Phil & Teds newborn and toddler

[MamaaB]

Hi all,

I've just bought a second hand Phil&teds double buggy, I believe it's the Explorer one so quite an old model.
I tried it today with my newborn DD3 (6 week old) and my DD2, just turned 2yo.
Newborn was in the cocoon laying flat on the main seat, and toddler was on the doubles seat at the front/on top of the main seat. I'm pretty sure my newborns legs were squished?!
She was crying as we were leaving the house as I expected because she was tired and I thought maybe she would fall asleep but once we got out the house I had a feel of how much space she has underneath her big sister and it felt squished, I wonder if she was just in discomfort or pain 😢.

I was excited to use it as atm I've been going out with a carrier, lightweight travel buggy for toddler and 5yo walking. I look mad 🤣. So I really wanted/needed a double that was narrow enough to fit through my new flats narrow door and corridor. The p&t was the only option and I was really happy about it but now I'm confused as to how to put newborn and toddler in the buggy.
Should I put newborn in the doubles seat at the back with a footmuff for example? 😩 but she won't be laying flat so not sure how safe that is. I'm excited for when she'll be solid enough to go in the back safely lol but atm it's a bit of a sticky one.

Also does anyone know if I can buy a sun hood for the double seat for when it's at the back? For the explorer model which is quite old.

Thanks so much if you've read all this!! 💖

It's probably not that your newborn was squished, but that having a wiggling black seat right in front of her face is uncomfortable/scary. I saw a few mums at DDs nursery use them and their babies looked terrified! I'd have a look on vinted/ebay for second hand rain covers though

Hi so I just had a baby (5wks) and also have an 18m toddler. I got a P and T voyager when I was pregnant and liked that there were apparently loads of combinations you could do with the seats. However later on in my pregnancy when I tried out different ways to put the seats, so that one of them was flat (for the newborn), I became very confused as nothing seemed to work re the space/having one seat flat etc.
i did a little research and it turned out that I needed to buy these extender clips separately in order to raise the seat on top a bit higher! Very annoying as these clips often seem to be sold out online… I had to order directly from P and T website and they took weeks to arrive from China! However I can now put newborn on top seat facing me, flat, and my toddler is in bottom seat facing outwards/the front… it works well. And then when newborn doesn’t have to lie flat I can change the arrangements of the seats if I want… however I do appreciate that this is a different model to yours… so having said all that I wonder if these clips work on that one?!

@DazedAndConfused321 that's true!! It must be scary tbh. Especially as today it was a new thing for her. I'm going to try it out again today and really feel around for how much space she has. Shes my biggest baby so far and I don't see her fitting in the cocoon for much longer lol but we're going to have to figure something out. And yes I've been looking on eBay and Vinted etc to see if I can find the sun hood for the back seat but I'm not sure if they fit on the model I have cos I think it's quite an old one lol
Thanks!

@marshartist congratulations on your baby! Yours and mine are just a week apart ❤️ and ahh yes I've seen that for the p&t voyager and having to use those adapters to raise the seat etc, seems really handy! I don't think they make those for my one (I don't even know if my one is the dot or the explorer lol I just know it's an older model) but thank you so much anyway

I loved the out & about we had, but I don't know which model it was. & the girls were a bit older. The baby was meant to go underneath, but the toddler always wanted to go underneath so it worked out ok. (As the baby could sit in the more sturdy part of it. Not have her head so close to the ground and as the toddler was sitting up, her head wasn't anywhere near the ground.

They were (in those days) great company to deal with re spare parts ! We had a wheel issue (long story & not a malfunction) and they organised all the spare bits we needed to have it repaired. So hopefully they're still just as good & can help you with the configuration & any spare bits you need.

@SnoopySantaPaws thank you for replying and for sharing that! I think it's something I will definitely grow to love over time (especially when youngest is able to sit in one of the seats rather than be stuck in the cocoon atm which is already a squeeze lol). I'm looking forward to those days so thank you for the reminder of what's to come 💖

We had a P&T Dot for my newborn and toddler, DD2 was on the larger side but definitely wasn't squashed in the cocoon. I wouldn't put a 6week baby in the doubles seat, she'll be fine in the cocoon. I think DD2 was about 5m when she moved to the doubles seat.
Ours came with a sun shade for the doubles seat but it wasn't a hood, it was a bit of fabric that stuck to the upper seat and unrolled. You can set up ebay alerts for a secondhand one, but you could probably improvise with blackout fabric and velcro.
I loved that P&T, it was so handy for nipping everywhere and getting into narrow gaps. Eventually DD2 complained about being on the lower bunk and we switched to a compact buggy+board.