Baby Gear

[YarisToronto]

Hi all,

My wife and I are expecting a baby in May.
Wonder if anyone can recommend a good baby seat and stroller combination.
We own a 2009 5-door hatchback and we live in Toronto. Not sure if that makes a difference, but just in case.

Thx. all.
Joe.

[thebarber]

most of them are good

we got a used baby seat w/ a base for the car and have a peg perego stroller

combo's are nice, most of them are pretty decent and will fit nicely into the yaris behind the passenger seat (i don't know where you have the drivers seat, but mine is all the way back

i wouldnt spend too much on an infant setup cus they grow out of it so quickly

we bought a nice seat to take our daughter from the 18"/16lb range up to like 30" and 35lb rear facing and some crazy numbers foward facing.

my advice, spend the dough on the seat theyll be in for a while

[BailOut]

I second buying used as well, not just for a car seat and stroller but for everything. Flame retardant stuff is a completely over-hyped, under-delivering, over-advertised fad that accomplishes nothing and is actually toxic to your baby, so buying used greatly helps in this respect by gaining you items that have already been washed several times and had a chance to gas off on someone else's child and into someone else's home.

Besides, you'll keep almost none of it, and they outgrow things so quickly that it makes no sense whatsoever to dump a lot of cash into it. It also takes a huge amount of resources to create and ship these things, so buying used means it doesn't all have to be done again just for you.

It also keeps more of your dollars in your local economy, particularly in the hands of 2 groups of people that can really use it: young parents and charities that run thrift shops. :smile:

[thebarber]

i wouldnt buy used safety gear for the kid though.....if we hadnt have got the infant seat from a close friend, we'd have bought new.

all the other stuff (clothes, crib, toys, stroller, change table, dresser, etc) we bought used....especially when theyre young, they grow out of stuff super quick...nor does it matter what the style of clothes they wear (and should prove funny in about 15yrs ;) )

[YarisToronto]

many thanks.

Joe.

[ozmdd]

Congrats YarisToronto! We too are expecting in May. I think used is risky unless you know the history of the item and it is no more than a couple years old. Buying from a close friend or family member is fine (assuming they are kind to their stuff), but I'd only buy an unknown item if it seems practically unused. Car seats just aren't expensive enough to want to scrimp on, IMHO. I guess your budget dictates a lot: if you're fairly tight on $$ (who has a newborn and isn't, besides the wealthy??), I can see the logic of used, but be very picky. Also, check the recalls; it seems a lot of baby stuff gets recalled as safety technology continually improves. An infant has such a hard time with weak neck muscles that I'd want to be sure the baby is REALLY secure in the car.

[toad]

i wouldnt buy used safety gear for the kid though.....if we hadnt have got the infant seat from a close friend, we'd have bought new.

all the other stuff (clothes, crib, toys, stroller, change table, dresser, etc) we bought used....especially when theyre young, they grow out of stuff super quick...nor does it matter what the style of clothes they wear (and should prove funny in about 15yrs ;) )

i agree. we bought all our non-carseat-stuff from consignment shops, resellers, etc.(except the furniture which the grandparents bought as presents). actually, in our area(maybe even nationwide?) you can't take carseats to consignment shops or resellers because they aren't allowed to resell them - some kind of law. we sold pretty-much everything else back to the places we bought them or tried our own garage sales first then donated them to goodwill.

[YarisToronto]

Thanks to all for the kind responses.
And a hearty congrats to you too OZMDD!

[Rand0m0sityxX]

i wouldnt buy used safety gear for the kid though.....if we hadnt have got the infant seat from a close friend, we'd have bought new.

all the other stuff (clothes, crib, toys, stroller, change table, dresser, etc) we bought used....especially when theyre young, they grow out of stuff super quick...nor does it matter what the style of clothes they wear (and should prove funny in about 15yrs ;) )

I bought the carrier carseat used. It was really good, and I only used it for 5 months. Now my 5 month old is in the convertible carseat (from rear facing infant to front facing, to toddler.) Its Graco and its really good, Tho i have a '98 so i have to use the seatbelt, once I get my Yaris, i think it has the latches for the belt thing that came with it, Our '08 Versa has them.

For stroller, I have one made from Jeep, its 4 years old now, and still like new (I got it with my first child).

[YAR1S]

http://www.recarocarseat.org/recaro%20car%20seat%206.jpg

hehehe.