Newborn pushchair on holiday

[eed32]

Hi everyone, first time preggo mummy here, 23 weeks!
I’m due end of February and I’d like to start looking at prams etc but I am totally lost and overwhelmed with them all if im honest.
To add to the confusion, we are due to go on holiday for a week next June when baby will be around 4 months old, so don’t want to be taking something super expensive abroad if possible, I’ve looked at getting two perhaps, a travel system one for home and then a doona as a cheaper alternative for holiday. But I’ve seen babies shouldn’t be left to sleep in the doona for a length of time which makes me think the doona may not be good for holiday.
anyone with any experience or advice willing to help me out 🙌🏻🤣

Hi, I actually came looking for an answer to my similar question and stumbled on your post. This is my third baby so pushchair wise I can answer your question a bit. The doona is unsuitable for lengthy sleeps or periods of time due it to being a car seat and babies are not advised to be in car seats for too long, they need to lay flat.

The pushchair for home I’d say see if there is a baby show near you that you could attend or a large baby shop you could browse a few. It’s very much personal choice but I found shopping in person so much easier than online. We had the icandy but I’ve also heard great things about bugaboo or joie. Travel systems definitely make life easier though!

My question was around holiday travel too. We’ve never travelled with a bay so young before but due to number 3 being a bit of a surprise and the holiday already being booked we will have a 10 week old! So trying to find a lightweight, easy pushchair that is suitable to lay flat for a baby so young. If I find anything I’ll let you know!

Get a cheap secondhand umbrella fold lie flat pram to take on holiday.

Something like a silvercross reflex.
or a travel pram if you can get one cheap but second hand they’re often still expensive.

If you poke around market place for a while you’ll find something that was once a premium model, but has been well used and a bit scuffed around the edges. Which means zero stress when that happens travelling. The umbrella fold won’t take up too much space in your holiday accommodation. travel bags for them are cheap and straightforward on eBay.

The doona is only useful for quick trips. You need a travel pram so baby can lie flat. Some travel prams fold so you can put it overhead. You also need to take a car seat, which you can check in for free usually. You could look into renting it at your destination, we did this in the US. We used Baby Quip there, so we didn't have to take a bunch of other stuff like a bouncer with us.

Hiya, ah that’s amazing! And congrats on your 3rd little suprise!! 🩷

Thanks so much for your reply! im assuming the car seat will be needed for travel to and from the airport? which makes it harder just to take a pram I guess

We were gifted a nuna trvl which we used as a travel pram when our baby was little (5 months) as it lies flat and folds nicely; though not small enough for the plane - so we put it in a bag and gate checked it. We had to do this with our car seat anyway so wasn't very annoying but it is a lot more waiting at the airport to collect non standard luggage.
It connected to our joie car seat, there's like a connection to the bumper bar, which made it easier to travel with both in general whilst having the option to use it as a lay flat pram or car seat attached to pram depending on the situation.
We also used a carrier a lot in airports to transfer from plane to aiport etc and just be handsfree when we needed to be as could use the pram to hold luggage or put it on our shoulder.
Now she's older (since she was 2) we use a car seat (maxicosi nomad) and pram (gb pockit) that can be folded to go onto the plane as it saves so much time!

@eed32 yes, you need the car seat to travel to and from the airport. Technically I think you are not legally obligated by law to have a car seat in a taxi but I wouldn't take that chance. I've been in 2 car accidents while in a taxi. One fell asleep on the motorway to Gatwick, and the other taxi driver was just a moron.

If you're in London, the John Lewis on Oxford Street has a good selection of prams and car seats and you can reserve ahead and they will show you all of them and explain everything. Much easier to figure it out in person.

You would only need a car seat if you are using a car or taxi on holiday. We tend to use public transport a lot and use it for airport transfers if available (in the UK and abroad) so it's rare for us to bring a car seat on holiday. Depends on your destination of course.

We have a Yoyo for flights - we didn't use it with a newborn but it has a newborn insert for that age. It can fit in the overhead lockers on flights. It's expensive new but we got ours secondhand. We use it now as an everyday buggy as it's so compact and versatile.