Does a child need to be strapped into pram?!

[Helen31]

Hoping you lovely MNers can help with a question. We have a LoolaUp and Windoo Carrycot all ready and waiting for the imminent arrival of our 1st dc. Question we have is whether we need to strap the baby into the carrycot, or is that unnecessary? We're not planning to use it in the car, just as a pram.

Thanks for your advice!

You have to strap them in unless you want them to fall out when they are bigger or if you go up/down some steps with them in the pram.
It's a good idea to use them.

Yes. If there is any accident that involves your pram overturning, they will fall out unless strapped in. This happens. Strap them in, please.

Intresting - mine doesn't have straps...

Does it have a hoop at either side? These are to attach the straps to.

Honestly - no you don't need straps when they are very young but as soon as they start to roll or push up on their arms yes they are a good idea. As scrooged says though if you do steps - or even if the pram rolls away from you down a curb then the baby may well fall out. Personally I didn't use straps till they were on the pushchair part of our prams - but it's a personal risk/safety decision that everybody needs to evaluate for themselves. None of my three fell out - but that's our good luck not because it was impossible for them to do so iyswim.

I used to have a travel system when ds was really tiny, I strapped him into the car seat on the top. I used to live in a house where there were a few steps to get to the front door, there was a large stap at the bottom so I used to leave ds in the pram at the bottom step which was long until the breaks failed one day, the pram rolled off the step and landed upside down on the pavement with ds inside it. My heart stopped, I was really lucky he was strapped in. I took him to the hospital and he was fine (thank god/godess). It's not worth the risk.

yes strap him/her in better to be safe. I have knocked my pram sideways bumping down a curb before. In london down those lovely long esclaters some sodding lovley person shoved me when i had dd2 in a pram, lucky for us we didnt fall down!!

Scrooged - I have a friend who ended up tipping her tiny premature twins out of her pram into her front garden - they were fine too but she was a wreck!

NL, that must have been dreadful for the poor woman!

Ditto scrooged - I had the same type of travel system and always had DS strapped in - DH was more lax until I pointed this out exactly and asked him to imagine how he would feel if DS fell out cos of a bump/tip and he wasn't strapped in. Soon sorted him out!

He was really lucky to be strapped in and to have the car seat handle up, this protected him as it litterally was upside down. It was a horrible experience.

They'd only just got out of scbu too! I'd forgotten about that till I read this thread. It's interesting because dh and I are usually fairly risk averse but it nver crossed our minds both the prams we had have had those fixed apron covers on them and I suppose they do make you feel quite secure - even though they are no subsititute for straps.

i wouldn't have considered this either! even after three babies who have all been unstrapped in their carrycots

Thanks for all your speedy responses - they are really helpful. None of this had occurred to me either. Will show my DH this evening! We live in South London, and it hadn't occurred to me about the escalators - people are so pushy though, so I'm not that surprised. Moving around about pg lady pace gives more time to see things, and I honestly think some people go around with their heads in a bag .