https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 15:28:33 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880628 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 17:11:48 +0000 lemondrop 1880628@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It wasn't even remotely important for the baby to rear face us. We used the car seat for the first 6 months because they didn't fit well in the stroller until they got a little bigger, but facing me wasn't important. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880626 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 17:08:00 +0000 shopaholic 1880626@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have the UB Vista and even now at 18 months, we still mainly use RF so I can see her. When we wise the BOB or GLuxe, I'm constantly stopping to check on her, or pulling up the hood, etc. She seems to be fussier FF. Her preferred position would be sideways, so I wish I had gotten the Orbit for that reason. But each LO is so different. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880618 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 16:44:44 +0000 ChitownRo 1880618@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Agree with pps- having my DS face me in the stroller is my strong preference. I do think you could get the car seat adaptor and use that for the first 4-6 months though.. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880585 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 15:55:31 +0000 lamariniere 1880585@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I used a Maclaren with infant insert from birth, so my son was always forward facing. He didn't know the difference and a big rear facing stroller wasn't an option for us at the time (we were in NYC). If you have to go up and down steps, I would stick with a lightweight stroller. Stairs become a pain really fast and I feel like they are also a major hazard when carrying or dragging a stroller. </p> <p>FWIW, with my daughter, we have a stroller that faces both ways and I definitely prefer to have her facing me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880559 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 15:22:55 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 1880559@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We used a city mini from birth ( with a snuzzler) both times. Our eldest loved facing out from the get go so it was a non issue. Our second did not like it at all! So inevitably I ended up carrying him and that was that. Thankfully by 3-4 months he had outgrown his dislike and was happy to face forward. From my experience I would not want to carry a car seat and baby and stroller up a stoop! The car seats are heavy! We just moved into an apartment and I almost always choose the lightest stroller we have just because I hate our stoop ( even though I much prefer using our double). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880555 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 15:12:55 +0000 oliviaoblivia 1880555@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I love having DD facing me. She's 20 months and still mom-facing. We turn her occasionally, but I prefer looking at and talking with her. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880515 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 14:03:40 +0000 Charm54 1880515@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For me, having a rear facing stroller is my #1 favourite feature. I love chatting with her when we go grocery shopping or for walks in the park. I didn't think I would like it as much as I do, but she's a year old and I still have her parent facing about 75% of the time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880505 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:51:32 +0000 lawbee11 1880505@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SerenaSF: I don't have any experience going up and down stairs with it...sorry! We didn't have any issues with LO's feet being in the air. I'll post a couple of pics on your wall! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880496 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:38:59 +0000 Foodnerd81 1880496@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SerenaSF: I really like having the parent facing option, but I think for the long term having a one handed fold option might be more important. I just turned my Lo to face forward and she turns 14 months tomorrow, but honestly she was definitely ready sooner. I just like looking at her. </p> <p>If I were in your situation is get the city mini and the car seat adapter. Our stroller (UB vista) came with the bassinet and I was so gung-ho on it, but my baby hated it. She was much happier in the car seat, which is also the only way I could et her upstairs without her waking. Any time I take her out of the stroller she would wake up. My friend used to carry her bassinet with sleeping baby inside of it up a flight of stairs though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880487 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:27:07 +0000 ShootingStar 1880487@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Rear facing was necessary for us. The first few times we tried to forward face when he was little he hated it. He basically thought he was alone. He liked it much better being able to see us. </p> <p>We used the carseat in the stroller until about 4m and he was fine. We live in an area where we drive everywhere though, so it just wasn't practical to have a bassinet attachment - I would've had to take the bassinet in the car everywhere, and then transfer him from carseat to bassinet, which would have woken him up for sure. </p> <p>I think if you live in an area where you walk most places you'd probably want to do a bassinet. I personally would not feel comfortable putting a tiny baby in a big stroller seat for a while. They just feel too insecure, even with the snuzzler things. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880481 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:19:03 +0000 hilsy85 1880481@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: Hm I don't know about carrying everything together, but I also have never tried to pick up a city mini, so I don't know that it would be possible to pick up carseat, baby, and stroller. You can easily pick up bassinet + baby, and then the stroller frame separately. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880478 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:17:23 +0000 SerenaSF 1880478@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lawbee11: Thanks for the info! When I was testing it out, it looked like when it was fully reclined, the baby's legs would be kind of up in the air because of the way the footrest was (like in this picture: <a href="http://uppababy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/vista_accessories_snugseat_hero1.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://uppababy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/vista_accessories_snugseat_hero1.jpg</a> ). Am I imagining that? Also, do you have any experience with it going over stairs? I'm thinking if the baby is sleeping it might be easiest for me to just walk up the 7 stairs backward without taking the baby out. Is that realistic? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880477 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:17:02 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1880477@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hilsy85: oh ok, good to know! I have never used one, and nobody here uses them (like I don't think I have ever seen one outside of buybuy baby). Is there an easy way to carry the stroller, bassinet and baby down stairs? It would be so awesome if the bassinet folded up! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880476 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:14:33 +0000 hilsy85 1880476@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Lion: I think the issue with the baby being in the carseat is that airflow can become restricted with the baby in that position, versus in a bassinet, the baby is flat on its back. The side of a bassinet are also high enough that there is no way a baby could fall out unless the stroller completely tips over. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880474 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:13:51 +0000 Dandelion 1880474@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have a lightweight Chicco stroller that reclines all the way that I've used since birth without a carseat. I've been ok with M facing away. I love how light it is. If I were lugging it up stairs, I wouldn't trade rear facing for lightweight. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880472 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:07:34 +0000 illumina 1880472@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We put LO in a Maclaren from around 6 months and that only faces outwards...not a problem, LO has never objected to being in there :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880471 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:07:22 +0000 Mrs. Lion 1880471@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't think there is anything wrong with putting baby in the car seat in the stroller. I think the idea is that you don't want baby in any one "container" for long periods...so whether that is a car seat or stroller shouldn't really matter. </p> <p>I loved having the car seat adapter on our stroller because we live in the suburbs and things are just far enough away from each other that we were constantly in and out of the car. It would have no been a huge pain to get a newborn in and out of the car seat. Popping it out of the car and into the stroller was so easy. </p> <p>ETA: no, rear facing is not necessary! My lo wanted to look out from about 3 months and we started snapping the infant seat in forward so that he could watch around him! We got rid of the infant seat around 6 months and by then he was fine sitting in the stroller. We have a britax b agile which is very similar to the city. </p> <p>But since you are in nyc you may not care too much about the car seat function....but i would think it would be easier to carry baby in a car seat and a stroller up/down stairs that to carry a bassinet. My understanding is that a bassinet doesn't have any way to strap baby in and that would make me nervous. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880465 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 13:02:57 +0000 lawbee11 1880465@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We have a Cruz and love it. We had the infant insert and used it for walks from birth (with the seat reclined flat). LO is 14 months and we still have her facing us (but now she sits much more upright). It's obviously not a necessary feature, but it's one of my favorite features of the Cruz. She is snacking more in her stroller so I like that I can keep an eye on her (I am super paranoid about her choking!). </p> <p>Also, the Cruz is so so easy to fold. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880459 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 12:59:19 +0000 Mrs. Oatmeal 1880459@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SerenaSF: ours never rear-faced, but the car seat clicked in rear facing, so we used that for the first 6 months or so. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880455 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 12:53:53 +0000 Mrs.Someone 1880455@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SerenaSF: Yep, thats true about the car seat, but I think its safer than the City Mini alone. I didn't realize they sold a newborn insert for it, that sounds like a good plan. And we haven't transitioned yet, DS is only 7w old :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880448 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 12:49:15 +0000 nana87 1880448@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I live in NYC and have a Cruz and I love it! It's very smooth on bumpy streets, I wouldn't worry about that at all. One of the main reasons we went with it was because I wanted her to be able to face me, and I love that feature--we also have a G-Luxe for travel and I've only used it once (LO is only 6 months) but in that one time it was disorienting to have her face out, I couldn't tell if she was napping or happy or what. I love being able to talk to her when we're out and about. I don't know when we'll switch to her facing out, but not anytime soon.</p> <p>But, I'm in an elevator building and there's only one step up to the building from the street. I rarely fold the stroller (except when we take cabs/drive, since duh it needs to go in the trunk) since we have room in our hallway to keep it open, but it definitely takes both hands. I'm hesitant to take it on public transportation since it's big and heavier--that's why we have the umbrella stroller in part. </p> <p>The other thing I love about the Cruz is how it works with the Mesa car seat and the bassinet--it's nice to have just 1 frame to work with all the different options. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880447 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 12:47:32 +0000 hilsy85 1880447@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You can get the bassinet attachment for the city mini and that will allow baby to face you probably for the first 3-4 months, depending on how big your baby is. </p> <p>After that...yes it was really nice to have LO facing me, but I switched him around at 9 months because he wanted to look out. So I don't know that it's worth getting a completely different stroller than the one you like for 5 months worth of baby looking at you, when you'll probably be using it for at least 2 years. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880445 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 12:44:51 +0000 SerenaSF 1880445@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs.Someone: Everyone keeps telling me that it's not good to keep the baby in the car seat for long periods of time, so I'm hoping to avoid having to do that as often as possible. The associate (and a lot of reviews) said that as long as I got a newborn insert to keep the babe secure, I could use the city mini right away, but if it turned out not to be safe then obviously no way. How long did you use the carseat adaptor before transitioning to the stroller on it's own? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880440 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 12:39:29 +0000 Mrs.Someone 1880440@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Well I can't answer your question exactly, but I don't think its the best idea to use the City Mini at birth, since it isn't very secure for a newborn. </p> <p>We have one that we bought a car seat adapter for and it works well. This could solve your rear facing issue too? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/how-important-is-it-to-have-a-rear-facing-stroller#post-1880436 Sun, 28 Sep 2014 12:36:34 +0000 SerenaSF 1880436@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm researching strollers and I thought I had pretty much decided on a city mini gt since I live in a walk up apartment in a city, but yesterday I popped into a store to look in person and the associate I spoke with kept talking about how much I would want to have a stroller that can face front and back. </p> <p>While I would love to have a stroller that has this option, none of the lightweight strollers I've looked at have this feature. I walk a lot and plan on using the stroller from birth (ideally) without having to use the car seat, but now I'm wondering if not having the baby face me is going to be a problem. The associate thought that Uppababy Cruz would be perfect for me, but I'm worried that it won't be smooth enough for old city streets and that I'm going to struggle with the fold. I might be able to leave the stroller on the first floor of my apartment, but there's still 7 steps from the outside of the building into the lobby that I'll have to deal with on a daily basis no matter what. </p> <p>How important is it to have a rear facing stroller? Is it only really relevant in the first couple of months, or will I be happy to have this feature for a long time to come?</p> <p>As always, thanks in advance for all the advice! </p>