Josiah & Lauren 17: Proud parents to Lauren's hat...and Bella

[OyToTheVey]

On 4/25/2021 at 8:33 AM, LillyP said:

I think it all just depends on your family and friend group. I had big ticket items on my registry with my first, not because I intended anyone to buy them, but because at the end you get a completion discount code to buy up what's left and it would be silly not to be able to get the discount on them. Some of the bigger ticket items were purchased, but mostly by family and my best friends. My MIL ended up buying the crib ($400) and my parents got my stroller ($1,000....which was actually a joint Christmas/baby shower gift since it was super expensive). My core group of best friends typically each spent around $150-250 on a gift...things from the baby monitor to mamaroo bouncer. Everyone else bought smaller much less expensive stuff, which is to be expected. I spend a similar amount on my closest friends, but friends I'm not close with I tend to spend in the $50 range. 

Agreed. In my family, the super big items are always bought by parents, aunts uncles or cousins, or best friends. When my nephew was born, my mom spent like $1,000 on a car seat and something else. When my best friend had a baby I spent $250 on a play walker thing. It really depends on location and the actual group. 

[medimus]

3 hours ago, OyToTheVey said:

Agreed. In my family, the super big items are always bought by parents, aunts uncles or cousins, or best friends. When my nephew was born, my mom spent like $1,000 on a car seat and something else. When my best friend had a baby I spent $250 on a play walker thing. It really depends on location and the actual group. 

It's possible to spend 1000$ on a car seat? ?

I need to rethink budgets for when i have a baby!

[NotQuiteMotY]

58 minutes ago, medimus said:

It's possible to spend 1000$ on a car seat? ?

I need to rethink budgets for when i have a baby!

@OyToTheVey, she did say "and something else"! Don't be too nervous! We've had three car seats, and the most expensive was the infant seat and stroller set. I think that was $200-300, and this was just a few years ago. Mind, they probably make $1000 car seats, but for that price I want them to install themselves!

[Flossie]

1 hour ago, medimus said:

It's possible to spend 1000$ on a car seat? ?

I need to rethink budgets for when i have a baby!

I knew a woman who had a car seat all her friends bought together.  It was very expensive at the time.  Now this was at least 30 years ago, but it looked very nice, comfortable, and sturdy.  It had a five-point safety harness instead of the more common (at that time) V-type straps that came down over the shoulders and buckled in the bottom of the seat.

Supposedly it was also rated to be the safest for air travel, if it was belted into it's own seat.  We wondered, does that mean that the baby is most likely to survive the initial impact of a plane crash, and then has to depend on someone getting it out of the crash alive before fire, toxic fumes, or water become an issue?  Or only that the baby would be better protected if it were buckled in during rough weather, like hitting air pockets or flying through a storm.

[SweetJuly]

20 hours ago, medimus said:

It's possible to spend 1000$ on a car seat? ?

I need to rethink budgets for when i have a baby!

There is the Axkid One+ which alllows your child to travel rear-facing until 125cm/23kg and which retails at 800 EUR.

Car seats can indeed be one of the very big expensive items when you're setting out to have a baby. But then you can save on the expensive strollers if you decide to opt for baby wearing & making the child walk or use a balance bike as soon as they are physically able to do so

I think what I am trying to say is that you can spend a small fortune on a baby (literally, the sky is the limit when it comes to number of baby items and the price you can pay for them), but that it's also possible to do it on a budget.

[Heidijoey]

On 4/27/2021 at 10:54 AM, medimus said:

It's possible to spend 1000$ on a car seat? [emoji33]
I need to rethink budgets for when i have a baby!

My BIL and SIL purchased the UppaBaby stroller and car seat. Together it cost OVER $1000 together. Then the pandemic hit and he basically outgrew the car seat before he could use it more than a handful of times. My husband and I were astounded that an infant carrier and stroller cost so much.


 

Edited May 14, 2021 by HerNameIsBuffy
removed tapa sig

[Snarkasarus Rex]

I’m not a fan of the ‘travel system’…I came to this conclusion the first time I used the stroller  and it took up my entire (good-sized) trunk. This was 2008 so I think sizes have gotten better since then. 

I found that a quality infant seat, a frame stroller (which I bought second hand), a good-featured umbrella stroller, and a convertible car seat worked best for us. All in one seats are great, until you have a second kid that also needs a seat…

[Not that josh's mom]

My nearly 50 year old son didn't even have a car seat or stroller. We carried him everywhere and he laid or sat on the seat of the car. So grateful things have improved in child safety over the years. And that he survived without any incidents. 

[lizzybee]

Granted we've had three kids since 2016, but the travel system was a worthy investment for us. My infant carseat still isn't expired and the stroller that goes with it, I still use if it's just my littlest who needs to hitch a ride. I could see someone who wasn't having as many as we have had not finding it a valuable tool especially if they'd had a baby during this pandemic, but for us, we've used the heck out of that stuff and could end up using it again before it's expired, idk. A family member got it for us for our baby shower and we've definitely gotten their money's worth out of it.  

[NotQuiteMotY]

1 hour ago, lizzybee said:

Granted we've had three kids since 2016, but the travel system was a worthy investment for us. My infant carseat still isn't expired and the stroller that goes with it, I still use if it's just my littlest who needs to hitch a ride. I could see someone who wasn't having as many as we have had not finding it a valuable tool especially if they'd had a baby during this pandemic, but for us, we've used the heck out of that stuff and could end up using it again before it's expired, idk. A family member got it for us for our baby shower and we've definitely gotten their money's worth out of it.  

Owning my agree. We got a travel system with Elder and used the car seat with him and his brother. We use the stroller pretty heavily still, even without the attached seat. Even if we have another, the car seat would be about to expire or expired by then, so we gave that away so someone else could get a year's use out of it in the interim; if we need to for another baby, I'm figuring on getting a new infant seat that attaches to the stroller if I can. It can be a good investment depending on what you need, like a lot of baby stuff. Probably the expensive thing we've used the least here was an Ergo baby carrier.

[Expectopatronus]

9 hours ago, NotQuiteMotY said:

Owning my agree. We got a travel system with Elder and used the car seat with him and his brother. We use the stroller pretty heavily still, even without the attached seat. Even if we have another, the car seat would be about to expire or expired by then, so we gave that away so someone else could get a year's use out of it in the interim; if we need to for another baby, I'm figuring on getting a new infant seat that attaches to the stroller if I can. It can be a good investment depending on what you need, like a lot of baby stuff. Probably the expensive thing we've used the least here was an Ergo baby carrier.

I’m also in agreement. My daughter would fall asleep in the stroller and I could just unclick the infant seat and carry her into the house. I could then begin the 20 minute process of easing her out of the seat and into bed. At 16 months, she could technically still fit into her infant seat but we had a car accident when she was 13 months and I had to replace the seat so we got an all in one. 
My friends used an all in one from the beginning but my girl was under the weight requirement. Even her bucket seat with newborn insert was too big and the OB had to show us how to add a head support roll. We paid about $500 for our travel system. 
if you are set on Uppababy, buy the stroller used. It can apparently accommodate most bucket seats. That you’ll need to buy new. 

[HeartsAFundie]

22 hours ago, Not that josh's mom said:

My nearly 50 year old son didn't even have a car seat or stroller. We carried him everywhere and he laid or sat on the seat of the car. So grateful things have improved in child safety over the years. And that he survived without any incidents. 

I'm not that much older than your son and I distinctly remember being an unrestrained 3-4 year old in the late 60s, climbing over the front seat where I sat between my parents to the back seat.  And after being bored sitting in or laying across the back seat, hopping back to the front.  All while the car was in motion, with my baby sister sitting on my mother's lap in the front passenger seat.  It's very scary to think about now but then again, there were less cars on the road at the time and people just weren't aware of how dangerous those behaviors actually were.  No one's fault...just a sign of the times.  

   

[viii]

My favourite was using the backseat as a bed, curling up without a seatbelt and falling asleep while we drove. 

[Snarkasarus Rex]

4 minutes ago, viii said:

My favourite was using the backseat as a bed, curling up without a seatbelt and falling asleep while we drove. 

My parents put a crib mattress in the back seat (early 80s… large mid 70s vehicle :)) so sis and I could sleep on long trips. 

[viii]

1 minute ago, Snarkasarus Rex said:

My parents put a crib mattress in the back seat (early 80s… large mid 70s vehicle :)) so sis and I could sleep on long trips. 

Yes! We did a road trip once and my dad folded down the backseat in the van and put an air mattress so we could take turns sleeping. 

[Meggo]

3 hours ago, viii said:

My favourite was using the backseat as a bed, curling up without a seatbelt and falling asleep while we drove. 

We had a mini station wagon and my dad built some weird wooden platform storage thing to go in that area and put a cushion on top of it and that's where the dog & I slept for long car rides. If there had been an accident - we likely would have been thrown clear up to front seats. 

Seatbelts were NOT a thing. I think my mom had something for a car seat for me at some point? (I was born in the mid 70s) but I also remember getting out of it once and roaming around the giant back seat. 

[viii]

I was born mid 80's so seatbelts were more of a thing, but people were pretty lax about them. Fortunate we were never in a serious accident. 

[AprilQuilt]

On 4/28/2021 at 5:47 PM, lizzybee said:

Granted we've had three kids since 2016, but the travel system was a worthy investment for us. My infant carseat still isn't expired and the stroller that goes with it, I still use if it's just my littlest who needs to hitch a ride. I could see someone who wasn't having as many as we have had not finding it a valuable tool especially if they'd had a baby during this pandemic, but for us, we've used the heck out of that stuff and could end up using it again before it's expired, idk. A family member got it for us for our baby shower and we've definitely gotten their money's worth out of it.  

oh goodness yes, we have the Uppababy Cruz travel system and I make no apologies. I don't drive, we live in a city, and we have used it every single day since my daughter was born. My mum got it for us from an outlet - it was the last season's model or colourway or something and cost £500ish, so expensive but not as much as it might have been. Just - no regrets. The frame is sturdy but light and easy to manoeuvre, not too big, fits loads of shopping underneath, and folds into our car boot just fine. Fits car seat, child seat, or a carry cot attachment that is suitable for the baby to sleep in all night, which saved us a bit of luggage when we went away. For me it's the single best piece of kit we got, and cost-per-use must be miniscule by now (she's 2). If we manage to have another baby, we'll just put a buggy board on it for my daughter to ride on if she gets tired, and go again.

Everyone's different. It might have been less important if I drove, and if our kid was more reliable at napping in her own bed. But it's been a godsend.

[Meggo]

I had a Bob jogging stroller and MAN did I love that thing. I used it from the carseat days (with a little insert thing that clipped in) right up until he was probably 5 and then passed it off to a friend whose daughter has used it (and is maybe three now?) Don't know if they still use it (because they have another little babe - so maybe want a double? dunno) but I loved that thing. So easy to handle. 

It was  a registry gift that friends all pitched in on - but I put it on the registry to get the discount on it - never expecting anyone to buy it. Loved that thing.

 

[Sullie06]

Born in '83 over here! My sister was born in '85. My Dad had an early 80s station wagon and would always let us sit in the "way back" even on trips. There we were rolling around unrestrained at 70 miles and hour. By the time my brother was born in '91 a lot changed and he never got to experience the thrill of the "way back".

[nelliebelle1197]

Here you go!