Buying Baby Stuff - Car Seats, Strollers

[fredr123]

There seem to be a number of new or about to be new parents on the board. Congratulations all. My wife and I are expecting our first in the first week of March. When the calendar flipped over to 2007 we panicked a little realizing the big day was quickly approaching.

We've already purchased clothes and diapers and stuff like that. However, we still need a car seat for the little duffer. There are giant $400 monstrosities at Toys R Us that operate as strollers with removable car seats. There are cheapers strollers that only work as strollers and then, of course, there are just plain old car seats.

From your own experience, can anyone recommend the best way to go? The wife is leaning towards one of the monstrosities since then you just unclip the car seat, pop it into the stroller and away you go. I'm thinking it might be a pain in the butt to clip in/out the car seat all the time. On the other hand, moving the kid might be just as much a pain. Thoughts?

[habernac]

the monstrosity is the way we went, and we're very happy that we did. Definitely much easier to unclip the cart seat and click it into the stroller. Worth every penny.

[Slava]

I am a relatively new father myself (1 1/2 years). I would definitely go with the stroller with a clip in seat. They are much, much more convenient. If your child falls asleep in the seat, the last thing you want to do is wake them up to buckle/unbuckle them!
The only possible issue that you will hear is from salespeople telling you about babies with flat spots on their heads if they spend too much time in them. We got a little paranoid about this, but our doctor told us that this is very unlikely, espceially if you don't leave them in the seat for 7-8 hours a day.

At the end of the day we went with a stroller that cost a lot, and had the removable car seat. We used that seat for the first year, and then "graduated" into the larger seats. My daughter walks now, and she doesn't like to be in the stroller, so in hindsight I might have spent less on that portion, but still went with the combined package.

Now that I've rambled along, I hope that this helps! PM me if you have any other specifics, I'd be gald to help out. Congratulations!!

[Frank the Tank]

Definitely go with the stroller/car seat combo. Our Graco one was really well made and not too expensive. About $300 if I recall.

And buy a crib soon. Ours took six weeks to come in and most places don't stock them. At least here in London.

[Frank the Tank]

http://www.toysrus.ca/webapp/wcs/sto...9848&nvalue=24

Ours is very similar to this.

[burn_baby_burn]

My wife and I are expecting any day. We went with the clip in seat. I was fortunate enough to get allmost everything free. As my brother has boys 3 and 2, and he and his wife were more than happy to unload all of the stuff on us. All the friends of mine that have recently had babies have the clip in seat as well.

[TimSJ]

i agree with the above about the clip in.. Travel system

We went with the Quinney Freestyle 4 and the wife loves it. I think it was about $400 at sears

Our Baby girl is 8 1/2 months old.. I am jsut starting to look for the next stage in Car seats.. Anyone have any reccommendations?

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

Definitely go with the stroller/car seat combo. Our Graco one was really well made and not too expensive. About $300 if I recall.

There's a reason why you'll see a ton of Graco Quattro strollers when you go to the mall. They're a great value. You can get a really good deal on them if you look for specials at The Bay or Toys R Us.

Clipping a car seat in and out of a stroller is easy. Much easier then strapping them in each time you get out of the car.

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

i

Our Baby girl is 8 1/2 months old.. I am jsut starting to look for the next stage in Car seats.. Anyone have any reccommendations?

We got This one and it works great. It was rear facing for awhile but works as a front facing and turns into a booster seat later.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

I'd vote monstrosity as well. Maybe I'm just lazy but every little convenience seems like a godsend when you have a kid, diaper bag, and assorted crap to lug around.

We have a graco something or other.

Tim: The move-up seat has been an issue for us. Both my kids outgrew the infant seat (i I think it was 26 inches long or 20 lbs...something like that) before 1 year old. So the next seat had to face backward for us for a while and then go forward. we actually had to buy 3 before I found one that sat at the proper angle while facing backward. If you can straight to forward facing it's probably just a question of what you like. If not make sure you can take it back. Again we have a Graco.

[fredr123]

Thanks for the advice. Looks like it's the monstrosity for us.

Did any of you have the misfortune of trying to bathe your first child in an apartment without a bathtub? The place we're at now only has a stall shower in the bathroom. Do you wash the dishes then the baby or the other way around?

[habernac]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

I'd vote monstrosity as well. Maybe I'm just lazy but every little convenience seems like a godsend when you have a kid, diaper bag, and assorted crap to lug around.

We have a graco something or other.

Tim: The move-up seat has been an issue for us. Both my kids outgrew the infant seat (i I think it was 26 inches long or 20 lbs...something like that) before 1 year old. So the next seat had to face backward for us for a while and then go forward. we actually had to buy 3 before I found one that sat at the proper angle while facing backward. If you can straight to forward facing it's probably just a question of what you like. If not make sure you can take it back. Again we have a Graco.

good to hear we weren't the only ones who had problems getting a rear facing seat for over 20lbs. None of them fit properly it seems. We finally decided to wait until he was a year old to put the forward facing one in. He's a little big for his original seat, but it'll work for a few more weeks.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Thanks for the advice. Looks like it's the monstrosity for us.

Did any of you have the misfortune of trying to bathe your first child in an apartment without a bathtub? The place we're at now only has a stall shower in the bathroom. Do you wash the dishes then the baby or the other way around?

we had a small plastic tub for our little guy, we put it right on the kitchen table. I think later in their first year, it'll be a problem as they squirm a little more and get bigger. Worked very well for us the first 5 months or so.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

i agree with the above about the clip in.. Travel system

We went with the Quinney Freestyle 4 and the wife loves it. I think it was about $400 at sears

Our Baby girl is 8 1/2 months old.. I am jsut starting to look for the next stage in Car seats.. Anyone have any reccommendations?

We went with this same stroller, for various reasons. Its a smooth ride! We went with a pretty basic Cosco seat (Alpha Omega) for the next one seat. We used it facing rear for a couple of months and then swtiched it to face forward. It is pretty good, and costs about $150. If you look at some of the Eddie Bauer and the like they are the exact same seat as this one, just with a different name stitched in.

[photon]

We went with a Peg Perego stroller/seat combo, they're like the monstrosity ones but are quite a bit leaner and fold up smaller, but still have the advantages of having the baby seat clip into it.

http://www.amazon.com/Peg-Perego-Pli.../dp/B00067X0Q8

Very happy with it.

The Bugaboo ones are super nice, but expensive.

http://www.babyproofingplus.com/cat129_1.htm

[Titan]

I would recommend going to Chinook at Saturday and look at the many, many you will see for ones you think you like. Then go to Kacz' Kids to look at a large number of models and get the help from the very helpful staff. Then, once you have identified a brand and model, shop around. The Bay, Zellers and Toys R Us often have good sales. You may also want to consider Ebay as well. We bought a used Peg Perego Pliko and it worked out really well. My Bro in law also bought this stroller and really likes it. Just make sure whatever you buy that it has a removable front bar, I think most of the modern ones do. Also, the bigger the wheels the better they handle snow and/or the beach. The quinney above would get serious consderation from me if we were having another - god forbid.
Congratulations and sleep all you can now, it will be your last for about 4 years, if you have only one!!

[Ironhorse]

One other question to consider: are you planning on having more than one child? The reason I ask this is because you will find that while the "all in one" travel systems from Graco, Evenflo etc are great, the quality is such that they will only really last one child. We killed an Evenflo set with our first child (and we are careful with our things), and now had to buy a new stroller etc.

My wife chose a higher end Valco stroller, partly due to the fact it has large airfilled tires and will handle snowy sidewalks much better. Nice and light to lift too. Quinny stuff is also good, and you can even get some models small enough to fit in a Mini . We bought a Peg Perego car seat with an adapter to fit into the Valco stroller.

If wish we had bought the Valco with our first child, as it is a much better engineered unit (aluminum, better seat materials etc). Then we could have used it for the second child also...

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Did any of you have the misfortune of trying to bathe your first child in an apartment without a bathtub? The place we're at now only has a stall shower in the bathroom. Do you wash the dishes then the baby or the other way around?

We have a little unit that fits into the sink, which works great for newborns. However, our 3 month old is now in a larger basin in the bath tub. You could probably fit the larger basin in the shower stall, I would think. Would probably do your baby for a year or so.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Interesting thread. My wife and I are expecting in early June, and she's been trying to talk me into one of the stroller/carseat combos. Sounds like I may have to loosen the purse strings on that one.

In terms of other baby-portability-aids--how many of you have used a Baby Bjorn? My wife got one on ebay, but my sister told us over Christmas that those things are crap, really uncomfortable for the baby. Any insights? We're pondering flipping the Baby Bjorn and going with a sling-type deal instead.

[Frank the Tank]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Interesting thread. My wife and I are expecting in early June, and she's been trying to talk me into one of the stroller/carseat combos. Sounds like I may have to loosen the purse strings on that one.

In terms of other baby-portability-aids--how many of you have used a Baby Bjorn? My wife got one on ebay, but my sister told us over Christmas that those things are crap, really uncomfortable for the baby. Any insights? We're pondering flipping the Baby Bjorn and going with a sling-type deal instead.

All depends on the kid I think. Its a hit or miss thing. Friends have them and their kids are fine in them. We got one as a shower gift and our son HATED it.