We have got two stroller aged kids, and have the following set up:
My wife’s car: a yoyo and a joolz aer, with a doona car seat that converts into a stroller (she uses it as a stroller when the baby is sleeping so she doesn’t have to pick him up and put him on a stroller).
My car: mama’s and papas (its bigger and more rugged than the yoyo and the julez, heavier so good for outdoors and placing heavy bags on them without tipping over) and we can attach a bike on to it that acts as a second stroller. Car seat in my car is cybex.
I would talk to your pediatrician, but usually for those types of strollers it depends on head and trunk control. So if your baby has really good head and trunk control, then they can use those strollers. I have four kids within five years and we got a lot of use out of the doona and uppababy vista
The one thing I would look at is how often you’ll be using your stroller. If you’re using it almost every day, I would invest in a really stroller, which means potentially a higher price. Also, if you are looking to have more than one child you’ll want something that lasts. Because think about it you’ll be replacing a cheap stroller, especially if you’re using it a lot. I heard Mockingbird and Zoe are good strollers. Check out consignment stores in your area.
I said I would NEVER buy a stroller that expensive but once I started asking for advice while I was pregnant with my first and then we actually went somewhere to test it out, I was sold. We travel a lot and that stroller has taken a beating and it is still in great condition.
I don’t recommend the doona because babies tend to grow out of it quickly. I’d go with the minu and aria v2. The minu is small and compact. I have the Cruz and used it with a Nuna pipa with adapters for my first. I had the mesa max at first but baby wasn’t comfortable in it. I got the aria for baby coming in June and am hoping this will be a better fit for him.
Echoing the other comment, I highly recommend a rotating car seat such as evenflo360 or Graco turn2me once baby is older. It makes it so much easier to get them in and out. I switched my first over at 6 months because she was getting too heavy in the infant car seat.
I bought it used and actually sold it for more than I paid — a miracle. We used it for maybe 8 months because my son was already a big baby when we bought it. They really keep their resale value.
I bought it, even though we already had a whole infant travel system because I had to bring the baby to drop our older daughter off at daycare. I had to park and walk her inside. Her classroom was far enough from the parking lot that I couldn’t just leave the baby, so I had to either take his infant car seat out, and lug it on my arm (he was heavy!) or stop and get the entire stroller out of the trunk open the stroller and click in his carseat just to walk one minute to her preschool classroom.
Even things like doctors appointments were really annoying with the whole travel system, the stroller barely fit in the little rooms or around corners.
The Doona was such a game changer for us. All I had to do was pull it out and click a button and instant stroller to walk to my daughter‘s classroom. Navigating the hospital was a breeze. We took it on vacation and were able to wheel it right down the aisle of the plane to our seat. We didn’t even have to bring a stroller which was amazing.
We kept the base in my car, but it doesn’t need a base and it’s easy to quickly install with a seatbelt in my husband’s car or an Uber.
It’s not a substitute for a whole stroller, but it makes getting around with a baby sooooo much easier. It’s definitely worth buying used and then reselling when your baby turns one. Then you can just buy a convertible seat.
Like I said, it’s not a real stroller, so it has no storage. That’s the only thing I wish were different but there really wouldn’t be a good way to add it — you just have to plan ahead and bring a bag. It’s not that bad. I wouldn’t use it for like a whole day at the zoo or going on a walk or anything, but for running errands, it’s amazing.
This. We have the V2 and love it for neighborhood walks or bigger outings but we used the Doona and now the Ergo travel stroller for outings a lot of the time.
7leeboosh
