How often do you use yours?

[aneliese]

I'm due my first baby this year and having researched prams to the extent I feel a deserve a phd in their technology and having decided I'm willing to invest in a really decent one, I'm now wondering whether I'm going to use it that much! I am of course going off the assumption that you get what you pay for, but please do tell me if you think I'm way off with that.

Do you find you don't use it as much as you expected? I really like the idea of carrying my baby in a sling/carrier which I will buy regardless (haven't started looking into those yet ) and to me they might be better because your hands are free and you're more mobile, but I can see how a pram is useful when shopping and it takes the strain away from your body. I won't have a car and we live in a city. We'll also be travelling a lot with her (bit reluctant to put an expensive pram in the hold).

Is the investment really worth it? Thank you!

It's been a while (my 'babies' are teens). I had a car seat that clicked on to a pram which could lie flat without the car seat. Anyway it was quite expensive. I also had a baby bjorn.
So my first baby was born via section and weighed over 10lbs. I could not use the carrier initially due to the operation and he quickly grew too heavy to carry him that way for long. But I did use it, and again with my second as it's quite a thing to have two under two and double buggies are unwieldy. But you definitely need a pram of some sort. Though in a city it's hard to use a pram on public transport, you need to carry quite a lot of things for your baby when out and about: nappies, muslins, change of clothes, wipes, maybe bottles, a blanket etc. Plus your own bag. And your baby will just grow and you can't carry a two year old indefinitely when they get tired - for one thing it keeps them confined when in a busy area, and they can nap in it and you'll need to carry snacks and toys and even more stuff! Plus a pushchair has handy storage underneath and handles to hang bags off of.

I did use the sling with mine but I also found there were plenty of times when I used my buggy/pram. To be honest sometimes there were just times when I wanted my own body to myself, baby in buggy and go for a wander around town while he fell asleep and then stealing a sneaky coffee in a cafe was bliss. Obviously couldn’t really do that with my second but then baby carrying wasn’t particularly practical when having to pick up a toddler/bend down at the park etc.

I don’t think you need a particularly expensive one though, get one that they can go in from birth. We have the baby city jogger and used it from newborn to 3yrs. Think they’re about £250 so relatively cheap compared to some or go second hand and get something super cheap and you can always upgrade if you find you’re using it a lot

I use mine everyday, and did so for pretty much all 3 of my children.

I have a 10 year old Uppababy, which felt like an extravagant purchase when I got it new, it hasn’t been in constant use for that time but I definitely feel like I’ve had good value out of it.

@Pipandmum oh god yeah I hadn't even thought that I might not be able to lift the baby if I have a C section . I will definitely be getting a pram for sure, I'm just wondering if splashing out on something fancy is worth it. I guess I won't really know until I start!

Thanks @Sunshine1235 and @maidenover that's helpful

A good sling is essential in my opinion. It's worth getting in touch with your local sling library to try out options. There are some that do postal hires also. We've used connecta carriers and twingo (I have 1 plus twins). Have been on various trips without buggy, especially with the twins as fitting 2 travel cots, other stuff and a double buggy in the car wasn't possible!!

We got a SilverCross - very happy with it and use it lots.

The baby slept in the (lie flat) carry cot for most of her naps until she was about 5mo, and we didn’t need a Moses basket as the carry cot detached and went on the floor when home. Now she’s 9mo we still use the pram every time we leave the house - helps to be able to carry more stuff in the pram (nappies, milk etc) plus, as you say, you can put all your shopping or whatever in there. Just enables us to be out for longer and she can also nap there. Also live in a city and walk a lot.

One thing I wish I hadn’t obsessed about is whether the pram is easy to fold. We just don’t fold it, never have apart from the odd car journey.

Best thing we ever did was the “buggy track” at the Baby Show. It lets you try lots of types of pram on a sort of obstacle course. Realised what worked for my height/stride etc.

My children are grown up now, I used the push chair all the time when they were small though, But my DD has hardly used hers at all for her children. She used the sling all the time when her children were tiny and even after they were toddlers. She says she finds it much easier than navigating hills, getting on buses, up steps etc than a pram and the babies always settled better and slept in the sling. If she had paid £1000 for a pram it really would have been wasted. She did have expensive and very well made slings though.

Sling has been indispensable for both of mine, but then I had Velcro babies and also do a lot of walking down muddy tracks. Buggy definitely still has it’s place though. What I will say though is that everyone I know, myself included, switched to a Maclaren or similar cheapy umbrella fold once they started nursery at 1, as you can’t usually put the bigger travel system types in the nursery storage. I’m glad I didn’t buy a really really expensive one to use for a year.

I use my buggy for hours each day. A along is useful but nothing like a buggy!

I used a carrier loads in the first 6-12 weeks. Pushchair was still used but more for carrying shipping and baby bag. As baby got bigger and heavier pushchair is used all the time. Many times a day.

I planned to use a carrier mostly but my pregnancy spd took a while to settle down after birth and I just felt broken.

When in the city I have a babyzen yo-yo which I love. It’s been on holiday with us twice and easy to put in a small car, take on public transport etc. We were (in the old world) often in the country side with family and I bought a secondhand vista pram for that- bigger wheels, sturdy. Wheels live in the garage most of the time and I just leave the seat/ bassinet bit in a guest room.

So I would say a buggy/ push chair was pretty essential for me. Makes it easier on your back to pop out and buy things (otherwise you have to carry them, baby and change bag). Which kind very much helps depends on your needs and where you live/ how much space you have. If you live in a flat in London, something nippy like the babyzen or an equivalent is great. If you live somewhere else, different rules apply.

My sling (used a cloth cross body sling for first months when out and about and in restaurants to eat while baby had a nap, or for bf when out) was best for getting downstairs from my first floor flat when leaving in the morning when I went back to work - my bag, baby’s bag and baby was a lot. Having her secure in a ring sling meant my back was saved and we were safer. Still use it now- love my linen ring sling.

Have an ergo baby that was barely used. Had another second hand rock and rebellion (or something) sling that was v good.

So...you prob need both! But don’t need to buy new or spend top dollar. I bought my babyzen pram new because there wasn’t much of a 2nd hand saving and I expected to have more than 1 baby. Now planning on using it with one on the way :)

We used ours up until about 18 months. Once DS could reliably walk it was all he wanted to do and we now rely more on a toddler backpack as it's small enough and light enough for the bus etc but easy enough to pop him in when his legs get tired.

We never used the sling, but use the buggy everyday. We got a fairly cheap Graco travel system which is on baby number 2 and still going strong. I was always scared of falling over with the baby in the sling (I am extremely accident prone) and would have struggled with a 6 month old in a sling while carrying shopping! I can't imagine that would be fun, especially in summer

I've never used a sling with any of mine. It's always been a pram. I tried a baby carrier once and felt off balance and baby was too heavy. Also you can't really protect against the weather using just a sling. In Winter you're going to need to keep the cold off their face and in Summer a sunshade. Prams are also a good place to sleep during the day. If they fall asleep while you're out you can just leave them in there rather than having them asleep on you or risking waking them.

We used ours almost daily until ds no longer needed a pram. Neither of us drive so a good pram was a necessity for us. Also I never liked the idea of slings or carriers so would never have one

We were in your situation with our first - in London, in a flat, no car. We used our pushchair every day. We had an iCandy Raspberry (which turned out to be a bit of a turkey) but it was absolutely the right kind of pushchair - a lightweight lie-flat stroller suitable from birth. In your position I’d look for a Bugaboo Bee second-hand. In my experience, the right pushchair is worth paying for - otherwise you’ll be cursing it on a daily basis.

Think about where you’ll keep it when not in use - you probably need a compact folding pushchair and wouldn’t want to store an expensive one in a communal hallway of a block of flats, for instance.

For flying, you may well choose to pick up a cheap Maclaren or similar - we got one on eBay for £30.

I have a travel system, a lightweight pushchair and a double buggy. I use them frequently. My first was a velcro baby but hated every sling I tried to I still used to use the buggy. My second will go in the sling but he won't sleep in it and also I can't wrangle my toddler very easily with a 6 month old strapped to me so, while I do find a sling handy sometimes, I definitely would say a good buggy is indispensable.

I used our pram/pushchair heavily the first year, because DS was a difficult napper and I found it easiest to give him nice long naps in the pushchair. We had an Uppababy Vista, it was great and obviously expensive.

However. We did buy a Babyzen Yoyo as well at some point, and although it's not great on rough terrain / bumpy pavements, it is what we mainly use now to get around when we do use the buggy. The Vista hasn't been touched since DS was 18 months, he is now 2.5.

We've often said that in theory we could have just bought a Babyzen Yoyo from the start with the baby set, because with that and a sling you are basically set. The Yoyo travels better, can be folded up super easy (e.g. in a restaurant, fold it up and pop it anywhere) and is much more useable with a toddler. In big cities where people have limited space loads of people just have the Yoyo.

I didn't get on with a sling when DS was a tiny newborn but used it loads from when he was about 2 months. They take some practice at first but I found it massively freeing - don't need a massive pram, can walk around as normal, go anywhere without having to worry about access. (finding a toilet you can take a sleeping baby in the pram into is a massive pain in the arse)
I'm expecting no. 2 and I will definitely be mostly using the sling when they're tiny. Baby in sling, toddler DS in Yoyo.

re: slings; you will likely end up having more than one. A stretchy wrap is great when they are tiny. One with clips is easier to put on/off with an older baby/young toddler. Can go on your back too.

We live in London with no car. We used the sling (ergo baby omni 360 which is brilliant) almost exclusively for the first 6 months because baby wanted to be close to us and it was so much more convenient than the pram. We continued to use it often until he was about 1. But from 6 months onwards he was more and more in the pram because he was heavier and because he napped really well in it. He much preferred it when he could sit up and look around. We have the bugaboo bee because we wanted it to parent face (the yo-yo can’t) and love it. Still using it now he’s 2. We also worried about folding but never fold it as just leave it in our hallway and as we don’t have a car it doesn’t need to go in and out of the boot etc.

We were in a similar situation, flat, no car. We got a SilverCross Pioneer, a SilverCross Refelx and a caboo + sling.
The SilverCross Pioneer is in constant use, we live by the seaside and we’d go for 2-3 hour walks along the beach everyday on maternity leave and now he’s 16 months we still go for long walks At least 2x a week and he walks with us where it’s safe but he loves the pram and naps in it when we go for walks, and when he’s tired we find him cuddling it at home (very cute, but a bit weird). It’s also great for the storage underneath and we’ve taken it to London, Bristol, Liverpool And all over the UK on a train no problem. It’s a bit bulky but can be folded down and put in the luggage store on trains.
The SilverCross Reflex we got purely for travelling to visit friends and family overseas. It’s brilliant, but so far I’m still not converted to using it every day.
The sling we’ve used a fair bit, but never for that long. Would say they are great at airports though as it leaves your hands free, great for hikes and other activities where you need both hands, however for leisurely strolls I much prefer the pram as he could sleep in it, and I could eat and drink without bothering him.