How to choose a stroller for your child?

Buying the right type of stroller is one of the most important decisions in the life of a new parent. The main purpose of any kind of strolling product is to provide you and your baby comfort in its best form. You can use a baby carrier or a stroller for your little piece of sunshine and feel assured of being hassle-free.

Baby Carrier is better for the child in the first six months

Doctors around the world consider choosing a baby carrier over a stroller in the first six months of the baby for various health benefits. The primary reason is that the skull of a baby is soft in the first six months. Therefore, there are chances that spending more than 2-4 hours each day on a stroller, bouncer, or swing will lead to flatness at the back of the baby’s head. Also, using a baby carrier allows more bonding time between the parent and the child. Baby carriers are quite inexpensive compared to baby strollers, and the best ones distribute the weight evenly. This helps you feel free to perform other tasks.

Handiness that comes with a baby stroller

Even if baby carriers are preferred up to a certain time, baby strollers are the ultimate convenience providers for the parent as well as the child. Their advantages make them one of the essential items for the daily use of the child.

Some of the focal advantages are:

• It soothing for the baby: A gentle stroll soothes the baby, and that itself becomes a very relaxing thing for a new parent.
• It’s easier on the parent: Pushing a stroller takes less energy than carrying the baby all the time.
• The stroller provides more safety: A stroller is generally equipped with a safety harness, a sunshade, and also a protective frame. Although there are other add-ons, too, like a cup holder, make sure you do not put any cup or glass of a hot drink to avoid any mishappening.
• Ample of storage facilities: You can put various things like bottles, diaper bags, extra clothes, snacks, toys, etc. in the storage space of the stroller.

A little investment is justified for the best type of stroller:

A good quality stroller will work perfectly for your child for many years. You can also use it for multiple kids or can also hand it over to your relatives and friends for their use in the future. Some of the products also have a decent resale value in the market.

The main types of strollers with their pros and cons are:

1. Standard Full-Size Stroller

This is the most usual type of stroller. It weighs almost 16-37 lbs. They offer excellent storage space, comfortable seats, more user-friendly wheels, and also bigger canopies. Some of these models have a car seat adapter too. Some models of a standard-sized stroller offer a bassinet for infants. Examples include- Bugaboo Cameleon3 and UPPAbaby Vista.

2. Car Seat Frame Stroller

As the name recommends, this type of stroller offers a framework that can easily click with a car seat. This type of car seat holder stroller is compact; it is inexpensive; it is also quite light having an average weight of 11 to 16 lbs. It is one of the most preferred options for babies of 6 to 12 months of age. This is also one of the most favored options among second-time parents.

3. Lightweight Stroller

The key stroller feature is that these strollers are super light-weight. They usually weigh between 8 to 17 lbs. They are perfect if you wish to go for traveling as they are compact and light. They have a little folded shape because of which they are also known as umbrella strollers. But apart from these pros, there are some cons also in this type of stroller. They are not suitable for infants below six months of age because they do not have car seat adapters installed in them. Also, the small wheels make them less user friendly to move, especially on rough surfaces. Checkout this lightweight strollers guide by My Babies Planet .

4. Jogging Stroller

These strollers are made in such a manner that they can be used by the parent while jogging too. They generally weigh between 23 to 31 lbs. They are equipped with shock absorbers as well as large air-filled tires. These tires help these strollers to roll smoothly and lessen the effect of bumps on the child.

5. Double stroller

If you are expecting twins, then these strollers are perfect for you. However, one can also use these strollers for an older sibling and an infant. It provides two seats that are either side by side or are in tandem. They weigh almost 21 to 36 lbs. They are made in such a manner that they can fit through most of the standard doorways. However, a major issue with this style of the stroller is that they do not accommodate two car seats for infants. Therefore, they are difficult to use for infants below six months of age. You can also check out contours double stroller if you have twins. The contours double stroller reviews have always been positive from its users.

6. Travel Systems

These are combinations of curated packages that are a combination of a car seat and a strolling product. They are often priced less than buying individual items. But here’s the catch! They often compromise in terms of quality. They are bulky, heavy, and do not perform well in the long run.

How to search for the right option for you and the baby?

To find out the right type of stroller for your child, you need to think where you are going to stroll on a routine basis. It may be a difficult task to envision the routine of the next two to three years. But a little imagination and planning will make the task easier. The following questions will help you in deciding which type of stroller to go for:

1. Storage: How much storage space do you require on a day to day basis?
2. Parent Tray: Do you really need a parent tray to keep your keys or small things while strolling, or are you good without this accessory?
3. Wheels: The pressure on the wheels increase with the increase in the child’s weight. Also, bigger wheels offer greater comfort but make the stroller heavier. So, do you need the stroller for jogging too or just for a casual walk around the neighbourhood?
4. Weight: Do you need the stroller right outside your house, or will you be often driving to a particular place before taking out the stroller? If you wish to use the stroller right outside your house, then a little more weight will not be much of a bothering factor. However, if every day you have to drive and then take out the stroller from your vehicle, then you may definitely go for a lighter weight option.
5. Cost of the stroller: You can get an average stroller around the price of $200. However, the high-end strollers may cost more than $700. So, it is up to you to analyze the trade-offs and choose to invest in the stroller accordingly.

Tips for Safe Strolling

No parent wishes to hurt the child intentionally. However, sometimes because of a lack of experience, especially for the new parents, it becomes all the more important to pay heed to some safety tips. Sometimes, even as experienced parents, we hurry about certain things and miss out on some safety measures. Henceforth, each and every step must be taken with equal importance to ensure the safety of the children.

1. Using safety harness every time

Injuries due to tipping over extremely common. In some cases, they convert into fatalities. These can be controlled with the safety harness. Parents should make sure to buy strollers that have a five-point harness with an easy latching mechanism. Children should be buckled every time with a properly fitting harness to avoid any kind of mishaps.

2. Never put any kind of hot liquid in the cup holder

The cup holders on the strollers are generally quite shallow. On top of that, these cup holders are often placed right above the child’s head. It makes them extremely dangerous to be used for any kind of hot liquid. Parents should avoid hot coffee or tea while strolling the child. If, in any case, the hot liquid falls on the child’s head, then it is a serious problem for the whole lifetime. Parents can, however, can use normal to cool temperature liquids while pushing the child, but even that cup or glass should not be put in the beverage holder cup on the stroller.

3. Use only jogger strollers while jogging, no other type of strollers

Some parents use standard strollers as jogging strollers. This can prove extremely harmful to the child’s heath. An infant’s head is quite large, and his/her spine is not fully developed; therefore, infants should not be taken for jogging, especially when they are less than eight months of age. Even if the stroller is a jogging stroller, the child still should be put on it only after eight months of age to minimize health risks.

4. Use elevators/ramps and not stairs/escalators

Escalators or stairs should be used under no condition with a baby stroller. Even if it looks like the stairs are of less height, they may still turn out to be very harmful to the child. Regular jerks and bumps will cause damage to the child’s neck, spine, and head. Also, if the wheel of the stroller gets stuck at the edge of the stair, then also there are chances of injury to the child.

5. Keep baby away while folding the stroller

There are cases where the baby’s fingertips get stuck while the parents were folding the stroller. It resulted in fingertip amputations. The parents should thus, make sure that the child is at a safe distance while they are folding the stroller.

6. Lock properly after unfolding the stroller

Failing to properly lock the stroller after unfolding it may result in its collapse because of the baby’s weight. This will hurt the baby severely. Therefore, parents should lock properly after unfolding and make sure to listen to the click of the lock.

7. The parking brake should be double-checked

Some products come with features like releasing the brakes when bumped. If the brakes release themselves near a traffic area or a busy roadway, then it may result in tragic situations. To make sure that the brake it properly engaged, always shake the stroller a little to see if it is moving a little or not.

8. Check if the product is a recall

You may check with the Consumer Products Safety Commission on their website to see if the product is a used product or a hand-me-down product. This will help you in getting to know more about the features of the product and also if the stroller needs any repair.

9. Do not hang anything on the handlebar

Hanging stuff like baby diapers or even groceries on the handlebar may result in back tips of the stroller with the child, which may result in severe head injuries for the child. This may also harm the neck and the spine as they are not fully developed. Therefore, it is recommended to keep stuff in the bottom storage basket of the stroller as it will increase its stability. 

10. Do not try testing the product at home, as seen in commercials

Actions like testing the stroller with dummy objects (even a dummy baby) are done under expert supervision. Do not try this at home in order to test the product. At the time of trying the product, you can test it by putting a weight of around 25 lbs and then strolling it.

Conclusion

It can be overwhelming for a new-parent to go through a myriad of choices in the market and then figure out the best option for their beloved child. But a little planning and thinking will help you in making the right decision. After all, buying a stroller for a baby is equivalent to buying a car for a family. Therefore, no doubt, extensive research, and thinking should definitely go before making this decision.