Pros and Cons of air tires?

[zembaby]

1) Do you prefer air filled tires or plastic tires? I plan to walk alot in my neighborhood which has no sidewalks so I think the AT wheels are important but I am not sure whether air filled tires are a good idea. We went to look at strollers today and at two stores the tires on the demo stroller were out of air. Did anyone ever have a flat tire? What do you do?

2) And a general question - do you put a newborn directly in the stroller? Doesn't the harness bother them? Or do you buy a small mattress or a blanket to put underneath?


Thanks for your help :)

[nfowife]

1) Both are great, depending on the purpose. For outdoor walking on uneven surfaces, air tires are the way to go. But they are also very heavy so generally strollers with air tires are quite heavy. Most air tire strollers come with pumps and give the recommended PSI for the tires. It's not usually a problem to keep them filled, similar to a bike tire. However for indoor mall-type strolling I wouldn't want air tires becuase they are large and bulky and tend to get stuck in tight places like clothing racks and such. That's where a more standard stroller comes in handy, like a P3.

2) Yes, you can put a newborn directly in the stroller. The harness won't hurt them. When my DD was a newborn I think I disconnected the shoulder straps and just used the crotch/waist strap since she was laying down and that would prevent her from sliding out. I also put the footrest as far up as it would go and that did the trick. You can put a nice blanket underneath if you want, but it really isn't necessary. For the cold it is nice or even something like a bundle me is good too (for the stroller, not the carseat). They have more freedom to move in the stroller than the carseat, so for extended strolls the stroller is better than being in the carseat in the stroller, if that makes sense.

[lorien_ca]

i think margaret did a really good job of answering your questions, but i'll just ditto to it:

1) air tires are a really nice thing to have if you are going to be outside, especially not on sidewalk, alot. i used my bugaboo outdoors at least 4-5x/week for more than a year and never had a flat. they do require maintenance, which plastic tires won't. honestly, i just kept the little pump in the car with the stroller and pumped them up once every other week or so - it took less than 2 min. on the bug. if you do get a flat, most bike stores will carry spare tubes, so you can either have them patch or replace the inner tube for you depending on how bad of a flat you have. if you're familiar with changing/patching a bike tire, you can do this yourself.

2) you can place a newborn directly in a newborn compatible stroller (full recline - lays pretty much flat). many AT strollers aren't newborn compatible and those that are usually require some kind of adapter or insert or have a bassinet attachment which is meant for a newborn. my ds was in a bassinet in the bug initially, but when he did go into the seat at around 4 mos, he had no trouble with the harness. it's not much different from the car seat harness really. it is ok to put a blanket underneath a stroller harness, but not a carseat harness (for proper fit and fire resistant materials reasons). most AT's with basinet features come with a small mattress that goes in it.

one thing you may have already thought of is getting more than one stroller (for the reasons margaret described - AT tired strollers can be cumbersome indoors). you may want to consider getting a newborn compatible, plastic wheeled stroller for indoor use - and use it for the newborn period outdoors as well until your baby is ready for the AT stroller. then you can switch to the AT after this (relatively) short newborn period. you can find lots of great deals on new and used AT's on craigslist, strollerswap, ebay, etc.
hth, lori
Sam 5/19/05 How lucky I am that you chose me.

[zembaby]

Thanks for the advice! I started out the stroller search a few weeks ago thinking I can get by with only one stroller... but now I am not so sure.. :)

We're getting the Zooper Zydeco which should work well for outdoor use and also has a full recline and an optional bassinet. I am thinking about just getting the graco car seat frame for quick trips to the mall and shopping and try to wear the baby in a moby wrap if i don't want him in the car seat for too long.

The reason I was asking about placing a newborn directly in the stroller is that the Zydeco is pretty wide and it seems like the harness would just float around the baby at the beginning but maybe its not a problem.

Thanks! :)