UKC

Hi,

I'm goign to be a first time mom and I'm looking at some advice as to what buggy / carrier / sling to get for my baby (due in July). I live near Llanwrst in North Wales and am looking for something that I can take the baby out in when I take my two dogs for a walk and ideally look to go jogging with. I also need something that I can get in my car, won't hurt my back, and will be able to use occasionally around town centres (very occasionally).

In terms of buggy's I've been looking at the Mountain Buggy Terrain and the Urban, but not sure as they are both quite alot of money, wondering if I'd just be better off with a sling / carrier?

I walk alot on the beaches and on forestry type tracks with the dogs so need something that can cope with all that withough hurting my back. Also looking to do small hills, although this might be a bit ambitious on my part!

Cheers :0)

In reply to franny: From my perspective the big allterrain pushchairs are a nightmare, big, heavey and a pain to go anywhere with. We found that we never used our big buggy. If we bought again I would buy a small light buggy for around town and stick to the carriers for going offroad.

We had a small sling/carrier from mothercare for carrying little one around shops or short walks this could go on your front or back, and a big rucksack type carrier for long trips (think its the vaude jolly comfort which was great as its really comfy and adjustable).

In reply to franny:

On rough ground, a carrier is better every time. For small babies, the best sling we used was a Baby Bjorn. We also had a littlelife one, which was fine (and cheaper) but not quite as nice or as comfy. When they are over 6 months, one of the many Rucksack carriers will be good. Again, I can recommend Littlelife and VauDe. These won't be any good for running though!

Beaches are a pain with any buggy - outdoorsy or not. Soft sand and pebbles just don't go well with wheels. Forestry tracks are fine with our Mothercare My3 (a less expensive version of the posh outdoorsy travel systems). However, around town the My3 is a bit of a monster and we now use a collapsible McLaren thing that leaves some room in the boot for the shopping...

In reply to Monk: Completely agree with Monk i.e. Baby Bjorn and then a Littlelife for everything 'off road'. Both very comfortable even when the little one isn't any more. Complement with a cheap buggy for 'on road' and all is sorted.

In reply to More-On:

Totally agree with above. Baby Bjorn are fantastic from birth until 6 months and then littlelife carrier afterwards. It's tempting to spend a lot on a buggy especially for your first child but it's not always worth it our third child got a £20 from ebay buggy which was fine and light as anything. Carriers are fine and much easier then buggies if you go off road. Only thing that buggies have over the carriers is you can really wrap them up warm in a buggy and a buggy is a good place to get baby off to sleep.

In reply to franny:

Sling will win every time for rough ground, but if you want to run, you'll need somewhere fairly smooth, and a buggy. We had a mountain buggy urban, which was OK, but for serious running you'd be better with bigger wheels. The name of the obvious brand escapes me at the moment, I'll work on it....

Slings, take a look at www.slingguide.co.uk - personally I love woven wraps, but good option to start off is maybe a Caboo (used to be called Close) carrier for first 6 months or so, and a soft structured carrier like Ergo when they're big enough for back carries.

In reply to franny:

This is the one I was thinking of (although mainly because it was stocked locally, there are others)
http://www.outnabout.com/products/nipper-sport.asp

In reply to franny: , amongst others, also recomend baby bjorn (will probably have one to sell soonish)and a mac pac carrier. but for the reason i give on the thread, i d buy this if i were you (not connected in any way)

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=541259&v=1#x7256928

In reply to Carolyn: thanks guys will have a look at all those recommendations and links, a lot to think about :0)

Once you are through the Baby Bjorn stage the Macpac is the best option, we used others but the Macpac is easily the best if you want to travel properly into the mountains. Expensive though .....

In reply to franny:

My wife and I have used carriers for our 18 month old since birth and we wouldn't ever use a baby bjorn. The baby is suspended from their crotch, a position no adult would ever choose to be sat in.
In order to keep your baby safe and happy choose a carrier that supports their delicate joints by ensuring that the carrying position puts their knees above their hips i.e. the natural foetal position.

Please see link below for scientific explanation.

http://www.continuum-concept.org/reading/spinalStress.html

We have a mei tai which is lovely but if you are doing long walks a soft structured carrier such as an ergo would be good.

In reply to franny: Agree with Carolyn and adstapleton.

In reply to franny: we hardly ever used a pram/buggy with our 2. We used a papouse type carrier and a sling when they were tiny and a back pack when they could fully support themselves. The papous was great especially when used with the top part of my paramo 3rd element jacket, kept them warm and dry which is very important as they cool down quite a bit through not moving around much. I can't remember the name of the sling but it was very comfy on the back..still have it if you after one.

In reply to adstapleton: Never thought to hear someone decrying a crotch dangler on UKC!

Franny, there are lots of sling/babywearing forums and websites out there that might be worth a look. My OH used natural mamas a lot for buying and selling as well as advice.

We graduated through wraps to soft structured carriers as they grew. I like the Yamo (similar to an Ergo) but OH prefers a Calix. We have a Macpac papoose but only ever used it a couple of times because the kids feel massively heavier when they are held so far away from the back.

In reply to franny:

The other, more practical problem I found with carriers like the Baby Bjorn is that, because baby's legs hang straight down, as they get bigger, you bump your legs on theirs every time you try and take a step. I suspect this is worse the shorter you are (though I'm not short), so more of an issue for women than men, on average.

Many other types of carrier spread baby's legs and basically wrap them round your body, which keeps them out of the way of your own legs.....

In reply to IainWhitehouse: Thanks, have looked on the baby forums etc, but was wanting peoples advice who do alot of walking / running etc. Problem is I also suffer with a bad back so would need to be careful about what sling / carrier I get and don't want to spend a fortune to find I can hardly wear it :0(
From what people have said on here and the reviews I have read I think that I am still going to go for the mountain buggy terrain pushchair as I'll be able to jog with it and it has a hand brake, and the Ergo carrier which is supposed to be good if you have a bad back???? The only thing I don't like is that there seem to be loads of fake Ergo carriers around and I was hoping to pick a cheap one up off ebay.

In reply to franny:

baby bjorn is fine facing inwards (on your front) for smaller babies - it's turned outward position when a bit bigger that is more "crotch dangling".

I love the ergo (for carrying on back from about 6 months) - even though baby had ace head control before then had to wait until legs would comfortably open into the required piggy back pose. On back is so much better for your back.

If you love running - try make it you time and get a break from the baby (leaning to push might be bad anyway if you have a bad back). Alternatively you could run laps round a parked buggy.

Think I would get an ergo carrier - with the newborn insert if I were buying from scratch.

I prefer the ergo (soft structured type of carrier over rucksack/ frame type) as much lighter, can be carried easily in bag or bottom of push chair, can be used for assisted piggy back up to about 4 years old (dependent on size of toddler/ child. Whith the ergo the weight of the baby is much closer to your body, not levered outwards (if you see what I mean).

When they are little and on the front wear a big (partners?) coat if its cold - then you know they are warm - not dangling on the outside in not very outdoorsy baby coats/ suits.

Even on back you can kind of put your coat over them - depending on what you're doing.

In reply to franny: Sites like Natural Mamas are great for sling advice and they usually have very busy buy and sell boards. Beware though, there are some serious levels of obsession on there.

If you are going to be babywearing outdoors a lot it might be worth looking into getting a coat for the purpose. I had a Mamcoat, which had a zip in panel, could be put in either the back or front of coat. Really good quality Scandinavian designed and made coat which kept it's value brilliantly - I sold it on for 2/3 of what I paid for it after two years use.

In reply to Carolyn:

We've got the outnabout 360 and would highly recomend it, it gets a lot of use (and abuse) in our local woods.

In reply to Tricky Dicky:

I had a double version of this for my twins and it was great!

In reply to franny:

best carrier we have used is the Ergo baby carrier. Suitable from birth if you get the newborn insert. You can use it comfortably until the child is quite large! After using this I would never go back to a Baby Bjorn. The Ergo is so much more comfortable to wear and your child sits in a much more natural position. You can wear it on your front or back.


If you are after a off-road buggy I would get a Quinny Freestyle 3 wheeler. It has inflatable tyres and is so easy to push on the roughest of terrains. It is discontinued but you can pick them up on ebay for very little. We bought a whole system (pram attachment etc etc) for a song, although we never used the pram as we wore our kids until they were old enough to go in the buggy. The muff/ snuggler it comes with is very warm and cozy. It does take up a lot of room but if you have the space I would defo get one of these and also a cheap simple Maclaren buggy for town use.

We also have a rucksack carrier (Macpac or Littlelife I think) and this gets used more than the Ergo for long walks in the hills now that our youngest is 2 and half, but the Ergo would still work fine.

In reply to franny: I'll add a further recommendation for an Ergo carrier post 6ish months. Up to then you might be better off with a wrap type carrier (e.g. Moby Wrap) I found these can be arranged to pull more evenly across the whole of your back and can be used in more positions.

Also at some point (about 1 for my kids) your offspring might express some strong opinions on how they want to be transported which might help decide whether the $$$ is best spent on a fancy pushchair or carrier.