram!

[Blondebakingmumma]

I use a carrier and pram. As bub gets bigger and heavier it’s a relief to be able to put in a pram and have a break from holding

[Cachailleacha]

abigboydidit I just used a towelling nappy on my shoulder after a breastfeed.

[abigboydidit]

One issue I hadn't thought of was how much milk babies bring back up! DS loved the sling but he was forever bringing up milk and drenching me and the wrap. In a buggy it was just a quick mop up with a muslin but in the sling it was a total pain as I would be covered, he would be covered and it would be covered and I would have to unpeel the whole thing and sling it in the wash!

[bouncydog]

Thinking back 25 years no way could we have managed without the pushchair - we had a couple. A heavyweight one for long walks and an aluminium one for travel. We used the lightweight one until DD was 4! Lugging babies about in car seats does not help pelvic floors! Sling was great to start with but as babies get heavier they need to be comfortable and so do mums.

[Hedgehogblues]

I find all this "YOU MUST HAVE A PRAM!!!!" stuff a bit silly. I'm a wheelchair user and will have no option but to use a sling as I can't manoeuvre the chair and a pram. I'll make it work

[AllTakenSoRubbishUsername]

Pushchair is so important - you won't want to be carrying a heavy 15 month about, especially when the weather is hot! You could get a small one though, it doesn't have to be a massive great travel system. We had so many pushchairs, I kept seeing others that I liked but in the end I wished I had just kept the one I liked best (McClaren XLR) all the way through and could have saved a fortune!

[sunshinelollipopsrainbows]

Hard to say on the sling/pram thing. I've had one child hate slings and love prams and two boys that hated prams and loved slings. So I always had both to have options. Sometimes when out in the pram if they cry and you can't settle them, grabbing the sling from the basket can be really handy. Newborns just want to be close to you sometimes not laid on their backs when they have a lot of wind and stuff, and if they have reflux then it can be even more uncomfortable.

[timeforachangeithink]

Barely used a pushchair till 18 months. Ds hates it but loved the sling.

[NotCitrus]

I hoped not to need a buggy for ds, but then I got bad SPD and could barely walk, couldn't add baby weight, and couldn't drive or get a baby seat out of a car for six months, so buggy was a godsend.
When dd was born I'd weaned ds off the buggy and didn't use it for about 6 weeks from her birth, but then found it was handy for all the clobber that came with two children and errands, and it was nice to put her down sometimes. I used a carrier until she was 8 months but then she liked pulling hair and punching me in the face, so buggy it was.

[LisaSimpsonsbff]

fuckedoff actually I'd forgotten but you're quite right - we live in a commuter town close enough to London that London results came up in our radius on gumtree, and the prices were shockingly higher in London than in our town - people were selling the pram we got for £140 for more like £4-500, and I agree with you that I wouldn't have paid that for second hand. If you have friends or family who live elsewhere it might be worth having a quick look in their area. We did also buy a complete set (frame, carrycot, pushchair, cover) so that we didn't have to buy an add-ons.

[randomsabreuse]

Zip us in panel about £30 if you already have coats you like. Specialist baby wearing stuff way more expensive though!