Hellobee Boards

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.

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.

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.

@SerenaSF: ours never rear-faced, but the car seat clicked in rear facing, so we used that for the first 6 months or so.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

@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!

@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.

@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.

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.

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.

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).

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..

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.