New baby, new dog, new car…little help

Congrats OP! Welcome to the fun/chaos. Our first will be 6 months old at Xmas 🙂

Consider the height of the boot, my little Jeep Renegade is quite tall which means the buggy (a bloody big but excellent Uppababy Vista) easily goes into the boot upright with wheels on, I bungee it to the rear of the back seats, then the dog goes in afterward. Backseat is then filled with buggy seat, car seat, change bag etc. Works nicely for day trips at least, and at 6ft I also don’t have to stoop down so much to lift 25lbs of baby and car seat in & out. I’d like to think it gets easier once they’re walking, but I suppose then you’re just ferrying balance bikes and helmets and scooters etc about instead. For now we rarely use our ‘main’ car which is a 5-door Golf, as dog + bambino + bits doesn’t fit in there.

We used to have 2 cars, 2 kids and 1 big black lab

I have a 5 series estate. Big and obviously no issue with fitting everything in

My wife has a 5dr Civic, not new but the one with the lift up seats etc

The boot is big so would fit the buggy etc fine in the boot, and obviously the kids in the back, but if she wanted to put the dog in then he was on the front seat. We couldn’t all get in there

Now have a 2nd dog and gone down to one car. 2nd dog is another black lab so he’s going to be big too. There was no way on earth we could keep something civic sized. Even something 3 series sized would be rubbish as the boot really isn’t that big. Also many modern estates have the fastback type rear so they’re really not that big – the dog can’t be right at the rear

Wife really wanted something small but the reality check of 2 big dogs, 2 kids, and doing things like car holidays (which still need a roof box) and day trips meant that she agreed that we had to get a big car

We have an e class estate now. It’s HUGE, bigger than the 5 series. No problem fitting everyone in, obviously, and it makes day trips away much easier.

MPVs are an excellent option but I can’t deal with having one of those

So I’d say you should reconsider the car, aim for something with a real size boot, buggies take up a lot of room and the crap you’ll end up carting around is unbelievable. Especially if you go away for a few days

A few months ago I was in the same position as you! New-ish dog and baby on the way

We went for a ford cmax and so far it’s working out well

We have the baby in the car seat, the dog also on the back seat but tethered so he can’t get to the baby. The boot is big enough for the buggy but not much else.

The boot is a good size but buggies are just massive. When she’s a few months older we can downsize the buggy a bit.

Taking another passenger is tricky if we’ve got the dog with us, so at some point he’ll end up in the boot.

Not sure we’d ever have space for a 2nd dog, and there’s no way we’d consider it anyway.

Also a 2nd kid might not fit either but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves!

A few thoughts from me –

RE buggys/prams/cots/stuff/carseats with babies.
It is amazing how many people buy a new big car to cope with the new big monster truck buggy they bought for a tiny new human. We always used a small folder buggy – even as a baby we had one that took a car seat and then folded small. We had a double small folder as well for a year. Why buy huuuuuge seats and buggies – small and compact works well.

Sounds like an estate as a minimum – not a big inside footprint, but need a big boot…Smaller people carriers are so practical and tardis like. Ignore the lot who want to stay cool while having a family…

2 kids + big dog myself. Sliding doors for the absolute win.
Have friends who when pregnant adopted a cat to go along with their slightly mad dog…worst idea ever.

Grand c-max?

I’d echo some of the posts above – please don’t get a second dog before you’ve had the baby and got a feel for whether it’s manageable.

I lost the battle on getting a second dog and it’s extremely difficult managing a baby and two dogs – as others have said some of this is just the practicalities of controlling a pram and two dogs or space for everything in the car but the bigger issue is that when the baby is sleeping and the dogs need a walk it just gets very difficult juggling everything through a period in which you’ll be very tired to begin with.

In reality, babies consume huge amounts of time and attention and that means that the dogs will be getting less fuss for quite a long period. Unless you’ve got someone on hand / family close by to make sure the puppy gets plenty of training and attention you’ll find it difficult trying to balance a baby, train the puppy, walk the other dog etc. One practical point to consider is that until it’s 9+ months old the puppy will need shorter walks than the other dog so you’ll land up doing two walks or having to come home half way through a normal walk.

Ignore the lot who want to stay cool while having a family

I’m not sure an E class merc is ‘cool’. But it’s possible to have an estate and for it to work fine. People carriers have only become a popular thing in the last 10 years really, although they’ve been around for ages. Estates were the default option before that

There is no doubt they are practical though! I’d go for the sharan/galaxy or s-max if I had to. Maybe just straight into a Kombi though

I forgot to point out that our kids are 13 months apart, so we had double buggies (two), plus single buggies (two) for when you don’t need the double, plus buggy board etc. We had a set for each car and they were different enough to be separately useful.

We’re now buggy/nappy free and life is a lot easier. But we filled the space with a 2nd dog who’s only going to get bigger (currently about 5 mths)

Don’t underestimate the usefulness of a flat loading area (people carrier or estate). It makes an excellent nappy changing area, also useful for shoe/boot changing or just sitting on

Sorry about that wall of text. That was as concise as I could get it! Hope it’s all useful
One point of note, with small children you end up taking almost as much stuff going anywhere for one night as you do for a week or longer. Once you can do 48hrs it’s just some extra clothes and toys really.

Oh, and get towbar. Bikes on the back, roofbox on top, dog in boot. Don’t think you’ll have time or energy to be taking the roofbox off its bars and putting a bike rack on instead. Go for a separate towbar rack!

We get by with a Fabia estate butvI recon our lurcher folds up smaller than an old english sheepdog!!

I know lots of people have said this already, but I just want to echo the point about holding off on the second dog. Our daughter is 7 months and I couldn’t imagine having one dog, let alone two. I don’t know how people cope with more than one baby and have the upmost respect for those that do!!

I’m sure your partner/wife/other half will be grateful once the baby has arrived if you hold off on the dog.

We’ve got a citreon cactus which we’ve coped with so far, it has a pretty big boot, but we can fill it up easily. We’re going away for a few days early next year, I’ll take my bike on the roof, but I don’t know how we’re going to get all the other cr4p in the car!! Definitely going bigger when the opportunity arises.

Also, you can’t really rely on planning certain stuff at this stage. I looked forward to getting the little one in a sling, but she was so tiny at birth that it wasn’t an option. We had a babystyle oyster travel system, but she never settled in that so now we’ve got a babyjogger summit and that is the best thing we’ve bought.

STW dadsnet was great in the early days, good, honest, practical advice from other dad’s that have been through the same sh!t your going through!!

Our daughter is 7 months and I couldn’t imagine having one dog, let alone two. I don’t know how people cope with more than one baby and have the upmost respect for those that do!!

this times several thousand!!! (we’ve got a 6month old)

Well after a long chat with the Mrs shes on board with not getting a 2nd dog. 100% certain our current pooch and a baby will be more than a handful.

We’ve also managed to narrow the car choice down to either a focus estate titanium or a pug 308sw blue tdi. Both at a local dealer which we will go see this weekend.

An old ex of mine makes loads of different types of slings, fully certified so I’m quite confident she can make something for our little one that will fit snug.

Thanks again guys, really appreciate the advice and experiences people have shared.

In contrast to most people here I think the space requirements are being over stated. We have a Suzuki ignis. Pram fits in boot. Room for a couple of rucksacks for weekend. Travel cot and bag with baby seat next to baby. We don’t have a dog but the point is we don’t struggle in this small car so a medium sized with a dog is no bother.

Something else to consider for seating arrangements is that it isn’t recommended for new borns to be sat in car seats for long periods. A guy at work used to drive back to Poland with his young kid and had a carrycot that was held by the seat belts. It let the baby lie flat for extended periods but took up 2 seats.

Congratulations, nexf week is the 10th anniversary of bringing Jnr back from the hospital. Doesn’t seem that long ago he was a mewling puking bairn. Now he’s got the winter vomiting bug tonight makes it seem a case of deja vu! Looks like it’ll be a long night keeping vigil.

OP – you’ll be fine. Don’t stress the kit in advance. The most important thing is to savour every moment.

Every single moment.

When our first arrived we had a couple of estates, 3 and 5 series beemers and 1 medium sized dog. Was definitely easier with the bigger car. Boot full of stuff and dog either in front or back on seatbelt harness depending on if somebody needed to amuse the small boy.

Fast forward a few year and now up to 2 kids and 2 medium dogs and we are now resigned to roof box if we are going away and that’s with a 5 series tourer and an X5. Yes we could slim it down but 2 dogs take up space and so do kids and their debris.

Big estate is deffo the way forward for ease but don’t think you’ll escape the roofbox if you are going away for more than a weekend.

Our plans to use the wifes Panda 100hp are optimistic then? Although we don’t have a dog and are pretty certain we’re expecting just the one.

Got an old Octavia estate too, but that is more like a skip with a roof, if we had a dog it would probably turn its nose up at it.

We have no dog but do have a 12 week old baby.

The wife has a 5 door Fiesta, the boot is pretty full of travel system. But for day to day getting around it’s perfect.

I’ve got an Accord Tourer, the boot is huge, it swallows pram/buggy and whatever else we need no problem.

I’d err on the bigger side of things personally, especially with a good size dog in tow.

estate car for sure – just about enough room for the buggy/ pram, all the bits and bobs and a cage for sticking the mutt in

Ive been using a golf estate for the last few years for the same reason

timber, the Panda might be alright, again it’s quite a boxy little thing so you might get the buggy into the boot folded upright (I used to have a black ’57 Panda 100HP and loved it, he wasn’t too happy about it but I used to get the dog in the boot of that too haha)

RE: huge buggies – would be nice to have a little folder but having big wheels means I can push the lad around a muddy field while flinging the ball for the dog, he sleeps, dog knackered, everyone’s happy! Also GF doesn’t use her car all week, she can fit so much stuff in the cargo hold of the monster truck buggy that she can just walk into town instead, while pushing along half a weeks food shopping + change bag.

Timber: you need one of these. I can get it and the basinet and some shopping in the boot of my 500. In the Yeti it stands vertically on the right of the boot meaning the dog and a pile of shopping will fit. Big wheels means it works like a jogger on rough ground.

We always used a small folder buggy – even as a baby we had one that took a car seat and then folded small.

This is the correct answer. We leave the monster truck in the hall and keep a small folding buggy in the car boot. The seat reclines completely flat so we could use it with our newborns. Though I’m much less keen on attaching car seats – as others have said it’s maybe not the best idea to leave babies in them for long periods of time.

We don’t have a dog, but two young kids plus assorted paraphernalia, all our camping gear and bikes fit in a C-max, roofbox and bike rack. One child and a dog would work very well in a c-max because you could take one or two of the spare back seats out.

hot fiat – like that, will remember that one, nifty origami folding

jimwah – Black 59 plate, can’t imagine it being a car to induce sleep, if you aren’t skipping along the road surface you’re attempting 3g around a corner, much fun for the driver, not so much passengers. Had heard that the Panda will take buggy upright in the boot. Was going to get a spare parcel shelf to butcher so as to hold one in place.

You need fiat coupe bump stops to replace the overly long rear ones in the panda. That and a set of koni FSDs tranform the ride. Otherwise it just sits on the rubbers and pogos like an old Mini.

On a long list of stuff to do, just getting everything out of the stock ones for now.

Was looking at the focus estate till I realised the seats in the back don’t fold flat. Got Avensis tourer instead.

Just get a VW T5 Kombi or similar. Dogs, several bikes, buggies and everything can just be wheeled straight into the back. No faffing around folding anything away or taking wheels off bikes. Throw everything in and go..

Weekend of test drives later…

Driven 3 cars over the weekend, Focus estate titanium, pug 308sw allure blueline 120hdi (etc etc etc) and a Hyundai i40 1.7tdci (automatic). all 13 plates and diesel.

Wasnt impressed with the focus and the boot was the smallest out of the lot, obviously just seemed like a bigger version of my old focus so no real comparison to play.

The pug, well, its french for a starters, MASSIVE boot which the mrs loved, its the cheapest of the lot so high contender.

The i40 was a last minute choice…saw one drive past and thought oo, looks nice – quick google later and we were at a Hyundai garage. Was my favourite car and ticked all the boxes for tech other than price, 2k more than the budget 🙁 lovely to drive and parked it like a boss, I can barely park a fiesta properly…god know show i passed that part of the test.

So its either the pug 308sw or the i40.

In easier news, first baby scan on Wednesday, such excitement in our household 😀