Do we need an infant car seat for pram?

[toastedcat]

Hi all!

I'm due in June.

We've just bought the iCandy Orange 3 (ex-display model) which comes with both bassinet and pushchair.

We are both quite tall and the pram shop lady advised us to skip the infant car seat and just go straight for the one up, which means we wouldn't be able to use the pram as a travel system.

How helpful did you find it to have the infant car seat clip on to the pram? I think I still would find it useful for nipping to the shops but she seemed to be quite keen to dissuade us from using it as lots of people keep their baby in the car seat too long like this.

Please let me know thoughts!

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We use out car seat on the pram a lot. We have the Cybex Cloud Z which folds flat. So when baby is asleep in the car, we can take him out in the seat, extend it to a lot flat position, and take him round the shops. When we get back to the car, we can revert to normal car seat position without waking him up, and clip the seat back into the car

I was told in John Lewis that newborns shouldn’t be left in the car seat for longer than 30 mins, at which point they need to be taken out for a stretch and a breather (?!). I won’t be bothering with a car seat that clips onto the pram, unless it’s a proper lie flat model.

If you're tall then you may well want a 25kg limit rear facing seat for after the baby seat, very few of these are suitable from birth, so it can benefit to get a carry seat first and then look at whether you're OK with an up to 18kg or want an up to 25kg when you upgrade.

The ones from 0-4 years (0-18kg) will not necessarily last you until age 4 if you have a tall baby and then you'll need to buy another seat anyway, so it can be beneficial to have an infant carrier as they (can be) cheaper as well as being portable. Being compatible with the pram does not mean that you have to use it on the pram for extended periods. But if you are going in and out of the car several times, it is nice not to have to disturb them as they tend to dislike being moved around and put into different harnesses. How often you tend to do that kind of thing will probably depend on where you live and what you like to do. If you just drive to something and then stay out of the car for an hour or more then the ability to put the seat on the buggy probably doesn't matter.

Personally I've had one carry seat that was not compatible and one that is compatible over 3 children, either way was fine, but it is really nice to be able to take your time and get the baby situated in their seat calmly and privately at home rather than walking down to the car (especially in rain/wind/cold/darkness or blazing summer heat) and then trying to fit them into it there or squeezed next to a narrow parking spot in a car park. It's also helpful to have a self-contained item that you can safely place on the ground when you need a hand free, before the baby can sit or stand up by themselves. It can be tricky to juggle a baby in your arms plus bag/purse/any thing you need such as shopping or dealing with documents at receptionists etc.

If you have a second baby it can be nice to have the baby seat to hand down if the older child is still in their toddler seat (although you could always do this the other way around - buy 0-4y seat for baby, keep for toddler, buy baby seat for new baby).

I didn’t do it to reduce the risk of flat head.