Doona (Original)

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.

I’m so glad! I’m surprised by the downvotes, we loved the Doona and so did everyone else we know who had one.

Loved my Doona used it up for 2 years.

Glad that isn’t us. Little isn’t close to maxing it out yet and he is almost 2. 😀

Live in NYC (started in Manhattan, moved to Queens when baby was 7 months), so that influenced our decisions a bit: - UPPABABY VISTA: My wife and I love this. Yes it’s big/wide and I thought that would be a huge issue on city sidewalks but it hasn’t been as big of an issue as I thought, and it was able to plow through snow when necessary this winter. We’ll keep using it for when we have a 2nd and it’s our favorite if not driving. CONS—you may need a separate stroller for travel. - DOONA: We bought this secondhand for cheap and it was a lifesaver for cabs and in the city generally before we had a car. Amazing for flights too. CONS—our son is on the larger size and grew out of it by 9 months. It’s also heavy and probably not necessary if you have a separate carseat. - JOOLZ AER2: We recently replaced our Doona with this and it’s our most used now. Light and packs up and down so quickly and easily. Baby can lay down and has napped in there fine already. CONS—it doesn’t seem like it would be great for infants and back wheels are narrower so not as steady as others. Edit: fixed some typos.

Unpopular opinion. I love my Doona for travel. We traveled a lot and Doona was a lifesaver. I even used it on planes sometimes. When my first grew out of the Doona I got a baby zen yoyo and it was exclusively used for like a year. I guess we do live in a city so being nimble is huge. With my second one I used baby zen Yoyo from birth with a bassinet and it was a wonderful experience. In the bassinet the comfort level is as good as any deluxe stroller. Super underrated stroller. I then got a donkey 5 twin stroller and with 2 under 2 it really helps. But that thing is a monster. And like what people said about Vista unless you’re okay with spending 5 minutes setting it up and not being able to fit anything else in the trunk… it’s not for you. Only big plug I will have is. Buy everything on Facebook marketplace. I have only bought the Doona new. I think it’s better to buy multiple strollers for different use cases than to spend so much money on one new stroller. This is why I have so many stroller and I’m really happy with all of them fitting a different use case.

I have Nuna Trvl LX, had (and sold quickly) the Doona, and Bob jogging stroller, and an (older) bugaboo model for the bassinet attachment. Bassinet stroller is a must IMO, and that’s coming from someone who very heavily baby wears still to this day past 1y. Doona was such a flop for me. I hated it SO much. I’m convinced the only people who like it are FTM without much other stroller experience. It’s so, so heavy and bulky and if you so much as drive over a leaf you’re going to have issues. It’s fine for airport travel but very inconvenient to even gate check because it’s so large. Bought it for a trip to Switzerland when LO was 5m and regretted it immensely, huge PITA. Next time we travel we are bringing our LX, which is still a gate check, but I love the easy 1-hand fold. I have a compact car and it fits great in my trunk which is nice for our needs. Wheels and suspension are good enough for most conditions. We live in an urban area but our neighborhood lacks sidewalks so we use our Bob jogging stroller most often at this point. Only thing I wish was different is I wish we could parent-face the seat still, our 1yo would still very much enjoy that. I used to be a nanny that’s worked with a lot of Vistas and unless you are 100% sold on 2 under 2, skip it. It’s too bulky and heavy. For me personally, I don’t like anything that you have to remove the seat to collapse the frame. Fox is probably the top choice IMO. Mixx > Swiv. If you go Nuna route, I loved having the Urbn car seat that was baseless vs the Pipa.

We took our 5mo to Switzerland and only used the stroller in the airport and it was a PITA. At 11 weeks and 6m, you’re probably going to prefer to babywear. Even at 7.5m. Hope & Plum lark is my go-to, far more comfortable than my Artipoppe. We have the Nuna Trvl LX for regular day to day at home and it’s quite nice. Wheels are big enough to handle more uneven terrain. Does pack small but is a gate check. Because of that, I opted to buy a Doona for our international travel. I swear, their marketing gets first time parents… the thing SUCKS. I hate the Doona. You so much as go over a leaf and you’re in trouble. It’s impractical and so bulky.

We did the Nuna Trvl LX with Nuna Urbn as our combo travel system and it’s been really nice, overall a great purchase and I would recommend. It has the largest wheels and best suspension you’ll find in any travel stroller, quick one hand fold, lightweight. But it is still a gate check at the airport. It’s not perfect, you definitely make compromises with any travel stroller, but I have a tiny trunk and it fits well and has been nice for quick errands. That said - we have a lot of other strollers too for other purposes! - Bob Revolution jogger is our go-to for bumpy terrain and trails, gravel, etc. - I bought the Doona for international travel, we took our 5 month old to Switzerland. She ended up really liking to take walks in it, but I HATED it for regular purposes and quickly sold it because I found it to be a huge PITA. - we also have a very old (cheap FB marketplace purchase) Bugaboo Frog that we got for the bassinet for walks when she was little. It was really nice to have and we did use it quite a bit, but I also babywear a lot for walks when they’re small. I do not think a travel stroller can do it all. I think a travel stroller & jogger is a nice combo, or if you truly only want one stroller, you should probably consider the Cruz or similar.

I hated the Doona so, so much. Panic bought it before we took our 5mo to Switzerland and regretted it. It was not at all convenient for travel, wtf are people talking about?! When you collapse it, it is still ginormous. A total eyesore and huge PITA to carry onto trains or into restaurants. The actual function of car seat sucks connecting into the base. It is heavy af to carry around. Literally sold as soon as we got back to the states. Hated it!!!! And forget about using it on anything other than totally smooth, flat road. Go over so much as a leaf and it fails to function.