Pushchairs vs travel systems vs strollers... Confused!

brians_daughter

imo a travel system is best if you drive and use the car a lot as you can move baby from car to pram chasis whilst keeoing him/her in car seat fast asleep.

Big mistake i made was buying a travel system that had to be taken to bits before i could put it in the boot. ie the pram bit or the seat unit needed to be removed and then the chassis taking down... took up loads of room and was a nightmare if it was raining/windy etc

I have 4 children and for the last 3 have settled on a bugaboo bee, brand new they are very expensive but you can buy reasonably priced from ebay etc.

The car seat clips on (maxi cosi car seats), it goes down using 1 hand, is so small and compact, can be parent or forward facing and a big plus to me is you can change to hoods and covers so if in winter you wanted black cover/hood and in summer white you can do. Also handy if you have a boy this time but keep the system and have a girl next time. They also sell baby cocoons so your lo can be snug and compact and then you can use it without or with a footmuff later. All bugaboo items hold their value. I sold my last one for £20 more than i paid for it lol. And all my bits i made on too, I had the last one 2 years so not a bad return at all!

I have a 53 golf and could fit my bee and a weeks shopping in the boot

Only draw back is they are quite compact so only last my children until they are 2 -2.5, rather than 3 or 4 like bigger systems but would i just buy a cheapy umbrella buggy if i was to need one TBH all my children havent wanted to be in a pushchair after about 2yo anyway so never an issue for me but i know it would be for some ppl

brians_daughter

rockabelle wrote: »

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As for car seats - that's a whole issue I hadn't even thought about! I would have thought that it wouldn't be that much harder to have a car seat permanently in the car and put the baby in it, rather than detach it from the pram each time, but I think I'll do some more research on that.


Belle

Its my experience that newborns like to sleep when in transit so you will find (undoubtibly) that when you get where lo will be asleep in the seat..so you leave seat in car you have to wake them and move to a pram - they get cranky, you get stressed and it all goes pear shaped lol.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

AlternateMe

The car seat thing is another reason why I loved the Bugaboo Bee, especially in the beginning when he slept a lot and was inevitably asleep every time we arrived anywhere... We had the maxi cosi, plus isofix, so it was so simple- click carseat adapters onto bugaboo, click car seat out of car, drop out pram, et voila. As he got bigger I tended to just list him from the car seat to the pram though and he usually stayed asleep.

Janepig

We had a Graco travel system, which was well priced and sturdy and lasted well for both DD and DS. However, best thing ever was when both of them were old enough for a buggy (stroller). Lightweight bliss!!

Jx

Dinah93

When I was a baby my parents delight in telling me I not once went to sleep while stationary, I either needed to be walked miles in my pram, or go out for a short car journey. If mine turns out to be like I was the idea of not having to wake them to get them out the car seat seems more important than most things - but then we're in a fairly rural area, never use underground or buses and only the occasional train, but drive daily.

Going buggy road testing today as I've been put on bed rest with my pregnancy and it's only going to get worse here on in, so need to try them while I still can - wish me luck!

Dinah93

ginvzt wrote: »

With regards to the car seats, there is Jane car seat - is it Strata one? - that lies flat as well, so if you go for Jane travel system, you would only need the pushchair (seating bit) and the car seat, which can be used both in reverse position in the car, or as lie flat one taking up two car seats. I know they have a twin version travel system as well, but haven't seen it in reality yet - need to find the shop that stocks it. I am not sure if there is a base for the car seat - one of the things I was adamant I want.

I think it was the Jane systems I was looking at where they have the completely lie flat carrycot car seats? I was attracted to them at first as lie flat is a better position for the baby, then I read a 2004 Which? report which absolutely destroyed my faith in the safety of lie flat seats. I also got chatting to a mum who had one and said it was a nightmare, every time the baby coughed up a little something she had to pull over the car to stop it choking as gravity pulled it straight back down its throat - which isn't an issue really if you're pushing the pushchair but a real pain if you need to stop the car and get out to get to the baby. So now I've decided for peace of mind to sit to a more upright seat.

dizziblonde

Paid for ours today (out of stock so gets delivered in a few weeks)... in the end we did the 3 hour round trip to play with lots at Kiddicare, was well worth it in terms of getting help working out how to put them up and down, what parts needed to come off in order for things like carrycots to attach to frames (in the end the one we went for has to have the seat unit removed which is fiddly - but when you've got the stripped naked frame you can pop either the carrycot or carseat on and off easily - which is all we're likely to be using for the first few months anyway - so the seat can just be stored away until we need it) - was really worth it just to try everything out properly.

Gillyx

just a wee reminder for people recommending using the car seat, there are guidelines out there which recommend babies are not left in the car seat for longer than 2 hours, some of the Maxi Cosi brands say 4 hours. It does constrict breathing and can cause curvature of the spine, so even though it's easier just to lift the car seat out and clip it on, it's not always best for new borns, as they should be laid flat as often as possible.

brians_daughter

Gillyx wrote: »

just a wee reminder for people recommending using the car seat, there are guidelines out there which recommend babies are not left in the car seat for longer than 2 hours, some of the Maxi Cosi brands say 4 hours. It does constrict breathing and can cause curvature of the spine, so even though it's easier just to lift the car seat out and clip it on, it's not always best for new borns, as they should be laid flat as often as possible.

Just re this point our peadiatric consultant told me this is utter tosh and is advised by car seat manufacturers as standard, to cover their own backs for various reasons.

Sorry just had to point it out as i was scared stiff as dd had really bad refulx and was sick everytime she lied flat..so much so she would sleep in her car seat (allnight) i had read so much about constricting airways/spine problems i had scared myself daft.

Pead consultant said we were fine for her to sleep (ie 8-10 hours at a time) in the car seat as long as she was out of the seat as much as possible in the day time.

Just pointing this out incase any other mummies have babies with refulx who had been told by HV etc for lo to sleep in car seat

Gillyx

brians_daughter wrote: »

Just re this point our peadiatric consultant told me this is utter tosh and is advised by car seat manufacturers as standard, to cover their own backs for various reasons.

Sorry just had to point it out as i was scared stiff as dd had really bad refulx and was sick everytime she lied flat..so much so she would sleep in her car seat (allnight) i had read so much about constricting airways/spine problems i had scared myself daft.

Pead consultant said we were fine for her to sleep (ie 8-10 hours at a time) in the car seat as long as she was out of the seat as much as possible in the day time.

Just pointing this out incase any other mummies have babies with refulx who had been told by HV etc for lo to sleep in car seat

Well it's not what I've been told by various health professionals, and it's what I'll be sticking to for my baby. I appreciate that it worked for you, but I will listen to research and articles which have been published recently.

Obviously for reflux etc then maybe it's better but for the reasoning of "well it's easier for parents to lift out of car and onto pram" seems a bit silly to me.

Someone did post a few articles the other day about babies dying as a result of being in their car seats for long period of time, I will try and find them, but I can't for the life of me remember which thread they were in