Car seats for kids

[mall walker]

^ yeah it certainly wouldn't be an everyday thing. but gotta get em started young...

[toast2266]

Congrats! Twins are awesome and a trip: I am one and we have them.

A good stroller is key, as that’s the only way one of you can go anywhere with the two of them. As others have said, strollers are a lot to manage, but when it’s your inherent reality, its not that bad. We have baby Bjorn chest packs that we carry them around in when there’s the two of us, but with bearing the 20lb mark, the front pack setup is a chore for my wife.




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I've been trying to wrap my head around the whole stroller thing. We're in a mountain town, so only strolling to do from the house is on dirt roads. We're looking at some of the fancy joggers with suspension (that will convert for ski tow / bike tow). Trying to decide if we really need a stroller aside from that. But it seems like those joggers don't really work until the kids can support their own head, and they don't seem like they'd work well for interior spaces (since they're bulky). But I'm having a hard time envisioning how much we'd really use a stroller in interior spaces - if we go to a restaurant or whatever, the kids will probably just be in car seats.

And then putting the kids in a backpack / frontpack is similarly baffling. I get the general premise, but I can't quite wrap my head around how much I'd actually use it with two kids. One kid on me, one kid on the spouse makes sense. Two kids on me seems like a big hassle.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

My now five year old loved skiing in the backpack so much that he wouldn't notice he was cold until he was freezing and inconsolable. I advise sticking to warm sunny days.

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[alpinevibes]

I've been trying to wrap my head around the whole stroller thing. We're in a mountain town, so only strolling to do from the house is on dirt roads. We're looking at some of the fancy joggers with suspension (that will convert for ski tow / bike tow). Trying to decide if we really need a stroller aside from that. But it seems like those joggers don't really work until the kids can support their own head, and they don't seem like they'd work well for interior spaces (since they're bulky). But I'm having a hard time envisioning how much we'd really use a stroller in interior spaces - if we go to a restaurant or whatever, the kids will probably just be in car seats.

And then putting the kids in a backpack / frontpack is similarly baffling. I get the general premise, but I can't quite wrap my head around how much I'd actually use it with two kids. One kid on me, one kid on the spouse makes sense. Two kids on me seems like a big hassle.

Being Tech Talk, here's my thoughts:

We don't have a jogging stroller yet, but will be getting a double Bob this summer. You called out the two main issues with joggers: you only put one infant car seat in the double, so you cant use it for both till 6-8mo. And the bulky is real: a double Bob in jog mode has 59" length, vs 36" on our Uppababy. It's 5" wider which comes into play if you're trying to shop or anything. A double jogger is also bigger when folded (with wheels on) compared to a normal stroller with seats.

The Uppababy has suspension and good sized tires; it rides really smooth on crushed gravel, mellow dirt, etc. In our case we have paved bike path access all around our neighborhood and around most of Aspen to be able to use the stroller on, so there hasn't been much off limits for us, day-to-day, not having the jogger. Anything beyond that, we just use the chest packs.

The biggest thing with having a nice real stroller is the simplicity and versatility it brings to your day-to-day life, if your life is going to have consistent time away from the house, on the go. This is 10x a bigger deal when you're going solo. Pulling the kids in carseats out of the car and being able to drop them right into the stroller to go somewhere is very efficient and easy. We've found the stroller is nice to use when they're napping in their car seats and you get home, get to a restaurant or park or something. Keeping them in the stroller seems to have a better outcome for sleep then moving them individually in car seats. For eating out, we've probably used the stoller 30% of the time if they're not napping. In general, carrying two car seats sucks; it's awkward and once the boys hit 10lbs, carrying 20+ lbs of awkward weight in each hand was tough for more than a few min. I'm a skinny guy with no upper body, so YMMV. Also: we used the bassinets that came with the stroller as their beds for the first 4mo and that was great, with the added versatility.

Front packs - crucial with twins during the first year. You can't put them on your back till around 12mo, so it's another situation where you need two people. We use them daily for walks around the neighborhood, hikes, mellow skinning with the boys, and travel (that how they'll sleep on most plane flights). Our boys have loved being in them and will quickly fall asleep if you get out for walk around nap time. The babybjorn has been awesome as it allows use from birth onwards, with positions with facing you (0-6mo), then facing out (6-12mo) and eventually riding on your back if you want. We tried some of the fabric things, but that's too much time and hassle with two. The carriers are warm for both the baby and the parent, so be advised to dress down even in winter.

Outside of the choice of what to get, I'd recommend being savvy and specific with your registry (amazon!) unless you have the cash for the initial investment on all this stuff. We don't have any money and our families/friends don't really either, but family, friends and our employers really stepped up to support us and get us the stroller, car seats, and a few other things that we thought were crucial and we wanted to have new. Cribs, clothes, toys, and other things can/will get handed down or just show up. I wouldn't register for that.

[toast2266]

Being Tech Talk, here's my thoughts:

We don't have a jogging stroller yet, but will be getting a double Bob this summer. You called out the two main issues with joggers: you only put one infant car seat in the double, so you cant use it for both till 6-8mo. And the bulky is real: a double Bob in jog mode has 59" length, vs 36" on our Uppababy. It's 5" wider which comes into play if you're trying to shop or anything. A double jogger is also bigger when folded (with wheels on) compared to a normal stroller with seats.

The Uppababy has suspension and good sized tires; it rides really smooth on crushed gravel, mellow dirt, etc. In our case we have paved bike path access all around our neighborhood and around most of Aspen to be able to use the stroller on, so there hasn't been much off limits for us, day-to-day, not having the jogger. Anything beyond that, we just use the chest packs.

The biggest thing with having a nice real stroller is the simplicity and versatility it brings to your day-to-day life, if your life is going to have consistent time away from the house, on the go. This is 10x a bigger deal when you're going solo. Pulling the kids in carseats out of the car and being able to drop them right into the stroller to go somewhere is very efficient and easy. We've found the stroller is nice to use when they're napping in their car seats and you get home, get to a restaurant or park or something. Keeping them in the stroller seems to have a better outcome for sleep then moving them individually in car seats. For eating out, we've probably used the stoller 30% of the time if they're not napping. In general, carrying two car seats sucks; it's awkward and once the boys hit 10lbs, carrying 20+ lbs of awkward weight in each hand was tough for more than a few min. I'm a skinny guy with no upper body, so YMMV. Also: we used the bassinets that came with the stroller as their beds for the first 4mo and that was great, with the added versatility.

Front packs - crucial with twins during the first year. You can't put them on your back till around 12mo, so it's another situation where you need two people. We use them daily for walks around the neighborhood, hikes, mellow skinning with the boys, and travel (that how they'll sleep on most plane flights). Our boys have loved being in them and will quickly fall asleep if you get out for walk around nap time. The babybjorn has been awesome as it allows use from birth onwards, with positions with facing you (0-6mo), then facing out (6-12mo) and eventually riding on your back if you want. We tried some of the fabric things, but that's too much time and hassle with two. The carriers are warm for both the baby and the parent, so be advised to dress down even in winter.

Outside of the choice of what to get, I'd recommend being savvy and specific with your registry (amazon!) unless you have the cash for the initial investment on all this stuff. We don't have any money and our families/friends don't really either, but family, friends and our employers really stepped up to support us and get us the stroller, car seats, and a few other things that we thought were crucial and we wanted to have new. Cribs, clothes, toys, and other things can/will get handed down or just show up. I wouldn't register for that.

This is awesome, thanks a ton! I'll need to digest all of that a bit, but it makes a ton of sense. Your life sounds generally similar to ours, so it's nice getting actually relevant info (so much that's online is from people that live in NYC, or whatever, and the advice is only marginally useful).

[Hood26]

What I remember working.

We found the combo car seat stroller deals only useful for a short while. They were hand me downs and I would not spend the money on them to get new.

We ultimately ended up with the Britax Frontier Click-Tight car seats, and I wish we had bought them earlier. I have an old pickup with lap belts only, and these were great because they have a huge size and weight rating, so my boys were in harnesses longer. Whatever you pick I would go big on the weight rating.

Both backpacks and front packs were invaluable. So too is the umbrella stroller. The inexpensive Peru wool sweaters are awesome! Buy a swing that is plug in and not battery only. But one that is side to side and front to back.

Cloth diapers are the shit, and really baby shit ain’t all that bad before solid food, because they will potty train younger and you will save a bucket of money; like enough for a new pair of skis (with bindings) for years straight. Cloth diapers get cheaper each kid. I also still have a bunch of awesome rags. Have a good front-loading washing machine and a clothesline? Then you are good to go! Waterproof covers for the daytime and wool covers at night. Get pre-fold cotton. You will start with little ones at first and then go to bigger. Oh and wait to cloth diaper until you have used up the diaper cake for the newborn black tar poo.

[Norseman]

X2

Clicktight carseats, cloth diaps.

Add: diaper sprayer attachment for toilet for cloth diaper pre-wash

[Hood26]

Team hell no to the minivan here. Way too many great 4x4s to go that route. We Rented one on a destination train trip for a week. Hated it and could only imagine the crap that gets hidden in every little “storage” space. Heep GCs and crewcab Dodges have been plenty of kid capacity for us.

I have a friend with 2 kids who “has to” have the third row for their friends. I ask him all the time, “do you really want to take their friends too?”

Four doors is already a compromise as a responsible family adult. A sliding door is too far.

[Hood26]

X2

Clicktight carseats, cloth diaps.

Add: diaper sprayer attachment for toilet for cloth diaper pre-wash

I wish I had been smart enough to add the sprayer. Good call!

[mall walker]

cloth diaps

what is the advantage here? seems like you'd end up carrying around a poo-filled cloth bag all over?

[alpinevibes]

what is the advantage here? seems like you'd end up carrying around a poo-filled cloth bag all over?

x3

We use cloth when we're at home, cleaning them with the toilet sprayer/bidet. There's no diaper service here, so we bought our own from Amazon. It's a little more work, but the cost savings is huge with twins. They're pretty easy to deal with and our ~20 diapers gets us just over a day's use. We don't use them overnight or if we're going out. Honest company disposables get delivered as needed for everything else - you can return unused packages, for free, as you move up in size.

[Norseman]

edit, alpinevibes beat me to the reply. oh well

cost savings mostly. diapers are expensive, at least the nice name-brand paper ones that actually function.

but there are a few other reasons to do cloth:

- keep trash out of the landfill
- faster potty training... not as comfy as paper, kid doesn't want to sit in piss/shit and learns to avoid it
- cloth diapers can be passed on to siblings/family/etc as they last a long time
- style, if weather is warm and kid can hang w/o pants

at first i was adamantly opposed, disgusted at the thought of my clothes being washed in the same machine as shitty diapers. but my wife patiently walked me through how first the solids are sprayed out into the toilet, then the heavy wash cycle nukes the rest. it took a couple of cycles to figure out the machine settings that worked the best.

it's a rabbit hole, man. there are many makes/models. we were given a bunch that sucked. the ones that have worked the best are cotton snap-in inserts in nylon shells, Grovia brand. for nighttime, lanolized wool covers replace the less breathable shells.

the main drawback is doing all that goddamn laundry, always spraying/folding/drying etc on top of the already increased clothing and wash cloth volume. nylon shells can delaminate in a hot dry cycle, so they get hang-dried which takes up space. or you can pay for diaper laundry service.

now our second kid is 10 mo, and we fall back on paper diapers sometimes out of laziness and/or time crunch, and of course when traveling anywhere. but overall it's been a good experience. you do end up carting around gross cotton diapers, but there are nice cheap zippered "wetbags" for that, too. the daycare lady was freaked at first but came around quickly.

it's not for everyone. but people have been using cloth forever... paper is a recent convenience.

[BS720]

We have a tradition in my ER of everyone throwing in and purchasing the Uppababy system for the nurse expecting. My wife doesn't drive, so she's out with the baby in the stroller constantly. Before she stopped working, her sister was taking the little shit downtown constantly so my wife could feed the baby on her lunch break. If your baby will be in the stroller every day, it's worth it. Otherwise, I'd go with cheaper. It is really nice to have an integrated carseat/stroller system so when baby falls asleep, you can leave them in the car to bake. Wait, I meant, remove them from the car without waking them up.

[ZomblibulaX]

Just adding a safety note:

I found a pretty serious installation issue with the LATCH connections in my mom's CRV (2010) a few years ago. The carpet covering the back compartment floor came underneath the folding part of the rear seat where the anchors were located, just enough to keep the "jaws" on the car seat attachments from closing completely. It took me (I am not a small man) kneeling in the seat, yarding on the adjustment strap, but the hook did pop off. If my wife had been installing the seat, she would never have noticed. About fifteen seconds with a utility knife fixed the problem, but that could have been a detached car seat in a wreck. Make sure whatever seat you're using, it is installed properly, and don't assume they're all the same, seats or cars.

[Danno]

Just adding a safety note:

I found a pretty serious installation issue with the LATCH connections in my mom's CRV (2010) a few years ago. The carpet covering the back compartment floor came underneath the folding part of the rear seat where the anchors were located, just enough to keep the "jaws" on the car seat attachments from closing completely. It took me (I am not a small man) kneeling in the seat, yarding on the adjustment strap, but the hook did pop off. If my wife had been installing the seat, she would never have noticed. About fifteen seconds with a utility knife fixed the problem, but that could have been a detached car seat in a wreck. Make sure whatever seat you're using, it is installed properly, and don't assume they're all the same, seats or cars.

Yep. Many municipalities have a service or nonprofit that will install or check your car seat for free. Worth looking into it.

[Orthoski]

Just adding a safety note:

I found a pretty serious installation issue with the LATCH connections in my mom's CRV (2010) a few years ago. The carpet covering the back compartment floor came underneath the folding part of the rear seat where the anchors were located, just enough to keep the "jaws" on the car seat attachments from closing completely. It took me (I am not a small man) kneeling in the seat, yarding on the adjustment strap, but the hook did pop off. If my wife had been installing the seat, she would never have noticed. About fifteen seconds with a utility knife fixed the problem, but that could have been a detached car seat in a wreck. Make sure whatever seat you're using, it is installed properly, and don't assume they're all the same, seats or cars.

Yep, in our town it's a scheduled session at the police station.

[jmars]

Just adding to car seat - Nunna Pippa user here for 5 months. I love the arm on the base and believe it’s a great safety system in the event of an accident . We have 2 bases now, one seat. The Pippa seat (less bass) can be away belted in vs. the Pippa lite which can not. Mega lite but I personally wanted the option to seat belt in the seat less base if ever needed. The foam in the lite is like 3DO but not for our lifestyle.

Strollers - where to begin. We have a few as we split time currently in different locations. We own a Thule Urban Glide 2 for Mtn/trail time...fantastic stroller for its intended purpose...but it’s big long and heavier....not jogging stroller long but not far off. We run but aren’t “runners” but this is our “adventure” stroller you can call it. Good stroller, we use it a lot to shuttle our daughter and gear. The braking system is awesome for going downhill or controlling speed while running....there is also a traditional “parking brake” but the hand brake is awesome. Will accept a car seat, it’s not a perfect solution but it works and it’s secure.

A stand out sleeper favorite is the Bumble Ride indie - it’s the best crossover out there - blows the BOB rambler away IMO. Since it’s a crossover the wheels and chassis are smaller then a jogging stroller and the frame is like an Uppa baby Cruz. This allows for light weight, one step fold (pretty much) and has inflatable wheels....which make a difference. The Uppababy strollers are like Suburbans and Tahoe’s....good and bad IMO but the Bumbleride helps to refine this with their crossover offering. The sun shade is huge, seat is smart, fantastic venting, GREAT storage, great suspension and the front wheel locks. Check out a Bumbleride, you will not be disappointed. It will accept a car seat as well with the mounts. Oh and last thought....the seat lies down nearly flat...big with an infant. Well worth your time if you’re in the market - they make a double too.

Our final stroller is a Bugaboo its really nice, smooth, well built but it’s the least used stroller in the quiver bc it’s so city oriented. We got this first, spent a lot and now it’s more of a “when will we sell it” item now. The wheel base is great in small spaces but the bumble ride at nearly half the cost just fits the lifestyle better.

PM me on any questions, I’m rather involved with baby products.

[muted]

This is awesome, thanks a ton! I'll need to digest all of that a bit, but it makes a ton of sense. Your life sounds generally similar to ours, so it's nice getting actually relevant info (so much that's online is from people that live in NYC, or whatever, and the advice is only marginally useful).

The cheap baby Bjorne wrenches your back, the expensive one doesn’t

[jmars]

Ergo baby Omni is solid as a carrier. Also check out the embrace if your child is small or rather new. The Ergo Baby Embrace is softer and gentler but can’t go forward facing.

[hafjell]

Yep, in our town it's a scheduled session at the police station.

I'd schedule a session with the cops or the local FD especially if you are first time parents. Peace of mind is priceless.
Also, get some of this (all of this) done before the birth. I waited to install the seats until after our first child was born and learned very quickly how little time you have even if you're sleeping at home for the first three nights while mother and child sleep at hospital. Slightly off topic, but I would recommend a night or two at home alone before they are released. Tick tock, tick tock.