Jetsetter Compact Fold Stroller

my best advice is you really don’t need anything that’s insanely expensive if there’s reliable alternatives. i bought graco everything. i got a stroller from them for about $300 or so, it’s amazing. i live in nyc and walk everywhere, don’t even have a car, and it’s been lasting strong. it has room for storage so i can bring stuff when we’re going somewhere a little further away from home like to another borough, it’s not too heavy to pick up to walk up and down the stairs, and it’s great for walking on the bumpy sidewalk. i absolutely love graco so much. i bought a second super lightweight travel stroller with less storage space that’s even lighter to carry just because the graco stroller was cheap enough where i could get a second little cheaper stroller when i dont want to carry the heavier one. as for bouncers, i got a free one secondhand that worked great and i got a gifted one that was roughly $50. my baby only ended up liking bouncers for a couple months. after he wasn’t a little newborn anymore around 4 months old, he hated bouncer or anything that constrained him or kept him trapped in one place. he likes to move lol. so i wouldn’t spend too much money on stuff until your baby is here and you see what they like. ESPECIALLY diapers omg i wish someone told me this!!!! my baby ended up with super sensitive skin and could only use one brand of diapers. we had so many diapers we had to return because they would give him hives. clothes- you’ll most likely be gifted tons of clothes because people love to shop for baby clothes. once upon a baby, walmart, carters, there’s a lot of places with super cute really cheap baby clothes. also people are always giving away secondhand baby clothes on places like fb marketplace. i bought a few items that were a little more pricey that i really wanted, and then the rest i was gifted or got secondhand, or bought from places like the ones i listed. my baby had enough clothes he wore a lot of the newborn size, 0-3 months, 3-6 months clothes 1 or maybe 2 times because they grow so fast. he was in sizes 6m, 6-9m, 9m, 12m the longest so far. i also ended up with baby clothes in the wrong season for the size (or wrong size for the season?) because they don’t fit in the size that’s their age lol so i had 3-6m winter clothes when he was actually in 3-6m during the hottest months of the summer. i invested in a good baby carrier because i baby wear and walk everywhere, but even then i spent around $40 on it and didn’t get the expensive name brand ones. the one i have i absolutely loveeee and it wasn’t one of those $200 carriers. no hate to anyone who gets them, i wish i could afford it! but i’m on a budget and the cheaper one works great for me. my car seats were graco as well! they’re great i got an infant travel seat and a convertible car seat. basically, don’t spend tons of money on items before the baby is here and you don’t know what your baby is going to like or prefer, and don’t feel the need to get name brand items or expensive items if you’re on a budget because there’s reliable affordable options. baby stuff is expensive but i think right now social media and other moms will make you think you need stuff you really don’t need, and there’s ways to get more affordable options that will still be perfect for your baby.

I tried to find something cheaper that can be a long term option as well when we had our first. We got a maxi cosi combo from Target. The infant carrier and stroller worked well, but once he got bigger it was obvious the toddler attachment for it was not comfortable for him. The back was just at an awkward angle regardless of where it was set. Knowing what I know now I would have just gotten the infant carrier and stroller attachment for it. You can trade it in once yours moves up to a bigger car seat to get some money back. Once they get big enough I highly recommend the Graco Ready 2 Jet compact stroller. It's light and can be opened with one hand. It's small enough to fit in the trunk of a small car if that's what you have. I take my son on around a two mile walk in it almost every day and it isn't showing any signs of wear after 6 months.

We got the Mockingbird and got the adapter for a Graco carrier seat. I love it, it allows for a second seat attachment. THAT BEING SAID… eventually I said “eff it” and got the Graco jet set light weight stroller because the normal strollers are HEAVY. I regret getting rid of my Graco Modes because it was not only cheaper, but way more light weight than the bougie brands.

So the graco extend2fit car seat model can be used from newborn to toddler and we bought that. However very quickly bought an infant car seat you can take in/out of the car because after leaving the hospital they have to watch you put the baby in the car seat and it took me like 40 minutes gahahahaha. We did get the graco jet stroller (I don’t know the actual name) but you can clip the newborn car seat into it and then it lays almost flat like a bassinet and can sit all the way up for use with a toddler. There are some newborn car seats like the dune one that fold into the car and are a pop up stroller but they’re extremely expensive.

We are on baby #2 with our Graco jogger stroller and Graco ready 2 jet compact stroller. The carseat clicks into both and they both accommodate my 3 year old well. The jogger has been on frequent walks for 3 years now including the rough dirt road at our cabin, it’s great. My first absolutely hated the infant car seat so we ended up transitioning him out of the infant seat early, so grateful we didn’t spend an arm and a leg on the infant seat but it still worked just fine for 2 kids.

I got a Graco travel stroller for $99 from Costco. Doesn't get used all that often but it was $99 and folds and unfolds single handed.

We didn’t have that expensive of a stroller for our first but it was pricey. It served us well for the first year but once she learned to walk, it was game over. She never wanted to be strapped in. It was also super bulky and I got annoyed having to load it into my car every time I thought I might need to use it. We ended up getting a cheap umbrella stroller to keep in our cars, and eventually replaced those with a nice Graco travel stroller that she actually likes to sit in. It also came with an infant seat that we only used for a few months as we upgraded to a rotating seat. We gave the stroller away to a friend - I felt terrible that someone spent so much money on the stroller and we barely used it, but at least it got new life with another family. I think researching baby products is very important and what matters to you might be different than what matters to someone else. Just because something is more expensive doesn’t make it better. But if it’s more compact, if it has higher weight limits, if it’s lighter, if the car seat is safer - I think that’s what matters most. And then just always keep in the back of your mind that you might not use it very long.