Buggy / pram / travel system - what combination would be good for carless London lifestyle?

[Loulou000]

Can I have a bit of help on the travel system front please? Having first baby in December and I just don't know where to start. I definitely need:

• lightweight and easily foldable for use on the Tube
• lying flat option for a newborn

Other than that I can't work out whether it's better to look for something that doubles as a thing to sleep in; something that doubles as a car seat (I don't have a car, but need to get her home from hospital, and to be able to travel safely in taxis sometimes); something that doubles as anything else.

And is the thing I need called a pushchair, or a pram, or a buggy? ARGHHH.

Will you use the bus as well?
Do you walk a lot? Do you want to be able to walk across rough ground eg parks

Hello. I'm also intersted in this thread. I'll be the same. Will use car sometimes, public tranport inc bus and tube sometimes and will sometimes be "out in the country". I mean, I don't need it to be an all-terrain jobbie, but does this magical "does everything" pushchair exist?
LightweightCan be folded easily (pref with one hand) for public transport
*Will fit in boot of small car
*Comes with car seat and carrycot option and lies flat/ almost flat for bigger babies (when they outgrow the carrycot).

Is that asking too much??? I quite fancy a three wheeler too... But that's prob bottom of the list of requirements.

i would get a lightweight from birth folding buggy, such as a maclaren techno. if you get black cabs, this can just be wheeled in and secured with the brake.

or how about a sling?

hth.

A McLaren buggy like the Classic or Techno - or something similar. Buy separately a car-seat. A sling would be good too.

I'm going to have to learn to read....just read the title as CARELESS London lifestle
I'll ask my friend in London which one she's got

I used a maclaren techno and had a separate britax rockatot car seat

As BossyKate suggests - I kept LO in the buggy for black cab rides

I had my first dd 2 1/2 yrs ago. I live in London and I don't drive.
We started off with the Bugaboo which was fantastic as it came with the carry-cot (so no need for moses basket). When dd was about 3 - 6 mths, we got a Maclaren Quest, which was ideal to travel around the tubes and buses.
I still use the Bugaboo for everyday activites around where I live and when I travel anywhere out of my area, I use the Maclaren.
Fab combination that works well for me!

So much advice already! Thanks.

Yes, will definitely be using bus as well as tube. Don't need anything suitable for rough ground, not as a high priority, anyway.

The Techno sounds good, but if we get a car seat separately, we'll have to carry it around when we get to where we're going, which doesn't sound practical. Is it safe / legal to keep the baby in a buggy in a black cab? If so that would be easiest, then I could just get a Techno or similar.

Does anyone ever just have a sling and no pushy thing? I'd love to think that was possible.

Lou - how often do you think you will use a cab?

I think perhaps not that often once we've got the baby. It's hard to get my head around what we will be doing and where we will be going, if anywhere! We've just moved a bit further out of london too, so will probably be cabbing less anyway. But do have to get baby home from hospital in one, unless I want to get on the bus with new caesarean wound.

legal but questionably safe.

I live in London and although I do have a car I don't use it most of the time. I LOVE my micralite. We bought it because it was the smallest, lightest one we could find on the market, as we live in a small first floor flat.
The main advantages are:

1. Ridiculously light as previously stated
2. Very easy to fold for public transport (and it stands up by itself when folded which is great, so you have both hands free for the baby)
3. Titchy-small when folded, will easily fit in most car boots and the luggage rack on trains/buses etc, about half the size of a folded bugaboo.
4. Cheap! (Well, compared to the bugaboo). The buggy is about £160, the newborn add-on about £100 and we got it as a travel-system package with an easy-bob car seat for about £300 in total.
5. The newborn add-on functions as a moses basket or travel cot.

The buggy itself isn't suitable from birth as it's too upright, but as I mentioned there is a newborn add-on so the baby can lie flat. This unclips very easily. We used it as a travel cot on many holidays and when we ate out in restaurants we used to unclip it and tuck it under the table so DS could sleep. It is available as a travel system with the maxi-cosi and the easy-bob car seat.

Disadvantages:

1. We found the easy-bob car seat attachments very hard to get on and off, and didn't really ever use the buggy as a travel system. However it was useful to have it as an option. The maxi-cosi system is slightly different, so this might be easier to use, perhaps ask for a demo and see which you prefer?
2. There is a slightly awkward transition between the newborn add-on cot (which is lovely and really cosy) to the buggy proper. The newborn cot is supposed ot last for 6 months but our DS was pretty cramped from about 4-5 months (although he's quite a long baby). Micralite state the buggy can be used upright from 3 months but personally I think it is too exposed and the harness is too big for a 3 month old. We kept DS in the cot until about 5 months, then it really got too cosy and we transferred him to the buggy. However we padded the buggy with a sheepskin to make the harness fit better.

Oh, and as a PS to your other post, yes, personally I take DS in black cabs in his buggy. I believe it is legal in a black cab (at least several cab drivers told me it was ok) and I don't think it is any more unsafe than having him in a bus in his buggy. After all, you'd never use a car seat on a bus, would you? I just make the driver aware that DS is not strapped in and ask him to be considerate about braking.

Sorry for long post, maybe I should become a micralite sales person!

Thanks MissG - what is your micralite called - or is there only one kind? I think I will make a shortlist and then head to John Lewis to see some options in real life!

I think there is only one kind, although it does come in a variety of fetching colours! Lots of pretty pics on the micralite website . Not sure if John Lewis stocks it, if they don't the big Mothercare on the other side of Oxford Street definitely does, and they are happy to give you a demo of how to attach fold and attach the newborn system.

Sounds great Miss G. Is it reasonably sturdy?

Hi 12-year-gap, it looks quite light and frail but I've chucked it around the tube and in and out of cars, plus taken it abroad twice and it's survived all of the above with hardly a scratch. Oh, although the Stansted baggage handlers did manage to bend the hood of the pram somehow (probably our fault as we hadn't put it into any kind of protective covering, you can buy a special bag for it I believe but I am too cheap). Anyway the hood shaping bit was metal so I just bent it back into shape.

If you mean sturdy in use, it has big pneumatic back wheels so you can theoretically take it off-road, it manages Hampstead Heath fine, even in muddy weather, but I wouldn't take it up any serious hills.