Totally Lost! Help!

[Dalgleish]

Baby arrives in two months, and I cannot get my head around all the essential stuff to buy, especially the pram. Parents have said they will gift us 800 quid, but I am just so overwhelmed and lost looking at stuff. I don't even understand what any of it is! People are saying that prams come in three parts, but which three parts? What are they? Prams and what? Car seats? I don't understand the lingo when I look it up, and, honestly, I am so stressed and overwhelmed and work and so tired that I am just feeling like I am never going to have time to do it.

What are good prams to buy for that price and what do they do? Any help appreciated.

You might get a chassis that will fit a car seat, a carrycot and then the pushchair when they are a bit older. Depends what you are looking for tbh

Normally known as a travel system if you get all the different components

Wow you could have your pick with that money
Things to think about
What will you use it for? Eg will you be doing lots of walking with it? Will you be walking up hills and on grass and fields or just normal pavement walking?
Do you want a car seat at part of it (bearing in mind babies aren't supposed to spend long periods in it)?
Or do you want to go for carrycot instead (or as well)?
Some pushchairs are suitable from birth and you don't have to have the carrycot bit (less of a faff to bring around, easier).
Also will you need it for public transport (in which case you'll need one that folds up easy and possibly all in one piece)?
My advice is to think about this first then you can narrow it down to what best suits you.
If you do a post on here people will be able to advise

If you buy a ‘travel system’ it wi usually come with the chassis (wheels and frame) a carrycot (need for when baby is little to lay flat if pram doesn’t have a lay flat feature) then the pram seat for when baby is older. They may also come with a car seat that can be clipped onto wheels as well as car. You would then have a base in the car that the car seat attaches to.

Some carrycots have mattress in that it suitable for overnight sleeping which you may find useful. Eg it is firm enough for long use. We used the carry cot on the floor in the living room for baby in the day. We never had a Moses basket or anything.

Be aware that babies shouldn’t be in car seats for more than 30 minutes under 10 weeks I think it is. So if you are using car seat to travel in car abs then clip onto wheels factor that in. After they are a bit older it’s not recommended more than 2 hours.

Other things to note when looking
How heavy is it to put in boot
Does it fit in boot
How easily does it fold
Do you have to attach and reattach pram
How easily it it to manoeuvre
What size is the basket underneath can you fit all your gear in
Does it lay flat
How good is the hood
Does it have a foot muff.

FWIW I also found this a minefield and after a lot of research we have an oyster3 which I love and my boy is 18 months. Have pushed friends pram and ours is by far the lightest.

We had a maxi cosi cabriofix car seat as a bundle but switched to the cybex i Siriona 360 car seat which can be used from birth when he was about 12 weeks. My husband used the maxi cosi for the short times he needed it.

We discovered that buying a travel system new is a bit like buying a wedding dress. For some reason they cost about x5 more than you’d expect, take months to order and you get shafted again buying extras.

£200-300 is plenty for a good quality second-hand set-up. Tell me your town/county and I’ll find you some good ones on FB marketplace!