Gear Talk: Your First Stroller

I belong to a Facebook stroller group, we’re all self admitted stroller junkies. We talk endlessly about strollers, other people’s strollers, features we love and hate, our ‘fleets’, and of course we give a lot of advice. My first, yes first,  I have more strollers than children, stroller was given via the Big City Moms event platinum ticket purchase. So, I never had the experience of going to a store and picking my own stroller. I took what I got for free and ran with it,  I was lucky however that it was a good stroller.

In the first few months that I was using my (free) stroller I found myself having a wandering eye, checking out other stroller’s basket space, air tires and canopy. It became this strange obsession of, what stroller is that? and does it have a feature I wish mine had? I literally found myself staring at other strollers and ignoring the mother and child, like a total creeper. Which is why I turned to the FB group to have a judgement free (ok, sometimes we’re judgy, it’s Facebook afterall) place to explore my love of all things baby gear with some awesome fellow mommies. And yes, I still stare at strollers but now I’m more discreet.

I asked them to share their advice for any parent out there seeking a stroller and this is what these Queens had to say:

Monique P “Don’t be afraid to buy used. You save a ton of money which allows you to get a better stroller. Just make sure you know what you want/need before you buy.”

Vanessa M “Definitely consider where and how often you’ll be using your stroller. Some women walk everyday through parks, gravel, grass and bad pavement. Others use their strollers through malls or small quick trips. I think this will help you narrow down what type of stroller you’d like/need.”

Genevieve M“I’d add: Don’t limit your stroller options based on what comes as a travel system with the infant car seat you want. You want a stroller that will outlast the infant seat, many strollers have adapters available for most infant car seats, and it’s better for an infant to lay on a flat stroller seat or be in a bassinet/carrycot than to be in the car seat if you’re doing anything longer than a quick trip.”

Sylvia F “Consider storage – if the only spot you have is your trunk, do you really need that bugaboo?”

Jessica B “Is it something you can open and close alone? Can you lift it in your trunk? What’s the fold like? Is it going to take up your whole trunk? Do you have to take the seat off every time you close it? Where will your diaper bag go? The only thing I didn’t do was bring a full diaper bag with me to test where it would go in the stroller. Big mistake (otherwise I would have loved my cam)”

Abigail B “Buy with your family in mind. Are you planning on having more than one baby? Then one that can grow with your growing family by adding a rumble seat or riding board might be a good option (uppababy vista, britax be ready, etc).”

Eli M“If the infant car seat snaps into a toddler seat, you will be pushing the weight of two seats when you only need one.”

Dana V“Definitely the fold ! I asked at baby stores if I could try the different strollers in my trunk as I only had a compact car at the time and they were more than willing! I also agree do not get hung up on travel systems .. I did and now wish I would have gone for a higher end stroller in the first place . I didn’t think it was important to me to have a reversible seat but changed my mind on that as well once my babe outgrew the travel system. Buying used is a great option.. Also STORAGE! This was something I didn’t think I really needed and my first stroller had a tiny basket and I cursed it ! Lol .. I never knew how much I would use a large basket until I got my city select !” 

Julie S “I just looked up the advice I got from a friend when I was pregnant, after telling her about my overwhelming first trip to BBB. “Totally go back and push them around. Fold them. Open them. See how tall they are folded. Cause one of our strollers never fit in [my husbands] trunk! Same with car seats. Snap em in, cause you do it a hundred times a day.” – I especially like the car seat part. If you can, make sure you test the car seat with the stroller. Some are easier to get in/out than others. And be sure to test pushing them with weight in them. Go grab a heavy item nearby to see how the push really is – everything pushes well with no baby on smooth floors. LOL!”

And in case you’re wondering what my fleet contains…. it’s the Britax Affinity (free), Jane Nanuq (on sale),  and Bob Rev Se (gently used and less than half the price off CL)…. and just one baby. — Jax