Car Seat / Travel System / Pram for Twins

[ach5]

Hello all,

I am completely befuddled in researching this, specifically for twins.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendations?

Can someone explain to me how to get all the different bits working together in an integrated way, ideally a system/set that will work from newborn to much older, without having to re-buy parts in larger sizes. I’d like the car seat to ideally also be the pram cot.

If I’m honest, I don’t really know what I’m buying or what I’m looking at. I don’t know what I really need. With lockdown I can’t go to a shop to look at any of these items to try them. I’m driving myself bonkers and on multiple occasions have wasted an evenings research in frustration by closing the computer and giving up!

I’m not on a budget, but equally not interested in spending all we can; we do try to choose to buy as economically as possible, in all respects. So no top end, ‘luxury’ or ‘fashionable’ recommendations please. In fact, I’m happy to simply buy the cheapest so long as it meets all safety and quality standards.

Thanks!

PS sorry for making this mumsnet. Wife not interested in this sort of stuff, so left to me to research & buy, as she says it’s the mans job!

[Lazydonkey]

Don't have any experience with twins (thankfully!) but when number one son came around we bought a bugaboo chameleon on the basis that my wife loved it and it fitted every scenario....you can take it on the beach, off road etc etc. £1k all in. Our son never used the pram attachment. We never used it on two wheel.

For number two my wife admitted than she'd never liked it but really coveted her pals buggy. So we bought a BabyJogger City Mini GT for £350 and it's miles better. If we were having number 3 we'd buy another one in a heartbeat. Dead easy to fold and our child minder says it's the nicest one she's used. They do one for twins too.

Car seat wise if you go for Maxi Cosi pebble or similar then it will fit on every buggy. We did this all the time with our first but our second was just as happy being transferred from one seat to another. Technically you'd not meant to have the kid in a car seat for more than an hour or two.

So i guess my advice would be......don't overly worry and i'd happily recommend the baby jogger range. Only downside is the kids are facing away from you whereas some of the more expensive options have the kid facing you. Not a deal breaker for us.

I know how easy it is to go down a rabbit hole with kid stuff..... it's all a load of balls really :D Good luck.

[Spoonbed]

We had the out n about nipper with our twins- we did try other transport options, but nothing came close.
I can recommend joining TAMBA - lots of good advice and assistance with multiple births

[julian2002]

I would seriously advise against going for an all in one 'travel system' It's really bad for a little one to be kept in a car seat for long periods and this tends to be what happens as you go from car to push to destination.
Pushchair / pram would have to be a Bugaboo Donkey I wanted one as it was the only one where the handle went up far enough for it to be comfortable pushing at my height. The twin version looks great and can be updated when you need a twin stroller. Also no arguments about who's in front.
Car seats no idea.
I'd also ensure that you have a suitable car - kids take a huge amount of space when travelling a mid size estate or large SUV (not a small one, trust me) is utterly necessary for modern parenthood.

[Brighty]

Long time ago now (8ys), but we needed a double when baby 2 was imminent and no1 wasn't walking well yet.

We looked at loads and didn't like most of them, side by side is a pain in shops etc, one above the other, 1 poor kid is hidden away with no view of the outside world.

We ended up going for the 'baby jogger city select', which it looks like you can still get. It seemed the best compromise of not being toooo long, while giving the second kid a half decent view, also both seats are the same full size, which alot of others don't have



It's totally modular, you buy the basic single buggy, then add ons like a second seat, car seat adapters (for maxi cosi seats) and carrycots and use them in any combination forward or rear facing.

We had it with 1 seat and 1 car seat initially, then after the first month or so mostly with 2 forward facing seats. In your case, you could use 2 car seats, or 2 carrycots.

https://www.pushchairexpert.com/en/p...t-double-mode/

Pricey mind, but there's bundles available.

As above, it's not good for a baby to be in the car seat for hours on end, but for a quick trip to the shops or whatever, just fitting the car seat to the frame is alot easier than faffing with carrycot things, they take up alot of boot space too. Our first hated the carrycot on our first buggy, so we vever bothered with them for the double.

Another thing to consider, i found the bases for the car seats brilliant, its a unit that fits into the car by either seat belt or isofix, you leave it in permanently and then the maxi cosi car seats then just clip into the car, instead of faffing with seat belts every time
https://www.maxi-cosi.co.uk/car-seats/isofix-bases

[Miocene]

We went for a Mountain Buggy duet for our twins.

The benefit of it being... You can fit through a normal door without collapsing it.

We looked at the Donkey, but ruled out out simply because it'd need a wide or double door.

[bootneck]

It maybe different in today’s times with lockdown and people out walking more but buying a travel system was pretty useless for us, in fact the last 2 we didn’t use one at all. Decent car seats and a babybjorn carrier that goes on your front which you can also get for twins, I loved that thing the child felt close to me at all times I had my handsfree for the myriad of other stuff you seemed to need to do at the same time. Horses for courses but I’d certainly give one a try before buying any kind of pram or travel system

[RobDad]

My boys are 17 and 20 so no twins experience but we had a travel system and pretty much never used it. A VW Tiguan was a great ‘people carrier’ and as soon as we could we got them into maclaren buggies. Seems mad to spend a fortune on the whole pram thing when they hardly need them for much time at all imho


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[ach5]

Thanks for the replies so far!

My thoughts re: travel system was to avoid having to have a twin pram with two built in seats / cots which would take up the whole boot. As I understand it, a travel system would allow you to just put the pram frame in the boot, and the cots into the back seats, since they’re also car seats?

But then (my thought process) what do you do once they’re too big for the travel system cot, which probably happens around age 1 I think? You’d then need ‘permanent’ fixed car seats, as well as a huge pram with built in seats?

I did buy a new car (estate) but still, I’d imagine the pram could take the whole space? Not great for trips away.

[ach5]

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but do standard prams accept newborns?

I might be going wrong because I have this idea that newborns need to be inside one of those hard plastic carry cots with the handle, which clips into the pram frame?

If they can go in a simple flexible pram seat, then this solves the issue (we can have fixed car seats and just lift them out and transfer into the pram?)

[MakeColdplayHistory]

I don't have much current info to offer this thread - our triplets are fast approaching 18 - but it's good to see that the Out n About Nipper is going strong. Ours was great.

We didn't have a full travel system (and they did exist at the time) but did have stage 1 car seats that clipped into bases that could be left (isofixed) in the car. So we'd put the kids in the car seats in the house (in the dry) and then just carry them out and 'click' them into the car in seconds. That side of things worked very well for us but I don't remember thinking we needed the full 'system'.

[Spoonbed]

I don't have much current info to offer this thread - our triplets are fast approaching 18 - but it's good to see that the Out n About Nipper is going strong. Ours was great.

We didn't have a full travel system (and they did exist at the time) but did have stage 1 car seats that clipped into bases that could be left (isofixed) in the car. So we'd put the kids in the car seats in the house (in the dry) and then just carry them out and 'click' them into the car in seconds. That side of things worked very well for us but I don't remember thinking we needed the full 'system'.

Yes, that’s exactly what we did with our twins ( gawd knows how you managed with triplets!!!)

[prexelor]

When my son was born I got a Chico travel system. My daughter arrived 2 years later and the idea of using two pushchairs was not practical. I therefore got a Maclaren double buggy which when collapsed fitted in my VW Golf mark 5 with ease. This was approx same size as the Chico travel buggy when collapsed.

It was very light to push and navigate. The set up permitted my son to sit up on his side whilst my daughter side was put to near flat level. The car seat remained in the car. There is also something else for which the name escapes me - something akin to a detachable sleeping bag but for buggies to provide extra protection against the cold.

There was concern it may be too hard but with a nice thick blanket underneath as padding, it was akin to a pram, except you have straps.

Any concerns disappeared as my daughter was fine, in both the car seat in the car and then in the buggy.

Both buggies were purchased on the basis that when collapsed they could be positioned upright and lived in the front porch.

John Lewis does price match against other retailers (cannot be online only) who stock the exact colour and spec. I made quite a saving as I wanted to buy from JL but not pay the RRP.

It is worth getting a rubber mat for your car boot - easier to clean up after muddy buggy wheels.

For my children now, I have Cybex car seats which have a front cushion which the seat belt is fed through. Both find the car seats really comfortable.

[Brighty]

Thanks for the replies so far!

My thoughts re: travel system was to avoid having to have a twin pram with two built in seats / cots which would take up the whole boot. As I understand it, a travel system would allow you to just put the pram frame in the boot, and the cots into the back seats, since they’re also car seats?

But then (my thought process) what do you do once they’re too big for the travel system cot, which probably happens around age 1 I think? You’d then need ‘permanent’ fixed car seats, as well as a huge pram with built in seats?

I did buy a new car (estate) but still, I’d imagine the pram could take the whole space? Not great for trips away.

OK, forget the twins thing for a minute, get back to the basics

What you're asking for, car seat that's also a cot, doesn't exist. A cot, the kid lies in loose, not safe in a car.

For the kids to go in a car, they need a stage 1 car seat.

Strapped into it with a harness, then that is fixed into the car facing backwards. The baby is in a kind of half sitting, half laying position. The big players for these are Maxicosi and Britax. Maxicosi seem to have the best compatibility with travel systems, which we'll get to in a bit. Strap the kid into it in the house, carry them to the car with the built in handle. You can either fit the seat into the car everytime with an origami seatbelt arrangement, or buy a base (specific to that brand/model of seat) that lives in the car, fixed with either a seatbelt or iso fix, the seat then clips in/out of this base. I found the bases brilliant, sod faffing with seatbelts every time. You still have the seatbelt option when in another car (friend, family, taxi etc).

These seats will only last 9months to a year before the kids out grow them, then they and the bases are in the bin. You'll then need stage 2-3 or whatever seats which will stay put in the car. Again maxicosi and Britax are the main players for the bigger seats.

Back to the newborns. Once you get where you're going the options are, papoose type sling/backpack things, great for newborns, but my wifes back couldn't take our first after a month or 2, so forget that on your own with 6month old twins. Cheap fold up stroller, ok for older kids, but dont have the back support for newborns.

Then there's travel systems, these are basically a pushchair. You get a frame and a big seat, the seat detaches from the frame. They dont need to be the same make as your carseat.

You wont need the seat for a good few months, so put it away in a cupboard, but once you do use it, it will fit the kids until they are 3or4 years old. What a travel system does, is allows you to fit your maxicosi or whatever carseat to the frame.

Great for a quick trip to shops, you dont have to risk waking the baby getting them out of their seat, just unplug it from the car and plug it into your pushchair frame. The problem with that is, it's not recommended to leave a baby in its car seat for hours on end. Quick trip, fine, but a full day out, car there, pushed around all day, car home, is not recommended.

That's where the carrycot/bassinet/pram attachments come in. They are not the seat that came with the buggy and they're not a car seat. They are an extra add on you'll buy with your buggy system and will be specific to that make/model of buggy

They are basically the body of a traditional babies pram that fits to your travel system frame. They allow the baby to lie completely flat. They'll be in there lying loose, not strapped in. They'll be an extra cost. They also take up a ton of room in your boot. We got one with our first single system, but our boy hated it, constantly screamed, so we just used the car seat in the end. Again, once your kids is a few months and can sit up in the big seat, these are scrap

[ach5]

OK, forget the twins thing for a minute, get back to the basics

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have finally helped me understand all this stuff!

I will read and re-read this tomorrow, before going online shopping!