car seat/stroller combos? Opinions?

[jessica31876]

My husband and I are going to the store today to look at car seats for our daughter's baby. She kinda wants a car seat stroller combo. I personally have no experience with them at all so I have no idea if they are good or bad or hard to use. I always hated complicated strollers that did not open easily. My kids went through several strollers between the three of them but I never spent a lot of money on them and back then you could get a decent stroller for 40-50 dollars. I see some running almost 300 dollars or more now at stores. Crazy!! So if you have one you have used let me know how you like it.

[Amber1279]

the car seat stroller combo seams great - but as a thrid time mom ... it really isn't the best.

First the infant carrier car seat is heavy and the baby just makes it heavier. It is also too easy to leave the baby in those carriers. Plus they are only good rear facing. Buying a high quality carseat that can be turned around is better in the long run. The one we bought went from 5lbs to 70lbs. It cost us just under $200 - but I won't have to buy another till he needs a booster seat.

Second the strollers in those really get some of the worst reviews. They are bulky, heavy and the one I had failed to snap open after less than a year. Buying a stroller for you specific need is best. Is she active and will want to go on walks/runs with the baby - get a jogging stroller. Is it for quick trips at the mall - a lightweight one is best. There are some great reviews on you tube - which is what I used to pick mine. They go over features, show you multiple kids in them. Open & close them, give you the actual weight. I went with a modular system that we love. It was $500 but I love it and think it is worth every penny.

[glumirk]

If she plans on using her stroller in places other than the mall, then I would suggest going with a jogging stroller that has the option to have a swivel wheel in the front. We have a Baby Trend one that hooked up with the car seat, and our double stroller is some other brand, but it has the same basic features and I love it just as much, if not more because I can fit both kids in it. We opted for neutral so that it could work with future kids (we had a boy and then a girl and our neutral plan worked great!). We really liked our Baby Trend (and the carseat had a Safety First on it, but it clicked with the baby trend stroller) for a lot of reasons. The handle had a triangle of holds for you to grab on, so you didn't have to be at just the right angle to hold it. Also, the sun shade was only attached at the hinge, so I could move it wherever was necessary to block the sun. My son was very light sensitive, so when we went out west and borrowed my nephew's old car seat that didn't have that option we had a lot of crying in the car.

This is similar to our carseat (http://www.target.com/p/baby-trend-flex-lock-infant-car-seat-columbia/-/A-13452974).
And I think this is our actual stroller (http://www.target.com/p/baby-trend-expedition-jogger/-/A-13248525?reco=Rec|pdp|13248525|ClickCP|item_page.a djacency&lnk=Rec|pdp|ClickCP|item_page.adjacency).

Most of the cons in the reviews are things that I got used to really quickly, like the handle release (which I actually was really grateful that you needed two hands otherwise my 2 year old would have played with that too...), and the twisting of straps has happened in every car seat we have owned and all you have to do is fold the strap at an angle and run the clip over it to retwist it. Over all I loved them.

We did outgrow their infant carriers at about 9 months. Some people prefer to buy the ones that last until 32 lbs or longer. My opinion was that I didn't want to be carrying my kid in their carseats for that long because those things get heavy and it's a lot easier just to carry the kid at that point. I didn't mind switching to a convertible carseat so that I could keep my kids rearfacing for longer.

[jessica31876]

I want to get a good quality car seat so cost is not a huge deal (reasonably though LOL). Babies R Us and Bulington both have all strollers and car seats out to look at so I can see how they feel. We will probably still need to buy a car seat to keep here too so she doesnt always have to bring the seat in when we watch the baby for her. I dont want the baby to be swimming in this giant car seat for the next six months though. I always did the infant car seat for my kids then a toddler front facing then a booster but like I said they did not seem so expensive back then when my kids were little so the cost of all three is like one car seat today. I also want to make sure to get one that she can keep rear facing for as long as possible. I guess if she does not like the one I pick out then her and her husband can take it back to exchange it

[misfitinmn]

We did a Chicco Keyfit 30 seat with the little Snap n' Go stroller - it's nice and lightweight & folds up, you can just put the seat right in it. And then we bought another stroller that wasn't as "fancy" as the ones that come with the combo sets for when he outgrew the infant seat/stroller frame. I was okay with the infant seat instead of a convertible at first (even though it is an added cost) because I could get them all situated in the house and then out to the car, or theoretically leave them sleeping while I shop or do whatever...of course mine never did sleep once the car stopped! :D

I LOVE my Chicco seat...it is SO easy to install, adjust the straps, and get baby in and out of. (But I have no experience with other brands so I can't say whether or not it's better or worse than other kinds of seats.)

[Sarah8914]

Well, we personally always go the cheap way and have been just fine. You kind of have to if you aren't made of money and plan to have lots of kids (= lots of carseats).

The only thing I would add though... is if there are plans for more children in the future... the near future. We have an infant carrier that snaps into the base and the stroller. We have used it for all 4 children. Yes the carrier gets heavy as the baby grows... but to keep a sleeping baby in there as long as possible is super fabulous and amazing and wonderful... especially when you have multiple children. We could take the carrier into stores and church and friend's house and let baby sleep a bit longer. Of course, my babies only do that for the first... maybe 6 months, but it is still so very very worth it to me. Even when they stopped staying asleep, they would still be happy in their carseat for a little bit (though not all babies are!)

As for the stroller... we never use it. We did when it was just one and that was nice... but not since. We use a double stroller that we can put the carrier in.

We are contemplating getting a new infant carrier the next time around (since ours is probably technically expired by now)... and we would most definitely get one that comes out of the base. But we do have 4 kids and it really helps me to be able to do that!

Also, it's nice to be able to strap them in in the nice cool (or warm) house before going out.

[ZaCola3]

I haven't read this but after about 2 or three weeks of using the infant car seat, I transferred him over to a Britax car seat and really felt like the money I spent on the infant seat/stroller system was wasted-because I honestly hated the stroller part of it and ended up buying another one after about 3-4 months.
I would say save the money on the stroller combo and buy a NICE car seat that will last a few years. Landens first lasted close to four!

[jennybean]

Personally, I had the Graco Snugride car seat/stroller combo. It had great safety reviews when we got it for my first son over 5 years ago, and used it for our second son who's now almost 3. We still use the stroller all the time (second son isn't walking independently yet). The car seat was very easy to take out and put in the car. My boys were both big so I ended up having to get another carseat that could do forward and rear facing until they got big enough to turn around, but by then I didn't need to keep them in the carseat and I would have gotten the same seat when they turned around anyway. The stroller is light and once I figured out how to do it, easy to open and close with one hand. I defintely got my mileage out of the stroller and car seat, so definitely worth the money, and depending on where you get it and the pattern you choose is very affordable.

[pewtertm]

We researched carseats on Consumer Reports and read a bunch of reviews on Amazon and BabiesRUs webpages. One thing to take into consideration is the car she drives...some of the seats are almost impossible to get into the smaller cars.
We wound up getting the Evenflo Triumph, which was a convertible carseat. It had great safety reviews and lasted her until we moved to a booster. When we bought the car, we took it up to OSU-OKC and had their safety inspector install it and give us some pointers on car seat safety. Our local fire stations also do that. They do it without charge. I'd definitely recommend having it installed (or checked to see that it's installed properly). Better safe that sorry, and it definitely helped my peace of mind.

[rach3975]

If you can afford it, safety experts recommend buying an infant only carseat because it fits little babies better than a convertible.

As for the stroller/carseat combo, I wouldn't buy one. Get the infant carrier carseat you want, then one of the bases made to hold it. (Ie, the metal and plastic frame that is useless without the car seat in it but is great for holding and transporting the car seat.) It's light and easy to use, and it's relatively inexpensive. In my experience, the stroller that looks good when you're planning for a newborn is generally not what you'd choose 6 or 9 months later when you're buying for a mobile baby who can sit up and won't always be sleeping in it. I'd buy the frame at first, then get a real stroller later on when they know more about what they want.

As for the infant seat size, I had the smaller one for my first 2 kids, and they outgrew it by 6 months. I bought the bigger size for my 3rd since the first car seat was too old, and I liked it so much more. It was heavier so I was more likely to use it with the frame than hand carry it, but it was so nice to be able to take it in and out of the car when I had to drop an older child off at school or run in someplace when the baby was sleeping. Plus it was nice to be able to use it instead of a high chair at people's houses. DD was in it until about 15 months in the car, but I probably only took it out until 10 or 12 months. Loved not having to give up the portability at 6 months, when mine were still falling asleep in the car frequently.

[Shawna]

My kids are a bit older now so it's been awhile since we've used a infant seat/stroller combo but we had an Evenflo travel set that we used with all three of our kiddos and it worked great for us!

I babysit my nephew (he's 13mo old now but I've had him since he was 2mo old when my SIL went back to work) and they have the Chicco Keyfit set from Target and it is awesome! This is the one they have - http://www.target.com/p/chicco-cortina-keyfit-travel-system-vega/-/A-13206365. He has outgrown the infant seat now since he's gotten so big (he's 25+ lbs) but I use the stroller all the time and it's easy to open, has lots of storage and other nice features.

[eranslow]

We have a graco infant seat that we got when Blake was a baby. We looked into getting a new seat when we had Landon but since the graco wasn't expired we decided against it. The one we were looking at was the chicco key fit - lots of great reviews. Very safe.

As for stroller - we have a BOB jogging stroller. We love it :)

[Amber1279]

for car seat safety info I always go to safe kids.org This is the info for infants: http://www.safekids.org/safety-basics/babies/on-the-way/carseat-safety-for-babies.html

[jessica31876]

I looked at lots of car seats today and did not like the feel of the stroller combos. I am going to talk to my daughter. The rating on safety in a crash is really key to me so if it is better rated in that I am willing to pay extra. The only thing is she drives a dodge dakota pickup. I am not sure how well any car seat will fit in it. The one I really liked was a safety first. It has lots of protection for the baby when she is little so she wont be sliding around and that is all removable as she grows. And it is rated rear facing to 40 pounds and forward facing to 70 pounds. I looked at the prices of the infant carseats and they are just a little more then I remember paying. The good thing I noticed is they dont have vinyl covers anymore. I hated that in Florida cause it seemed like the baby got so sweaty in it although it did clean easier. There are just so many changes since we had babies!! I did get a porta-crib today to have at our house. It is really nice. So much nicer then the ones any of my kids had! And I bought a brand new one when my middle son was born. You know back when they still had netting on the sides of the playpens.

[jessica31876]

this is the porta-a-crib we bought:

http://www.amazon.com/Graco-Silhouette-Playard-Bassinet-Rittenhouse/dp/B000MXL04U/ref=sr_1_20?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1344887297&sr=1-20&keywords=graco+portable+crib

but it was wayyyyy cheaper here!! Plus we had a 20% off coupon. Im glad it was a good price at least.

[*Celeste*]

i love my snap n go stroller with the bucket for seat for the infant. that way if the baby was sleeping i didn't have to wake him up to bring him in. and the snap n go was so lightweight. i had the huge stroller system for the first and it was so unwieldy.

you should call the local police station. they probably have a program that will show them how to properly install the seats.

[kelley]

My sis in law has one, and I babysit my niece all the time (3 months). I love it - it is convenient, but at the same time, I don't think its a big deal to have them separate either. I don't think they are hard to use or anything like that though. It opens and closes easily, the carseat fits in well/easy. With my own 5 kiddos, I just had a "normal" stroller, and that always works fine too. Just depends what you want, I guess :)