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?

I love slings and carriers and use them a lot but pushchairs can be life savers for on the go naps/restaurant naps/cafe naps or if you have a bad sleeper!
Also good for when they're a little older and want to look about x congrats x

And the pushchair was the most exciting thing to buy when we were having kids! 😉 I loved getting them snuggled in and walking to the shops, park, friends ☺ Saying that, I do hate slings and could never have had one of those.

I agree with Pp that you just don't know what your baby will like. I had emergency cs and baby was a giant so my sling dreams went out the window. Even really young DS was too inquisitive to stay safe in the sling and was always wriggling around, never settled.
Plus whenever I do use a sling now I find it really annoying worrying about rain and sun and all the potential elements getting at him.

Conversely my SIL has just had a little girl and she's so tiny and sleeps in a little sling all the time.

A walk in all weathers while baby is tucked up in their pushchair with a rain shield. I used to just go for a walk and bring the pushchair with sleeping baby into the living room once the walk had got her to sleep and I had had enough bracing weather. It rains a lot here but not going out wasn't a sensible option.

It depends on the baby and the strength of your wife's back! I'm making a massive assumption that your wife will be the one using at least most of the maternity leave/you'll be at work. My daughter just screamed her head off when in the pram. She also screamed in a car seat or sling facing in. The ONLY thing she would tolerate was outwards facing in a carrier (ergo 360). To be honest I'm still, 2 years on, a bit miffed I wasted so much money on a travel system. I'm hoping we'll have another child and use it a bit more. After my dd was 6 months my back couldn't really take it much more. I switched he pram bassinet thing to the seat thing and she was slightly less screamy. I did always take the carrier with me too and often the buggy just held my bag!

If I were you I'd buy a second hand but quite decent travel system. It will get used, just maybe not all the time, like most people do.

After a few months my baby weighed over a stone and I physically couldn’t carry him for more than ten minutes. Also he wouldn’t sleep in a carrier but sleeps in the buggy. It’s handy to be able to put him down while he’s asleep so I can eat, drink coffee, go to the loo, have five minutes rest and not worry about waking him up every time I move. It makes changing easier too because I put the baby on the changing table and the equipment is easy to reach on top of the buggy. Sometimes I’ve even changed him in the buggy as a last resort if there are no facilities. The buggy also makes it easy to transport all the stuff I need including toys, clothes, food and a portable high chair which fits under the buggy. It keeps the sun off him on hot days and has a sleeping bag type attachment to keep him toasty in the winter.

Gosh. We used our travel system loads. Carrycot for sleeping (DS preferred it to crib/cot) and it was safe for sleeping in for extended periods. And for walking to friends, park, shops, then nursery etc - used buggy attachment when he was older. DS hated carrier / sling. But depends on where you live I suppose, and if you really do plan to be in the car all the time. I much preferred walking as it got DS to sleep ...

DD was full term yet didn't meet the minimum weight for the sling until she was something like 10 weeks old. For that reason alone I wouldn't have coped without the pushchair.

You mention forest walks. We have an all terrain pushchair that copes really well with countryside footpaths, the woods, tree roots, cattle grids, mud etc.

I absolutely wouldn't have been without our pushchair. We had lovely walks nearly every evening after DD was born and then she would be left sleeping in the carrycot until she next woke and would be fed and transferred to the cot. I used the carrycot instead of a travel cot until DD was 8 months old saving loads of space in the car. The carrycot was also DD's lie flat car seat (we do lots of long distance drives so a lie flat seat was really important for us).

We've had the money's worth out of our pushchair/car seat already at 17m. We're using the pushchair less now as DD will walk herself then I'll carry her.

I'd say it depends on child and location- if I lived in a town like Milton Keynes, a pram would be more useful to me- redways, city centre etc, very much set up for the car.

Somewhere like York, Bristol if Clifton/Redland or somewhere with little cobbled alleyways or set on a hillside and the pram would be much more trouble than a sling.

I live in a touristy old town with cobbled streets and all the quick ways around town use steps, particularly as I live on the unfashionable side of the river. Pram was more trouble than it was worth because going anywhere was much further and holding a heavy pram on a steep downhill is even harder than pushing the bloody thing up the hill. Far easier with just the weight of you plus child. Add in shitty parking and I got quite fit - would often go to the shops and come back with baby on front, bag on back and one in each hand!

Essential for me. Long walks with the pushchair were essential for my mental health. DC just slept.

I can’t imagine not having one. Even just as somewhere to safely park the baby when you need to have some level of physical separation- going for a smear for example, or trying on clothes in a shop or getting a haircut.

We have a wrap sling but I found it really dug into my hips and shoulders regardless of how it was tied, and dd started to feel very heavy very quickly. I gave up on it after about three months.

Don’t deny yourself options.
You can’t possibly foresee every scenario!

There are bargains to be found in charity shops and local selling sites if you don’t want to spend big.

With DC1 I didn’t see the point of spending a lot in a pushchair, so we got a cheap thing and BOY was it cheap. We used a Tula much more frequently but when I found out I was pg with DC2 I went straight on eBay and got a much better quality pushchair!

We still use it for my toddler, usually when going to the shops as he can’t be trusted to walk efficiently/safely/not steal things

In general I agree with the 'wait and see if you need it and buy one if you do' principle but for prams I think it does make sense to buy ahead because I think it's madness to buy new. So unless you're really certain you'll not use it I'd recommend looking on gumtree etc for second hand ones and getting a really decent one for the price of a cheap one.

I use my sling every day - but I also use my pram at least every other day. I agree with other people that when you're in a situation where you need a particular one of them then only having the other really is frustrating.

You don't need to buy a pushchair before your baby is born.

Have a bit of a look for options though.
I have three children and am a keen sling and backpack user but I used a buggy too at various stages. DC3 wouldn't countenance the sling so pushchair it was for him. On maternity leave I saved my sanity , entertained DC and watched finances by walking everywhere. Pushchairs are VERY handy for shopping, popping to recycling etc. Your lifestyle will change when your baby is here and I for one found it hard to justify the cost of using the car to get to the shops when I could walk.,

Am very jealous of all these people whose babies would take long naps in the pram while they drank coffee or even ate meals, though - DS wakes up as soon as the pram stops moving! I actually find it easier to drink tepid coffee over his head in the sling as at least then he stays asleep.

I tried a pushchair but I found it hard to get it in and out of my building.

I started using a sling at 8 weeks and it was amazing, so much more freedom! Felt much happier with baby secure on me, and loved the baby cuddles. At 14mo we are still using it. We have finally just bought a stroller as DS is getting on the heavy side for long days out, but we've only used it a couple times.

I would pick out a pushchair in advance but hold off on buying it until the baby is here and you know how you want to travel with them. I would buy an inexpensive stretchy wrap sling - try one at a sling library first. Secondhand goes for £10, new as low as £30. If you decide it's not for you, consider a more structured carrier like an ergobaby, or at the point you may decide you want a pushchair.

I mostly relied on my baby Bjorne and bought a very cheap pram for necessity and didn’t end up using it much the first 6 months.

But then I regretted my decision to carry baby around becahse what I didn’t realise is although I was able to carry him, but while ir uterus is recovering you shouldn’t be straining your muscles by carrying all the time ( as well as shopping) and I could swear I developed a prolapse because of carrying baby with shopping once .

So yes I enjoyed it. But not recommended

Yes. I found it essential and cant quite get my head people not having one! Although good for them and all that.
I concluded that they must have had shorter babies and longer and stronger backs and smaller norks than me.
I found the pushchair so darn useful that i didnt want to give it
up

I concluded that they must have had shorter babies

Nah, just grumpier, screamier more pram-hating ones I think you do get gradually used to the weight of them when they’re in carriers though - I remember mine feeling like a heavy lump as a newborn, but I was still carrying her fine as a 2-year-old so I must have built up the muscles over time or something.

Im sure you end up with a stronger back carrying baby as they grow! Dd3 was and remains on 99.6 centile line for height. I, however am 5 feet tall. Even at a few months old it didnt work! V lucky she liked the pram. Dont know what i would have done if not

Definitely agree you get used to it. DH was wearing DS the other day and kept complaining about the weight (15lb) which I don't even notice any more, even though DH is definitely generally stronger than me.

Not sure if anyone answered your question about why it’s ok to be in the sling a long time and not sitting in a car seat etc. It’s the way a car seat compresses the spine and the baby can’t reposition and wriggle about. In a sling they’re in a different, safer position.

I would rather give up a car seat than a push chair. Essential for me.

OP, I am 35 weeks pregnant and thinking the same as you. I had a similarish thread here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pushchair_chat/3277944-Londoners-what-do-you-actually-use

As pushchairs are SOOO much money the current plan is to use a sling for as long as possible to hopefully avoid having to buy the lie flat additions (£175 for the Baby Zen Yoyo!) . If once the baby arrives we realise we actually do need one asap, John Lewis do next day delivery. So there!

Check out the thread though, there are actually some quite useful considerations i.e. what's best post-Caesarean section etc.

As pushchairs are SOOO much money the current plan is to use a sling for as long as possible to hopefully avoid having to buy the lie flat additions (£175 for the Baby Zen Yoyo!) . If once the baby arrives we realise we actually do need one asap, John Lewis do next day delivery. So there!

If you're worried about money it would be so much better to buy second hand. We got our pram system, which John Lewis sells for £850, for £140 with just a couple of tiny scratches on it. BUT you can also do that pretty short notice, especially if you live in London or another big city where there will be a tonne of people selling within an easily reached distance from you at any one time.