Baby on the way, talk to me about Push chairs/Car seats.

First of all yay! Due on Halloween lol

Secondly, oh dear god.

I'm looking at push chairs and car seats, what a mine field! Unfortunately we're the first in our group of friends so there's no hand me downs.

Is it worth getting one of the 3 in 1 sets or are we better getting separate pram and car seat and getting a pushchair later on?

We need some sort of semi-offroad ability as we have a lot of woodland/park walks pretty much from the door.

Any recommendations? I can shop for a several thousand pound pushbike with ease yet this has got me stumped! 🙄

Oh and I have a 55 plate Ford C-Max, I'm pretty sure I have isofix seat mounts, how do these work and does a pro have to fit the seat?

buy a cheap one……….cos she will want a dear one.
but when the time comes round again…….you will deffo buy a cheap one.

We've got a short wheel base 3 wheeler with 10" wheels and detachable carry cot and seat. It has been very good. Our longer wheel based twin that cost twice as much handles like a pig.

Mothercare Urban Detour.

http://www.mothercare.com/Urban-Detour-Xtreme-3-Wheeler-Travel/dp/B000IERJUW?_encoding=UTF8&

Congratulations. Our first little person is due early Sep, so we're in a similar boat.

After doing loads of research and speaking to various people, we're going to go with the Quinny Buzz (£400-£500 in most places). Have already got the Cabriofix car seat with Isofix base and most other stuff.

If you look around you'll get mixed opinions on virtually everything, but I guess that's the same with bikes and bits.

There is an American pushchair (check on Youtube, can't rememember the name) that looks pretty cool – they're a new model coming out around now.

What do your friends recommend?

Car seat / carrier – Maxi Cosi

Pram/ pushchair/ maxicosi with adapters = icandy, with colour pack to suit.

All from John Lewis Bristol, Gary.

Brilliant kit.

Here

We got a Jane 3 in 1 twin one, and for the first 6 months they are really good for getting them in and out of the car in the car seat, not sure exactly what the single one is like but worth further research. If you have more kids you will find yourself with an array. We had twins and I already have 4, 2 doubles (including a bike trailer that converts into a stroller and jogger), and 2 singles! Almost a grands worth 😯 , but will have around £600 of resale value when they are too old for them.

We bought a Micralite Fastfold and other stuff to go with it. Was the Which best buy, not mega expensive but we have had loads of people ask us about it. And it really does fold up and down in one second! Something you will really learn to appreciate. Also we had great customer service from micralite, over the last few year we have caught it in car doors etc and the company just sent us replacement parts free of charge. Cany say fairer than that.

From our experience it is definitely a better product than the quinny etc and cheaper too.

Pushchair – don't spend too much unless someone is going to spend a lot of time pushing it – its more important that it fits in your car/house/bus etc

And you'll be buying a stroller in 9 months time anyway…

Car seat – you need a rear-ward facer initially, then at about 8-12 months a forward facer. Buy one that does both, and you can also get them that fit onto a pram frame too (no experience tho'). When you buy, make sure you check it fits in your car, snuggly – and is easy to do.

At about 2-3 you'll be buying a bigger seat anyway.

Never buy car seats s/h, ever.

Same story, 1st due in August. We did a bit of research and ended up with a iCandy Apple cause it did all those carry-cot, pram, car-seat facing forwards and back things and was reasonably light to lift but still gives the impression it won't be too bad to push up the hill and into the woods.

Inherited an isofix car seat and base and looks easy enough to fit compared with the seatbelt malarkey.

Start ante-natal classes next week. Oddly either April or July, nothing in between, pray it doesn't arrive early 😕

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Had been looking at this but I guess looking and trying is best…

http://www.mothercare.com/OBaby-Zynergi-3Tec-Silver-Chassis/dp/B003NWDXNS/sr=1-2/qid=1277928683/ref=sr_1_2/278-1756688-0476264?_encoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=76425031&mcb=core

Push chair – Phil and Ted – expensive strong good for 2 kids at varing ages. Good resale value. Like a thompson.

Quinny Buzz here, 3 wheeler it's been mint couldn't recommend it enough. Although now we're on to the push chair stage it's become pretty useless when the weathers nice, but when the weather turns it will be back out i'm sure. Nice big warm seat for my boy to curl up in. We bought the Maxi Cosi car seat too, fixes straight on to your quinny buzz with attachments which are supplied, win win, so on your first few trips out you don't need to move baby from car seat to pram and potentially interupt sleep! Good luck mate, get all the sleep in you can now because you're going to miss it! On the plus side, kids are the best thing EVER, sure you'll love it though. 🙂

Go and try a load, what looks good on paper doesn't always feel good when you push them round a shop. we've gone for the mothercare spin, a big part of the reason was that you can detach the car seat from the base unit onehanded, which you can't with all the ones that take Maxi-cosis.

ps congrats 🙂

I'm an expert on this, my first is due on Halloween too (fright night).

Anyway, they are mind blowingly expensive, mothercare has loads, the assistants dont laugh when you ask if it can be fitted to your motorbike and the toy section is more interesting just leave your other half and mother in law to it.

We are getting one of these with all the car seat and bits an bobs its over £400
http://www.mothercare.com/dp/B001NM0NIS/278-6128150-4138057?_encoding=UTF8&mcb=core

we were going for that one right till the last minute a_a, when we changed our minds, the spin seemed smaller and more manoeverable (sp?) so we went for that instead.

Us too… we are getting a maxi-cosi mura 3 – can take the maxi-cosi cabriofix seat, a pram body and the seat rotates to fwd or rear facing. We need an off road one for springer spaniel walking. £500 for the lot inc the car seat.

We found a wee umbrella type push chair is very useful for malls and or busy streets, your baby will not fit in it yet, but after about 7 months or so they are lots less hassle than a buggy/3 wheeler for trips to super market etc. also take up less space in the boot of your car.
We got a Steelcraft one about 75 quid.

similar situation here – but our first is due in 2.5 weeks <gulp> . I'd recommend getting the Which? £1 trial as they reviewed loads and have all the crash safety tests as well the practical day to day stuff etc. We ended up getting a Britax 3 wheeler with car seat, isofix base and lay flat carrycot/car seat thing. We got it from babybabyonline.co.uk and saved a few hundred quid over the mothercare prices.

congratulations.

push chair – buy cheap.
Much better is to get a front Bjorn again baby carrier and then a rucksac one for when they are older.

Far more convenient, cheaper and does not fill up the whole car boot,
and to cap it all the baby loves looking at you are out from a high up view.

bugaboo bee, got off ebay for 250 easy small light buggy thats fab forward facing when older (no need for stroller) and good rear facing when shiny and new little person onboard.
good luck, get your sleep bank in credit

4 wheelers more stable but drive just as easily. You need to try them for yourself – we got the Mothercare 4 wheel one cos it fits me – excellent and takes a maxicosi car seat. Just got a babyjogger performance so the wife can run again – awesome.

get the bjorn and the rucsack from fleabay.

We had a Britax Vigour 3, it came with a car seat and carry cot as well as seat.
It's a 3wheeler that handled light off road really well, the carry cot for new born stuff was ace, and the car seat clipped onto the chassis…which means you don't have to transfer your sleeping little 'un when you get to your destination.
It rocked and held it's value really well when we sold it after our second grew out of the seat.

We were convinced by the Which reports where Britax seats always come out on or near the top…wouldn't buy anything else now.
Only problem is that it's quite bulky but will pack down if you take the QR wheels off.

Micralite again, really will go up or down really easily with just one hand, which doesnt sound much, but believe me, it is, also the angle of the handles is adjustable, which again makes a huge difference.

Really light,handles well, you can actually push and steer with one hand without any fuss or mither,folds down really small and pretty indestructible over rough/bad terrain as well. 10 inch pnuematic tyres and alloy rear wheels, plenty of pimp my tyres ops.

Ours has been through two kids so far and is just beginning to look run in. We've got a Quinny something or another as well in car no 2 and its not a patch on the micralite.

Mothercare my3 or m4 – we have the my3 – car seat/pram/buggy that we have used from birth to two years and will still be using for ages. Unlike most travel systems, it comes with everything and is pretty cheap to buy.

My only grip is that the tyres puncture too easily (buggy tyre technology is about 400000 years behind bike tyre tech) and it gets a bit flexy if you do a lot of off roading.

Oh and the micralite converts from a pram type thang to a stroller and back again if it needs to.

had all the prams under the sun but the youngest we used a Quinney Zapp for everything – awesome bit of kit and doesn't take over your boot/house.

car seat clips into it so suitable from birth.

Next thing if you can afford it get and Isofix base, brillaint so easy to use and safer to boot,

I won't put any of my kids in anything than an isofix seat now, reasuring to know the seats are mechanically fixed into the car and will not be coming loose.

Isofix should be the standard now for sure

First up, we have a Jane Slalom Pro (3 in 1 thing). Do not buy one of these, they are very expensive and rather crap. We used the car seat maybe two or three times before it was simply too small, and our lad was 3 months premature so even when he came home he was still only 5lb – I can't imagine a term baby using it at all. The other two attachments are largely ok; but the chassis has squeaky wheels, oscillating steering and a disc brake for which I have never seen any reason at all. It's also bloody huge.

Right…

Car seat: Worth getting one with a base that belts into the car and a seat that clicks into it. Much less faff – seat is out in an instant, base can be moved to another car in 30 seconds. I wouldn't bother getting one that fits onto a pram chassis – it's not ideal for them to be stuck in car seats for long when they're small and IMO it's unwise to be paranoid about waking them; lifting from one to the other has never been a problem for us.

Pram: We used our pram for maybe six months, so I'd guess a term baby would use it for three (?) – so don't fret too much.

Pushchair: Worth getting a decent, sturdy, comfortable, padded one at first since they'll want good support and they'll fall asleep a lot, and it'll be usable on rough ground (3 wheels generally helps since for really rough stuff you can lift the back and wheelbarrow it for a few yards – gets over tricky things much more smoothly). In time (6 monthsish) you'll also want a really compact folding one – we got one for £12 on Amazon and it's been great. Ideal for shopping trips and walks on the flat, but they're not good for falling asleep in or going over bumps.

So if it were me I'd look for a 2-in-1 pram/pushchair with the pushchair bit as a priority, and get a separate car seat with base. Then get a compact pushchair when they can sit up reliably.

Isofix, no idea.

Non-isofix is just as secure IF it's been fitted properly. Isofix is harder to get wrong, so less chance of it being insecure.

After going through kcuf knows how many, we have got a BabyJogger 3 wheeler for child 3, bought primarily because it was the lightest large wheeled 3 wheeler we could find. Folds up so easily even my wife can do it, and it's very very smooth to push. Our walks are forest tracks and so on, larger wheels really help on rougher ground.

Plus 1 for BabyBjorn as well though.

Don't worry too much about the car seat clipping into the buggy. Those seats only last until about 9 months, and babies that young will fall asleep very quickly in the buggy even if you wake them getting them out of the car. (And supermarkets all have trolleys that you plonk the car seat on as well).

First off congratulations – exciting times.

We bought a Mamas&Papas Pilko with matching car seat for our 1st one. The pram bit was great – easy to fold and lift, but we hardly used the facility to attach the car seat as the pram was far more comfortable and you don't need to worry about leaving little one in there for too long. Once he was a bit bigger (about 4-5 months)we converted it to pushchair mode. Only thing it is not great at is off road, but we had a BabyBjorn carrier for that. Eventually bought stroller at about 12 months. We then recycled pram and stroller for number 2 but bought new car seat. As alluded to above, Which have good regularly updated reviews on car seats.

Well I looked into this quite a bit and decided to buy from Ebay.

Bebe Confort stuff seems well made but heavy – goes for nothing on Ebay so don't buy new but could get a bargain 2nd hand.

Quinny – very popular so lots on Ebay and can get a good deal price but no bargains.

Bugaboo – very popular and hold value well; if buying new I'd go for one of these.

I ended up with a Bebe Confort car set which I got for £1 on Ebay – v good condition – mainly bought it as was given a Loola which looks good, folds up well but is very heavy.

I also bought a Quinny Freestyle in good condition for offroad which came with car seat and cot. I then bought a Quinny Zapp which folds up well and is light and works with the car seat.

I probably spent £150 on that little lot and all in good order – check them out on collection – esp car seats which are often made with polystyrene so don't want that damaged.

To summarize some of the good points already mentioned and add some of my own experience:

Car seat, buy new for re-assurance of safety. Our Graco one has a flexible canopy on it, which has been great for protection from sun & rain, recommended. Car seat adaptor for pram probably not worth it (ours is still unused after 9 weeks). If its a quick dash into a shop, just carry the car seat. If its a longer trip, baby should come out of the car seat and into a bassinet or baby harness anyway.

Pram, buy cheap or second hand. You'll want to change it soon enough once you've got some experience. We bought a Bugaboo second-hand for the same price as others are new, but actually sold it on for a small profit!

Baby-Bjorn type harnesses are ideal for off-road walks, although babies head may be too bouncy in the first few weeks.

Definitely a good idea to try and get some hands-on testing time before purchase. Things to consider:
1) If you're tall, make sure the handles are high enough to push without stooping.
2) Make sure that the folded pram fits in the boot of your car. They take up a surprising amount of space!

We have managed to acquire a Baby Bjorn harness which is good.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I think I'm going to get that Which trial as well.

I think we'll go new because parents and grandparents will be desperate for stuff to buy no doubt 🙂

As above: http://www.babyjogger.com/city_mini_lp.aspx

Unless your other half is built like a shot-putter or doesn't mind weight…

Don't forget as the baby grows so will its weight added to the pram and paraphernalia. The Babyjogger is HALF the weight of alot of them, it springs up and down with one hand and it can be used off road.

…unless of course Mummy wants to be a Yummy Mummy and have a 'Audi' to show off to the other mums then she needs to spend £700+….

Ours (including a seperate child seat that lives in the car) cost £200 all in.

Forget getting a pram / pushchair, and get a baby sling. Makes life a million times easier, the babies like it more as they are closer to you, and you don't have to spend 15hrs packing and unpacking those monstrosities of push chairs from the car.

LHS has a point- we have a sling and I prefer to use it when walking the dog- popping out somewhere. Then it doesn't take FOREVER going up and down kerbs etc etc.

First, congratulations 😉

I haven't read all the other replies but my experience:

Got a quinny buzz / maxi cosi to start and also the cot bit for the buzz (which basically made it like a three wheeled moses basket). We used the cot bit twice and sold it so I definitley wouldn't get one of those again.

We got the isofix base for the maxi cosi in the car and I reckon that was good as I wouldn't want to be faffing with the seat belt all the time.

The Buzz itself was good but after about 9 months, it became unweildy compared to using the Maclaren Quest buggy we got which is light, easy to use (fold/unfold one handed) and much smaller.

FWIW, the Buzz is pretty quick to fold but it is pretty big in the car – if you have a small car (think Peugeot 206) then you may have to take the main wheels off it each time to fit it in which would be a pain (fitted ok in our Focus though) though it can be a good thing if you're travelling and need to pack it right down.

A couple of points to consider for buggys if you're tall like me – first get one without a back axle – that's why we went for the Buzz – or you'll be kicking it all the time. Second, get one with adjustable handle height, particularly if your other half is much different height-wise to you.

Just makes you look like swampy…

Whatever you get, make sure it fits easily in your car, is light enough to lift in and out and is easy to fold up and open out (one-handed if at all possible).

My brother in law has one that folds with one strap – just lift it by the strap and it releases/folds in one movement. It weighs a sodding ton though so his mum can't even lift it in and out of the car when she is babysitting.

Cheers again guys! I'm only 5'8" and we have a C-Max so all good on that front.

Interesting about the mixed views on the pram attachments and getting separate car seats…

Not a total yummy mummy, just want to make sure it's good enough quality as it will see a lot of offroading where we live.

I'd consider whether you actually need a pram for the first few months. It's perfectly possible to do without. I used a wrap style sling in the early days and then an ergo carrier later on. Far easier than pushing anything off road.

Babybjorns are potentially harmful in the sort of support they provide, you might want to do some research before deciding whether you want to use it or not.