Choosing transport for your new born baby can appear to be a minefield! Especially if it is your first..here are some tips for you to think about before your purchase.

For your newborn there is a choice between a more traditional pram or a stroller that has multiple roles
Cost: For your newborn there is a choice between a more traditional pram or a stroller that has multiple roles. From a cost point of view, they can be just about equal but you do need to bear in mind that although your pram can double up as a crib, your multi-way stroller or pushchair could give many years of use.Baby buggies or umbrella buggies are not recommended to babies who are unable to sit up unaided.

Size: A pram can be much larger, both longer and wider, than a stroller and can often only break down into two large parts. Unless you have a large car, or public transport with large doorways, this could be a problem. On the other hand, multi-way strollers often come with many parts of which only two are often in use at the same time. As these can be smaller to start, the component parts end up being smaller. For the older baby, an umbrella stroller or buggy can be a great form of transport and space saver as these fold up into an umbrella sort of shape.

Manouverability: The traditional pram can come with suspension which makes for a comfortable ride. Sometimes they have a shopping tray underneath which when laden with items can make the pram heavy to push. Also, the wheels are often fixed in the same direction as in a car which can make turning corners more difficult and cumbersome to do. With the size of the wheels also comes a difficulty in getting up and down stairs. Travelling down stairs is not possible. With the multi-way strollers, these can come with 3 or 4 wheels which can or can’t move in different directions. Some are so easy to use, the stroller can move in the minimum of space, others need moreso. Also the wheels can be smaller than a traditional pram so it is easier to get up and down steps, through doorways and up and down kerbs.

Practicality: My preferred option was to make the best use of my money. I bought a multi-way system which came with a base, car seat, multi-way seat and crib. I used this for over 5 years for both of my children. Most importantly for me was when they were very tiny, I could transfer them from the car onto the stroller base without having to wake them up. All this was done very swiftly and easily. As they grew up, I could decide whether they wanted to be facing me when travelling or facing forward. Both options were used equally and again were easy to facilitate.