Hellobee Boards

1. Yes. You never know if your LO is going to take to baby wearing. My LO didn't like it for more than 30 minutes at a time, at the most. 2. You can't use an umbrella stroller until around 6 months when your LO supports their neck really well and sits up by themselves, so I'd want something better that supports them. 3. We have a travel system, and it's pretty bulky. I wouldn't recommend it for you.

we planned to mostly babywear and werent sure which stroller to get and when. we found a graco travel system on sale for $132 so we just bought it for the carseat but we honestly never used the stroller until LO was 3.5 months old when we took her to church. So you could always wait and get it later.but I must admit I liked knowing that we already had the stroller sitting in our closet

We have the City Mini and love it! We bought the infant carrier attachment which made it very easy to use with LO (and the infant attachment takes up almost no extra space).

Something you may not have thought about is babies sleep a lot and when they inevitably fall asleep in their car seat its much easier to take the infant carrier out of the car and put it on a stroller than it is to wake up baby, but them in the moby, etc.

We would use the stroller at restaurants (just pushed LO up to the table).

I hope this helps!

@tororojo: 1) I did this same thing - and then DS was born and HATED being worn. He finally took to it at 4 months but still for only limited amounts of time. I wish I had invested in a stroller sooner.

2) There are a few strollers out there including the City Mini and my personal favorite, the Quinny Zapp Xtra, that have adapters that will hold your carseat when LO in an infant.

3) I would totally go with an above option and even if you don't end up using it much or even at all, it will retain value if you want to sell it on eBay or craigslist.

4) I don't notice much of a difference of 3 vs. 4 wheels but definitely noticed a difference in high-end vs. cheapie, so try before you buy

i have found it difficult to find the "one" stroller to fit every stage of the baby's needs. We have been fans of the snap n go until they outgrow the carrier, mainly because it is really convenient to get in and out of the car. We also do a lot of driving, and those travel systems are really heavy. it is really convenient to just pop the carrier in the frame, and they take up no space at all in your home. About the umbrella strollers, I have been using one for my 14 mo old, and I wish it had a snack tray and full recline. My DD looked much more comfortable in her Peg Perego at this age, so I need to get that out again.

I'll just answer the first question: I thought I'd want to wear DD once she was born but everyone told me I'd really need a stroller as well. I was a bit skeptical, but my mom bought us a travel system for a gift, so I did end up getting a stroller. We hardly ever used it! We probably used it a handful of times (and never in crowded locations/events), and now it's just taking up storage space. When DS was born, my in-laws bought us a double stroller, and we had the same experience; we hardly ever use it! If our strollers hadn't been gifts, we probably still wouldn't own one.

If you're looking to save money, I think a stroller is definitely one of those items you can hold off on until the baby is born. If your LO hates the carrier, you can always go get a stroller, but if your LO loves babywearing, you probably won't return a stroller bought in advance (even if you hardly use it).

we also drive everywhere we go, don't do actual jogs/runs with the stroller, but DO like to go on walks around the neighbourhood, drive to the mall/grocery store, and have VERY little space in our apt.

i also reallly wanted to baby wear early, but my LO didn't take to the sling (maya sling) OR the carrier (beco gemini) until he was 4 months or so.

we bought the city mini with chicco car seat and chicco adapter for the city mini -- not gonna lie it cost a fair bit all together, but we LOOOVEE using it! a previous commenter noted that in the first few months they sleep in their carseat a LOT so it's great to be able to snap them into the stroller and go. Also we do use it a lot in restaurants and roll the stroller up to the table (the whole shebang is pretty compact, so i've never had trouble at most restaurants we've been to! we went to dimsum this morning with it!)

to cut down costs I would recommend you to get a less costly (but great!) graco carseat, purchase the universal carseat adapter for the city mini off craigslist (in my area they always have them on sale for about 30-35$ -- better than brand new at 70$)!

we keep the city mini with adapter attached in the trunk of the car and never bring it into the house. works perfect for us. when we go for walks around the neighbourhood we just pop the trunk on the way out!

sorry for the essay, but i really do love the citymini w/ a carseat!

hope you have fun deciding on what is best for you!!

1- I say yes, because you are in TX and you will drive places and then you won't want to take LO out of the carseat to transfer to baby carrier.
2- Umbrella stroller not before 6 months or so.
3- We had the City Mini and loved it, but part of the reason is because we didn't use the carseat with it, just layed it flat since we walk a lot more than drive. Regardless it is a great stroller, but when I was visiting family in TX I was thinking that a snap and go would have been more useful there.
4- If you have to maneuver a lot, I find the 3 wheeled options a lot easier. If you're mostly just going to be using it in the mall or whatever, then it doesn't matter much.

We didn't buy a stroller until our oldest was a year old, we just wore her. Then we bought a nice umbrella stroller (UppaBaby G-Lux). Our town is not very walkable (and all our trails aren't stroller friendly), or I probably would have wanted one earlier. It totally depends on your lifestyle and community.