Do I need to get a parent facing pushchair post carrycot or can I use a carseat to extend parent facing once they have left their carrycot?

[Satlie2019]

Hi,
This is a really silly newbie questions. I have been told by several friends thay I really should get pram that can be world and parent facing, and I can quite see the logic of this, I will want to see them and I hope they will want to see me! However, one pram I have seen and liked is just world facing after the child leaves their carrycot (unless they are in their carseat).

I was wondering though, as we will getting the Britax Baby Safe2 isize which lasts up to 15 months, can we just use this as an extended use parent facing seat for a bit after they have left their carrycot? I wouldn't use it up to 15 months as their feet will be hanging out, but it doesn't seem to weigh much more than the seat unit of a many prams, so I wondered if I could use this to create a world facing seat for a bit or if this would be cramped for them? Also I would have to take them out of it eventually (not sure exactly when and I suppose it would depend on how tall they were) but it might be around the time they started to have separation anxiety, so maybe not the best idea. Just wondered if anyone had used their carseat on their pram to create a parent facing option (just because it would give me a wider pool of prams to choose from)?

The buggies we are considering are the Babystyle oyster 3, musty icon or I2, and the Britax smile 3 (all with parent facing options), and the Britax b motion 4 plus (no parent facing option- but the lightest). We also half considered the Bugaboo Fox2 as it is compatible with the carseat we want and I like the fact that the parts are so easily replaceable, but it seems to be lacking a lot of the functionality of the other pushchairs (no adjustable footrest + huge when folded) and would cost significantly more. Loads of my friends rave about their bugaboos, but they have always looked large to me and as I am quite clumsy I want something a bit narrower (happy to hear advice on this too though). As we live in a village I can't get something with no off road ability like a bugaboo bee, but we will hopefully use a sling for really going off road so don't need a proper off road pram.

Thank you.

[Satlie2019]

Hi,
Thanks for all the advice. Good point about wanting to be able to see children whilst they eat, I had not thought of that. @FraterculaArctica you are right about the need to compromise, I think I may have to compromise on having a compatible carseat (with covid we are unlikely to going places as much as I would like anyway).

The cybex icloud does look amazing, really good safety score and for use on the buggy fantastic + comaptible with so many pushchairs. However, we really need the car seat to be lie flat (or at least near lie flat) in the car (being lie flat on the pushchair would just be a nice optional extra). Due family circumstances it is likely that (covid allowing) we will need to travel quite a distance to see my in laws when our baby is quite young. We would make regular stops, but it would probably not be possible to guarantee we could stop every 30 minutes. The britax baby safe 2 isize has comparible safety reviews to the cybex icloud and is near lie flat in the car. Really annoyingly it is compatible with fewer pushchairs. It is compatible with the Babystyle oyster 2 but not the oyster 3 which looks amazing (although some people are selling adaptors advertised as compatible with it Babystyle tell me that they have not tested the compatibility between the two for safety). Britax themselves do an amazing looking pram could the smile 3, which appears to be popular and has won awards in Sweden, but we would have to import from Germany (so no chance to try it out and I think the warranty may be affected). My husband loves the look of the Smile 3 though as it is very robust looking and will manage light off road well.

Thanks for all the advice about 3 wheelers. I think we will probably go with 4, but I do love the look of the moutain buggies.

@34Caspianberg very interesting about the swift. We were pregnant last year whilst living in a 1st floor flat and sadly lost her, but at the time I was definitely going to go with the swift as it seemed like the best option for us. We have moved to a house now, so I am less worried about weight and had always been worried the swift may be too short for my husband (we hadn't got to the stage of trying it out), but he is also 6ft2 also so sounds like it would be ok from what you say.

Anyway thank you for all the advice, really helpful and much appreciated. Glad you have all found buggies your love

[ScarMatty]

Have you looked at the cybex cloud z? It's a car seat which does lie flat using the side buttons so perfectly safe

[FraterculaArctica]

We have a baby jogger city mini GT and this (lack of parent facing after outgrown carrycot) is the one compromise we had to make with it. Really it's fine unless maybe you are planning to spend all day every day walking DC in pushchair . By the time they hit 6 months or so it doesn't seem so bad to have them forward facing. Done 3 DC in the same buggy and they all seem to be OK at communicating with us!

[teaandlotusbiscoff]

We have the urban jungle too. No issues with curbs. No issues with it whatsoever!

[PrayingandHoping]

I also have the MB UJ. It's goes off road, around town and I have never had any instability issues with it. My brother also had one for all of his 3 kids.

Great, sturdy tough buggies that are light and easy to manoeuvre.

I had the Cybex icloud on mine when needed

[Caspianberg]

@Satlie2019 - not had any issues with it being 3 wheeler. It gets bounced up our 15 steps daily, so I doubt a curb will be an issue. My dh is 6’2 and finds the swift tall enough for him. We considered the urban but our cars too small and it’s was heavier to have to bring up and down stairs ( this might not be an issue for you)

The mountain buggy adapters are standard that takes maxi cosi/ cybex etc, I’m not sure about that car seat though. It would take the cybex z with is also lie flat. Maybe best to email them and ask

[Satlie2019]

Thanks for all your advice, really helpful. The car seat we are getting is near lie flat and I would have a carry cot option until they were 6 months old, so I am not so worried about the time in the car seat. However, I take your point that they may just not like the carseat.

48Caspianberg I love the look of the swift (or maybe the MB urban jungle as my husband is quite tall and it has longer handlebars) but I am quite clumsy and believe (maybe incorrectly) that as 4 wheeler will be eaiser for me to manage with curbs + balance better. How have you found the MB with curbs? Also it is not compatible with the car seat i want (i am not sure how much I will actually miss this in practice though).

Thank you all for your advice.

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Tbh I just faced mine out once the carrycot was outgrown. I don't think it's done any harm - she never bloody stops talking!

[Caspianberg]

We have the mountain buggy swift. It might fit your criteria as the carrycot turns into a parent facing seat after, before regular forward facing seat. It’s lightweight, but decent off road.
I have a swivel car seat that stays in car so no idea about car seat though. But ours seat lasts 0-4 year approx and might be worth looking at something similar

[TillyTheTiger]

Not ideal, babies shouldn't be in a car seat for any longer than they have to be. Fine for convenience if you're just doing a quick dash around Sainsbury's but if you're taking them out for a longer walk they really should be in a pushchair.

[Bubblesbubblesmybubbles]

In theory, yes, but they shouldn't be in the car seat for more than 2 hrs so if you drove somewhere then walked around then drove home you'd have to keep that all within 2 hours. Also not all babies like the car seat so that could be an issue for you too

Personally I would get the pram which parent faces too. What about the Mamas and Papas Ocarro? That parent faces and isnt too bad on more rural pathS