I'm a Baby-Stroller Shopper, and I want to ask anything...

[Regulator75]

Go to West Coast Kids (just off MacLeod and 71st SE) and test drive all of the higher end models. The staff is quite knowledgeable too.

http://goo.gl/maps/upvpv

[Fozzie_DeBear]

A coffee cup holder attachment is mandatory.

Also there are these jumbo carabinears that you can attach to the handlebars to add extra bags to if you need it.

The baby backpack from MEC is also another handy contraption.

[killer_carlson]

My wife went through a dozen strollers or more it seemed. This is what I learned.

You will need 2. A small one for quick trips for groceries that folds up small and can permanently be left in the car for storage. The second one will be larger and more durable for longer outings like the zoo, the park, etc. it should have bigger tires and be adjustable if your child wants to sit up or lie down. Get it big, but make sure it still fits through a doorway or lrt opening without having to be folded up, otherwise it is useless. Invest in a small tire pump and keep it at home. We have a chariot which is good. It also another one I like better and I'll have to look at the name and get back to you.

In my opinion, if you are going to skimp on something for budget reasons, the stroller is not one to skimp on.

As a final comment, if you are tall make sure the handle is adjustable up so you don't kill your back.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I just have no idea what the hell we will need.

A Porsche with a back seat.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by kermitology

I just bought a Valco three wheel stroller from KTrain. There are all sorts of attachments for that thing I can buy. He gave me a great deal on it. So maybe try looking on kijiji or something?

Truth. Don't get the car seat from an untrusted source as you need to know if wasn't in any accidents, but beyond that Kijiji is a goldmine of new parents that spent thousands of dollars on everything and need to unload. The "if I don't buy this kind of stroller my kid will likely die" can be your bread and butter. Use the Kijiji alerts so you can be emailed when high priority items are listed.

I almost want to start a baby monitor thread to stay on topic. I don't quite get the love for the video monitor. My opinion may be in the minority, but the monitor is one of the first things I try to get rid of once the nightly feeds end. Babies sound like they're suffocating literally all of the time. The worst sleeps of my life were the direct result of monitors and freaking out because my kid sounded like he was drowning 4x/night. What you choose to do is totally up to you, so please don't think I'm judging anybody or telling you what to do. Merely my opinion.

[Gundo]

Alright well as a first time father 6 month into my frist parenting job here is what we found when we were shopping.

We bought an Uppababy Vista stroller, it's phenomenal. My wife loves it, it folds down easily, doesn't weigh much and is amazingly maneuverable. When we were shopping for strollers my wife and I did the easiest test.....we just seen which model we liked would turn the easiest one handed loaded up. Sounds dumb but you would be amazing how many of the more popular 3 wheeled models are extremely difficult to turn one handed.

Toss in all the other extras you get with the Uppababy and it was the best bang for the buck we found. Bought it at Kacz Kids here in town.

As for the car seat we went with the Peg Perego Primo Viaggio Sip. This was picked after we bought the stroller. Uppababy only has 3 or 4 compatable car seats that you can buy brackets for so they can just snap in. We have no complaints and the reviews we read on it were phenomenal. And realistically my child's safety can not have a price tag.

We also bought one of the Angel Care video monitors, it has the breathing sensor, 2 way talking abilities and video. The video wasn't a huge deal until the last few weeks when we can now see when the little dude rolls himself into the side of the crib in his sleep and straighten him out if need be.

Those are arguably 3 of the larger INVESTMENTS you will make but they are all things that we have found make our lives easier and us sleep better at night.

A couple other must haves we found:

Diaper Genie....good lord buy a Diaper Genie. Refills are cheapest at Costco and they last a long time.

My wife says to tell you her nursing pillow called the Baby Buddy found at E Children is a must have. We had a $35 nursing pillow from Babies R Us but it sucked as was a waste of money. My wife says this is now the ONLY thing she will buy anyone for their shower gift. Apparently she likes it.

A good Swing to rock the little guy/gal to sleep so your lady friend can have a moment to herself. We have a Mama-Roo that our little guy liked the first 6 weeks BUT after that he stopped liking it and we got a $100 Graco swing from Babies R Us and it's the only place our little guy will nap for longer than an hour.

Hope that helps......if not please humor me and say it does so I don't feel I wasted 10 minutes typing all that

[Ashartus]

At first you'll want one of the bucket car seats that fits right on top of a big monster stroller - lets you transfer the baby without waking it up. Once they outgrow that car seat, get a good 3-stage seat that can convert from backwards-facing seat to forwards-facing seat to booster seat. I had bad experiences with Eddie Bauer car seats but really like the Britax Marathon. Also note if you're in the US, a lot of US car seats are not approved in Canada (just in case you come here to visit family).

A good umbrella stroller will be useful later on but you won't need it right away (you can't really use it until the baby can hold its head up on its own). You can just keep it folded up in the car for whenever you might need it. The cheap ones don't push very well so don't bother with them. You'll probably still want to hang onto the big stroller until your kid is walking - they usually have a tray for snacks that can keep the kid occupied while and the storage is handy when shopping. If your wife wants to go jogging for exercise with the baby or you anticipate taking a stroller on anything more rugged than a sidewalk you might also want to think about one of the three-wheeled ones.

For everything other than the car seats, try to get them used. There's pretty much an underground economy of mothers buying and selling used baby stuff because they go through a lot of it so fast. Often if you look after stuff you can sell it for pretty much the same price you paid for it in the first place.

[4X4]

I love the video monitor. Once she's in bed, we can keep tabs for a few minutes to make sure she falls asleep. If she wakes in the night, we can tell whether she's going to require attention or not by watching the monitor for a few seconds. If she's really moving around instead of just whining, then it's probably going to require a bottle to get her back to sleep. Sure, you can get up and walk to the baby's room and look for yourself, but in a two story house, that's annoying. And in the middle of the night, that's annoying. I don't want to get out of bed and walk down the hall, I'd rather grab the little machine and have a look.

A video monitor is like having a dishwasher. Sure, you can do the dishes by hand, but we live in 2012, and dishwashers can do the job just as well, for a few hundred bucks. A video monitor is $250 or less. It's WELL worth it.

[Canada 02]

my son puked last night; if we didn't have a video monitor, we wouldn't have know, and just thought he was crying

if you don't mind you baby sleeping in puke, cheap out and get an audio monitor

[Regulator75]

The AC1100 is an amazing monitor.

http://www.angelcare-monitor.com/Can...monitor-AC1100

I highly recommend it as well.
It's not crazy audio sensitive either, can't even hear him until he's actually talking / crying.

[Draug]

Originally Posted by 4X4

But ask yourself where you're really going that you need much crap? The maximum amount of time your newborn is going to be away from home is 2-3 diapers, a half a thermos of formula, and a thing of wipes. It's not like you need to pack a sleeping bag in the stroller. Maybe an extra sleeper.

Actually, we found you use the stroller to carry all kinds of stuff. Yes, you are only gone for 2-3 diapers, but consider a change of clothes, snacks, and a few toys as they get older. Plus, as you shop, you use the stroller to carry the shopping bags around the mall. Or, you go to an all day fair, such as the Stampede, and you use the stroller to carry suntan lotion, things you pick up, water for adults, etc, etc. Lots of room to carry stuff in the stroller is a huge upside for one, IMO.

[Gundo]

Originally Posted by Regulator75

The AC1100 is an amazing monitor.

http://www.angelcare-monitor.com/Can...monitor-AC1100

I highly recommend it as well.
It's not crazy audio sensitive either, can't even hear him until he's actually talking / crying.

I second this model

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

my son puked last night; if we didn't have a video monitor, we wouldn't have know, and just thought he was crying

if you don't mind you baby sleeping in puke, cheap out and get an audio monitor

If the kid is happy to sleep in puke, it's good with me. If it bothers him that much, he'll fuss enough about it that I'll go check on him. It's not like a video monitor let's you know they crapped their pants.

As for the comment someone made about the Porsche with a back seat....once they can walk, that's like the ideal car. I'm poor so I don't have a Porsche, but my 2 year old opens the door and pretty much gets himself in the car seat in my Mustang. We still have to help in get in the SUV. Since I put the car on the road for the summer...my back pain problems have been solved.

[Northendzone]

My only suggestion is to get one that is compatible with an ipoohed.......

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Draug

Actually, we found you use the stroller to carry all kinds of stuff. Yes, you are only gone for 2-3 diapers, but consider a change of clothes, snacks, and a few toys as they get older. Plus, as you shop, you use the stroller to carry the shopping bags around the mall. Or, you go to an all day fair, such as the Stampede, and you use the stroller to carry suntan lotion, things you pick up, water for adults, etc, etc. Lots of room to carry stuff in the stroller is a huge upside for one, IMO.

As they get older get a wagon, half the time the kid will pull it for you. When they get strong enough they can pull you.

[tete]

Congrats!

If I recall correctly, you guys live in Beltline, right? Are you planning on staying in the area? We live in Beltline and I find I get great use out of our larger stroller (Bugaboo Frog) for long walks up to the river/around downtown, and keep our umbrella stroller (Maclaren Quest) in the car for trips to the mall, etc. We used the bassinette attachment and car seat attachment on the Frog for the first three months or so, then moved to the regular seat. While I really like our Frog and am happy with it since we bought it second hand off a friend, if I was spending a chunk of cash on a new one, I think I'd look at either the City Select or UppaBaby Vista.

As for monitors - if you're in a condo, seriously, you don't need one. We're in an apartment style condo - 1900 sq feet, and we can hear her from anywhere in the condo. We never bothered with a monitor.

Car seats - there are bucket seats that go up to 30+ pounds now, but I think those are a bit of a waste since they start getting heavy to carry the seat by 15 lbs anyway. Our daughter isn't quite 15 lbs yet and I'm getting tired of hauling the bucket and am thinking of moving her to a rear-facing convertible seat instead soon (she's 7 1/2 months). How they fit with your stroller depends on your stroller's attachments. My frog had a Graco adapter, so I bought a Graco seat, while others can handle a variety of seats, no problem.

There is so much stuff you can get used on kijiji or other classifieds. Between our friends and work classifieds/kijiji, we picked up virtually everything second hand- clothes, crib, change table, exersaucer, swing, bouncy chair, play mat, co-sleeper, 2 strollers, diaper bag - some were loans, some stuff became ours permanently. It's been great.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

A Porsche with a back seat.

Hmm, having a baby to upgrade to a 911. I like the way you think.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Gundo

Hope that helps......if not please humor me and say it does so I don't feel I wasted 10 minutes typing all that

Some really awesome advice, thank you!

I think we need to hit up that Kacs and Westcoast as a lot of you have suggested. Seems like they have all the brands that people here are suggesting. Definitely pricey, but at the very least I can see what's out there, and go from there. Maybe there's some good used deals or maybe we'll find that we'll just get new.

Man, some good advice in this thread. Who knew CP knew so much about babies.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Draug

Actually, we found you use the stroller to carry all kinds of stuff. Yes, you are only gone for 2-3 diapers, but consider a change of clothes, snacks, and a few toys as they get older.

Wait, how many diapers do kids use anyway? This is probably horribly naive, but I thought they poop like 2-3 times a day max, like normal people.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Wait, how many diapers do kids use anyway? This is probably horribly naive, but I thought they poop like 2-3 times a day max, like normal people.

New born can use like 7-8 per day. As all they consume is breast milk/formula....they don't poop like normal people.