Читать книгу First-Time Parent: The honest guide to coping brilliantly and staying sane in your baby’s first year - Lucy Atkins - Страница 17

 What you’ll use it for. Will it fit in your front door and into your car? Will you be mostly in the city or jogging down country lanes? Carrying it up stairs? On to buses?

 How long you want it to last. The first few months? Or all the way to three or four years?

 Your budget. But bear in mind that cheapo ones can be a false economy–they break, or you just get sick to death of how crap they are then crack and buy a pricey one.

 Quality. Forget the fabric design–you want it to be easy to steer, solid, relatively lightweight, reasonably padded with good suspension and a smooth folding action.

The constituent parts of a ‘three-in-one’ (clockwise from bottom): the car seat, the buggy fitting (which can lie flat or upright), the carry cot and the frame. (above)

You can fit the carry cot, the car seat or the buggy fitting on to the basic frame.

From about six months you’ll probably decide to ditch this stuff and get a lightweight ‘umbrella-type’ stroller, (right)

For details of all these companies, see Contacts.

Mamas & Papas, my favourite, do lightweight buggies that lie completely flat for a newborn but work all the way to four. Babydan are sturdy and Graco are lower budget but OK. For a posh long-lasting three-wheeler (from New Zealand, home of outdoorsy fanatics) try Phil & Ted’s. Bugaboo is the latest trendy design with great features. For double buggies, Mountain Buggy Urban Double is a top-of-the-range three-wheeler from birth to four years, and Maclaren do a popular, solid but not heavy ‘umbrella’ double buggy.

Go and try out a display model in Mothercare or Babies ‘R’ Us before you buy it at half the price online. A great place for baby equipment is eBay.

It is essential to have the correct car seat (left). This is a backwards-facing baby seat suitable until nine to twelve months.