October 2012 Moms
stroller question: Usa vs Europe
I am FTM and we are looking around for our first travel set, we saw quite some that we like so far. They come with a stroller and car seat. However I have friends from Europe that work in newborn and kids stores and they are all saying that stroller should come with a car seat and a basket (design for newborn) that lets newborn "travel" in stroller in a laying position (laying flat) and that car seats should only be use for short trips that last 30 minutes or so. As FTM I am new in this and I don't know much about strollers so would love your opinions. Just want to make sure our baby boy will be safe when he arrives. Thank you!
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Re: stroller question: Usa vs Europe
In the US, only the very, very high end strollers will come with a "pram" attachment like you describe. Some other moderate strollers will offer them as an optional accessory. It is NOT necessary. If you get a stroller that can fully recline, you can just lay baby in it if that makes you more comfortable, but realistically, he'll be fine in the carseat for outings. When DS was really little, we were very rarely out of the house for more than 1.5-2 hours at a time, and even when we were out, he was often out of the carseat to nurse, for a diaper change, because he was fussy, etc.
In my quest for a stroller, I was discussing this with a friend and she linked me to the following.
https://www.sleepingbaby.net/carseats.php
With DS we did use a snap and go for a little while, but I just felt more comfortable wearing him. We did that a lot. Our stroller for him was a Maclaren Techno XT, it did lay flat but as a small infant he just looked so lost in there, not to mention he was not facing me. He had torticollis so his PT wanted him in his car seat only if we were in the car.
As I'm expecting twins this time, I'm not sure how babywearing is going to go. I think the risk associated with leaving baby in his car seat when strolling is pretty minimal.
I'm an American living in Europe and the stroller thing is way different (and way out of control) here. Here they normally come with the full system: stroller (with chair that detaches usually), bassinet (for new born stage) and car seat. Laying flat is recommended (for the first 6 months, which is insane in my opinion), but we didn't bother with a bassinet. First, babies hardly use them at all (a couple of months) and we weren't out walking around for hours and hours. We just used our car seat which attached to the stroller frame. Second, they say the bassinets are safe for the car, but they aren't really (they don't strap in very securely and baby isn't very secure either.
Also, people spend an arm and a leg on strollers here. We bought a fairly cheap one for over 300 euros (way more in dollars), but almost everyone you see has strollers that cost 800-1000 euros. No joke.
I completely agree with this. I'm an American living in England and everything here is about "health and safety." They way over-do it. I had a travel system with the pram (bassinet) and car seat attachment and honestly, I think I used the pram attachment once. It's just not practical. When your baby is asleep in the carseat already, you don't want to wake him/her up just to put them in a pram to hopefully (usually with fingers crossed) fall back asleep again. Much easier to just click in the car seat to the stroller. It doesn't hurt them and, as PP already said, the baby will be out occasionally anyway.
I'm also an American living in Europe, and I will be getting a stroller with a bassinet (well just because I really want a Euro stroller). Our last pediatrician in the US, told me when my second was born that leaving your infant in a carseat for long amounts of time is not good. We had just returned from a road trip from Kansas City to Asheville, NC and back. And in the short time, she started to get a flat head. He said that carseat attachments for strollers were only meant for quick trips in and out. He even gave me tons of research supporting that. I even think the APA agrees.
I would say go with a bassinet if you plan on walking a lot. I live in the city and its much easier to walk than drive. But if you live in the suburbs and will be mostly using a car with quick trips, you probably don't need the bassinet. Or you could go with my theory.... own a fleet of strollers!! Have you considered a Peg Perego? They offer strollers that have Pram like qualities but also take a carseat. The new P4 is pretty nice!