Saturday, October 19, 2013

To Stroll or Not to Stroll

Well, really, I suppose it's more a question of HOW to stroll.

 Last year, when I discovered I was pregnant, I thought I knew exactly what type of strollers I would want.  So, I registered for - and received - them.  While the basic Graco is nice, and the Snap & Go attachment for our infant car seat was handy, neither were what we really ended up wanting, once I had my baby and learned his preferences.

 After getting a grand total of 8 strollers (some were hand me downs), I want to share some that work really well for our family.

For a light weight, toss in the trunk umbrella stroller, we love the Jet stroller by First Years:

http://thefirstyears.com/jet-stroller

This umbrella stroller is very light, can be set up or collapsed with only one hand, and strolls smoothly.   In addition, it is a lot taller than most umbrella strollers, so there's no need to stoop over while pushing - A big plus!

With regard to our other favorites, we found that our little guy really preferred to sit facing us, and not facing forward.  Sadly, it's hard to find many affordable strollers with this option. One that worked quite well is the very affordable Quinny Zap Extra:

http://www.quinny.com/strollers-buggy/zapp-xtra-2/

The seat can be forward or parent facing.  The handles are also nice & tall, though the back wheels are heavy and very wide set.  This means that you don't accidentally kick them when walking, but it also means you're more likely to run into doorways.

A cushier option is the Stokke Scoot!  Nice and compact, great options for seating, but a bit heavier at 25 pounds.  Unfortunately, it is quite a bit more expensive.

http://www.stokke.com/en-us/stroller/stokke-scoot/product-information.aspx

Overall, the lesson we learned is that we couldn't really predict what the best stroller was for our family until our little one was born and let us know his preferences.   So, if you're planning ahead, you might just want to get the stroller attachment for the infant car seat and then wait to get to know your little one before deciding on what other strollers you might need.