prams with toddler seats..any good?????

[Nemo1977]

Hi all
just prempting arrival of bean..yes im only early on pg but will need to save for new pram. Ds will be just turned 2 when baby arrives so have been looking at whether to get twin pram etc. Ds can walk well although he gets tired after 15 /20mins. I know this will get better as he is older but still feel he will need a pram to sit in occasionally, especially for trips into town etc. Am looking at ones with toddler seat on and wondered if they are any good? What type of things should I look out for etc.
Any advice welcome.
thanks

i cannot reiterate how useful a double pushchair is in the first months.
you can try to get away with buggy boards, or slings etc. but till about two and a halfish babies still need to have the opportunity to have a lie down and rest.
i dont know about the toddler seat prams, but you can buy second hand doubles. i sold mine to someone on mn and she has just sold it on to someone else. a good double is worth its weight in gold, for the short time that you use it.
conrats on the pregnancy!

anymore opinions please???

have a 2 almost 3 yo non walker and a 6 month old babe - bought a pram and then bought the toddler seat - brilliant. When there is just me - use the toddler seat, when dh adn I are together dd1 can go in her stroller, dd2 in the pram. No bigger than a normal pram. A little heavy on the steering but no problem.

eidsvold which pram do you have? I have been looking at the zooped combi as it is a reasonable price but with what i need. Just worry about the size of the toddler seat.

We used an emmaljunga with a toddler seat, for a year or so and found it great. Baby could lie down in bassinet, toddler could chat to me (facing me) then later both could sit up, and also much easier to manoever than a double. I could go on and on about pros and cons, but don't want to bore you. Any specific questions?

mine is an aussie brand called mother love and then the toddler seat belongs to a brand called childcare... also aussie. motherlove don't do a toddler seat so when I saw the childcare one on special I went and tried it with my pram and it fitted perfectly.

Do you have the website address for childcare eidsvold? Have been reading this with interest as am 7 months pregnant with 2nd child and youngest child will only be 20 months when baby is born, so am looking for something similar to this.

same here, was going to ask this very same question, my dd will be about 2 and 3 months when baby's born and walks mostly everywhere so don't want a cumbersome double buggy. Are the toddler seats easy to take on and off? or do they stay on all the time. Great thread, Nemo!!

I'm bumping this back up, because i need to at least narrow our search down.....right now dh is convinced a jane powertwin is the way to go, and I'd love to actually SEE in the flesh so to speak one of these toddler seat plus normal buggy types because nothing near me stocks emmaljungla. so if anyone has either PLEASE tell me whats great and whats not, thanks ladies!

Toddler seat - pros - a) pram same size as normal pram, much easier in terms of size issues (fitting through door, in supermarket, etc.) b) toddler up high and in case of emmaljunga, can be facing you, so brilliant for chats. c) could go on bassinet so baby could lie flat and also on pram when baby got bigger. d) Ch. not side by side so less squabbling e) I found it easier to push than a tandem as I am short and do not have the height to push down on the handle to get the front end of a tandem up a curb. Also this is partly because the emmaljunga is engineered so well that the centre of gravity is where the most weight is, thus making pushing and turns easy.
Cons - a) ours was not easy to take on and off, which wasn't a problem for us as we don't have a car, don't know about other brands b) lifting heavy squirming protesting toddler into seat could be a pain c) our seat did not lie back allowing for older child to sleep - however in our case she never slept when out, so that wasn't an issue. Also mainly went on shortish trips and not many full days out. d) need to think about raincover. I didn't use one as the pram had a good hood and apron to cover the baby and I just put the toddler in raincoat and hat.
Probably more, but can't think at the moment. I have got some photos of the pram and toddler seat 'in action' if you want to see them - just post here and I can email them to you.
For us it was great, but I think it depends on what your needs are.

thanks js- I'm abit worried about the toddler seat not coming off easily- do you have to take it off to fold the buggy? we go out in the car daily so that could indeed be a major draw back if so. where did you buy yours? stockists are NOT easy to find!

I have the Emmaljunga and recommend it highly. The toddler seat is big enough that my ds1 (then 3 years old and very large) fit in it no problem. It reclines so that the toddler can sleep as well. It is very comfortable for them too. It even has a bumper bar (removable if you don't want it) for the toddler seat. They do a rain cover that fits over both the pram and seat (framed). The seat does not remove easily, but folds totally flat for when you fold the pram to fit in the car. The other major benefit of the Emmaljunga is that it has its own brand buggy board that goes on it too. My ds1 graduated from the toddler seat to the buggy board and loves it. The pram is pricey - but I think you get what you pay for. It is incredibly sturdy and will last forever. The seat can go forward or rear facing too. I live in central london and walk everywhere so rarely fold it, but it is easy to fold. When I bought it, we lived in the suburbs and I put it in the boot of my hatchback daily. It fills the whole boot, and is heavy to lift in though.

HTH

Know a Mumsnetter who also had an Emmaljunga like IlanaK's and was also thrilled with it. It was built really sturdily and has lasted through three quite closely-spaced siblings.
I thought it looked smart. Not for taking on buses maybe, it's on the big side, but you could smell the understated quality

I take mine on the bus all the time. It fits fine. The only downside is that you can't get on a bus if there is already a pushchair on there as it won't fit (whereas my Maclaren Volo will fir with one other). And on the 274 bus I have to get in the back doors as for some reason the space between seats to get to the pushchair area is narrower than on other buses.

Oh that's good then Ilana. We have a lot of buses round our way like the 274 though - anyone with a more substantial pram/pushchair is meant to get on the back door and some drivers are really spiteful about letting this happen.

alrighty, that sounds better if it reclines (toddler seat) alittle and folds with buggy. so where did you buy yours???
and anyone got a powertwin for comparision??
thankyou!

I bought mine from a local independant pram retailer. They are the only ones that emmaljunga sell through. If you go on their website, it tells you the stockists. If you want to save some money, they do come up on ebay second hand.

thanks just found the website stockists... we do have one not far away! dont you WISH all buggies/prams were for sale in the same place so you could try and see them all at once?