Sister is expecting, which means she’ll have a newborn and a 2 year old. Looking for some pushchair advice. She’s been looking at various types of systems (see pics below) but she’s asked me to help out and I’d love some real world (OK, STW is about as far away from the real world as … 😉 ) advice.

Phil & Teds

Being as my wife is expecting twins in June ( 🙂 ), I am becoming a bit of an expert.

The Phil & Ted one is fantastic, but it is HUGE when folded down – we couldn’t get it to fit in our medium sized 5 dr (Mazda 3) by some margin. A good alternative is the Out and About twin 360 – a similar design, half the price and folds down smaller.

A fantastic light-weight and very compact one is the We2 Twin – it folds down to a size smaller than some single chairs.

Personally I wouldn’t go for a front/back design as they are very heavy to lift up kerbs etc and the child in the back gts a pretty rubbish view.

I’ve read a lot of very mixed reviews on the Phil & Teds. The We2 one looks interesting. ALso looking at the Silver Cross Pop Duo – as we have the single and it’s top.

If she is into running or does lots of walking then Bob strollers are very good.

http://www.bobgear.com/strollers/

I don’t have a double but the ironman has been fantastic.

As the eldest is 2, I would imagine s/he will soon be doing lots of walking so I would think that focussing on a lightweight would be a good bet. Obviously the newborn needs to be flat though, so it wouldn’t be ideal for long periods. I couldn’t believe the We2 – it folds so easiliy and is REALLY compact – well worth looking at.

Just a point of note on M F’s comments the phil & teds is well balanced as a double (for kerbs) better than the single buggy we had previously.

I would also surggest that she concintrats on what the newborn needs as our 2 year now walks every where and we have been buggy free since december which makes trips out so much easier.

have the bob revolution double which is brill.
and the single.

the only way i would say that the tandem phil and ted beats it is that the kids sit in-line where the kids are side by side in a bob otherwise the bob wee’s all over the p&t.

Sorry – my fault (got mixed up) – I didn’t mean the Phil & Ted’s when I said it was huge – I was thinking of the Mountain Buggy. Don’t know much about the Phl n Ted’s one.

We bought one of these second hand for about £10 and it was brilliant. Doesn’t look like one of those off-road 4×4 types, but much more useful. Chair can point forward or back (which is much better as you can actually talk to your child as you’re going along) and can also be reclined right back so baby can sleep. Also it has a V useful hard plastic tray under, which is good for shopping and also can be used like a buggy board by elder child. 14 months between our 2 and it worked brilliantly. Whole thing can be folded very flat to go in car and still leave room for bikes etc in back.

With all the comments about the older child walking etc the P&T is good because it is flexible and can be used as a single. Dont know if any of the side by side ones can?

M_F I was going to mention I’ve had the P&T in the boot of a clio….

We have a Mothercare double buggy.

Urban Detour Odyssey Twin 3-Wheeler Pushchair – Sunshine

It is enormous (fills the back of an Almera with wheels off) but rolls really easily even when loaded with a 3yr-old, a 9-month old, buckets and spades, like-a-bike and bits of shopping.

Depends what you use it for – Wifey covers several miles a day and Thump can get a lift when tired from cycling or have a sleep etc.

We have the Navy Blue Phil & Ted shown above. Used it for the newborn & his almost 2yr old brother.

they are very heavy to lift up kerbs etc and the child in the back gts a pretty rubbish view.

Not in our experience. Both still happy to go in, bigger one usually in the back, & they are now 20 months & 3yrs. It’s the only 2 seater we found that could be steered with a single hand. I’ve even rode alongside on the bike while pushing it with two on board. We have a cheapo side-by-side double buggy (McLaren) thats pants by comparison.

Doesnt fold up too small, but with wheels off it will go in the smallest of boots. A great design & the cocoon for new-borns is an absolute godsend, honestly.

Is your cocoon surplus to reqirements now taki?

As above re: 2 year old. Get them to walk more, but have the option for them to be pushed when they tire. We fitted one of these “Buggy Boards” to a regular pushchair: http://www.buggyboard.info/page.php?buggy=111

We have the P&T for our now 23 month old and 6 week old boys. Works well; pretty compact, folds small enough (goes in the boot of a Golf no problem). You can now get an adapter for it for a maxi-cosi car seat, so all good really. I’d by another one if faces with the decision today.

Some decent prices around too – these guys often have them on offer:
Kiddicare

Nick

def go for a side-by-side one rather than a ‘you sit here and have a nice view, and you sit in this bag and not be able to see anything’ one.
Highly recommend the Baby Jogger City Mini. More compact than most singles!

http://www.babyequipmentcomplete.com/google_detail.php?id=k726037&form=1&gclid=CIK9z_an3ZICFRo71Aodq2Qu_A

another phil and teds fan here. Have a 2 yo and 6 month old and not sure what we would do without it

def go for a side-by-side one rather than a ‘you sit here and have a nice view, and you sit in this bag and not be able to see anything’ one.

utter bollocks – side-by-side chairs are waaay to cumbersome unless you have an MPV/massive house and only shop at the mall.

sorry – that sounds harsher than i intended

Mosy side-by-sides are very little wider than singles – they are designed to go through standard doors nowadays.

The We2 side-by-side also folds down as small or smaller than most singles too.

But as parents-to-be of twins we have to get a sidey anyway as no front/backs will take a newborn in the front seat (apart from one which gets slated in all reviews for spontaneously folding down).

There must be someone selling theirs 2nd hand on here .. since there appears to be so many people with kids. Worth advertising on classifieds.

Had a P&T’s for 4 years. Fitted into the boot of a mk 1 Focus easily. Absolutely battered it for 3 years, but didn’t really use it for the last year or so. Managed to sell it for £160, better condition ones sell for more, so while it’s quite an outlay you do get a fair chunk of the money back.

bernard…wouldnt bank on it mate.
She’s had that look in her eye with a couple of her mates dropping babies recently.
I’ll ask though.

Hey AB.I congratulate you as expecting niece or nephew soon.So now you are looking for good pushchair to carry the baby.My suggestion is to use Disney Pushchair as it has got some best features which make the baby feel comfortable while riding in it.I am saying all these things because I am currently using it.

Every single person I know who bought a big, expensive, pukka pushchair (3 wheels or 4) has ended up buying a £50 ‘umbrella’ folder and use that more that the posh one, especially once past about 6 months.

We had a small, narrow (relatively) side by side (aria?) that was more like a small folder, was narrowish. Neither MrsOAB or I could ‘wheelie’ a front and back one over a kerb.

So much for my advice! After saying front/backs were a pain etc, we have ordered one of these… Zoom Twin

We only got it as it is a travel system too and VERY easy to dismantle etc. Also has a carrycot and the seats can face you, out OR each other so it is fantasticly adaptable.

It IS looooongthough, but we will have to learn to live with that.

upto £830 – for a buggy? 80 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯

A buggy, car seats, carry cots. And more £££££££ than that too!

:-O

One of those deckchair style mclaren stripey oldschool ones is all that is needed. Just tell your baby to HTFU.

But quinny’s are quite good and go on a plane as hand luggage too which saves waiting around at the special items bit when you go on hols.

Well the twins are our first and we are new to all this. Added to that my wife’s mum and dad are paying for it and we just want to ensure we have the best available. I KNOW all these stories and recommendations should be taken with a pinch of salt (such as max. time allowed in car seats, keeping newborns flat etc etc) but I would hate for anything to happen and for us to reflect on what we COULD have done.

Also, we have a wedding to go to about 2 weeks after the birth which is a 2hr drive away anyway so a nice simple travel system with carrycots etc will be ideal.

Anyway – a £400 bike will do pretty much as good a job as a £5k onefor the vast maority of us, but that doesn’t stop us all spending ££££££££££s on stuff does it?

I’d go for a buggy board – a little platform with wheels that clips on behind the pushchair that the 2 year old can stand on.

You can fold it up out of the way if your not using

Our 3 girls used it an thought it was great (23 month and 2.5 year gaps). they have even been known to fall asleep standing up on it 🙂

Top tip.

When using a buggy-board, don’t go running up and down the street doing sharp turns/slalom to keep the buggy-board passenger occupied.

Invariably it leads to the boarder being flung off and, as you try to catch them, the buggy tips up – leaving you with a screaming baby and a 3yr old scared to get back on the board.

(From my personal experience -I am a bad uncle LOL)

Well, the upside of the P&T is two-fold: you don’t have to buy another stroller when the 2nd one comes along and baby can lie flat. We took good care of our Phil and Ted stroller and it lasted 4 years. Loved that little Katrina could sleep soundly with Ryan up front

We had a bugaboo, lightweight and very adaptable. Number two comes along so we get a Phil and Ted, the older one walks all the time but it’s very handy when she gets a bit tired. We call the back her ‘den’. Now we are soley using a stroller.
A black P&T Sport thats earnt its stripes with doubled kit and cocoon/raincover/ adaptors will be sold off very soon hopefully.