How useful is a bassinet/carrycot attachment?

[ambrosia77]

Hi, I'm brand new to the boards and looking forward to meeting all of you!

We are researching strollers for our first baby due this winter. I am drawn to strollers with reversible seats and either air or nice soft foam tires (we live in a residential part of a large city with bumpy, old sidewalks and streets).

My newest obsession is Mutsy strollers, I think either the Slider or the 4 Rider Light (test drove the Slider but haven't seen the 4 Rider IRL). I love the bassinet feature because I can't imagine putting a newborn in a regular stroller even if it reclines fully. Plus it will be cold and snowy early in the baby's life, and the bassinets are nice and covered.

But my DH insists that I won't use the bassinet that often, that if I am going in the car I will use the infant car seat and if I am going for a walk in the cold when the baby is small I will use a carrier (plan to have a Moby and Ergo).

What do you all think? Have you found bassinet attachments to be useful for your newborns?

[salsah]

welcome!

it is best not to use the car seat too much -- leave it in the car. if you want to put the baby in the stroller, the baby will be fine with the seat reclined so you do not need a bassinet. and you can get a foot muff for warmth for most strollers. however if you can get a bassinet, i think that they are nicer -- definately better than the car seat.

oh, i have heard nice things about the slider (although heavy).

[WatchingThemGrow]

We used our Bugaboo bassinet inside the house for the first 2 mos with each baby. It was great! In the times we'd go out, they were able to keep sleeping if that's what they were doing. We didn't do much out and about in the car trips, but if we did, we tried to use carriers instead. We're now using that same stroller with a wheeled board for DD to stand on. Love it. Never laid eyes on the strollers you mentioned, but I just wanted to let you know how we used it. By 3 mos, our babies seemed to want to stretch out more than the bassinet allowed. We have some bumpy areas near our house as well, so the air tires seem to do well for us.

[Tinochka]

I was dreaming about the bassinet feature, because this what people use in Europe. I would say, if you can get it without breaking your budget, I will go for it...
My sister-in-law all of the sudden cleaned her garage and gave me European type of stroller, they purchased in Italy. Even my baby was big enough I grabbed it, thinking if we are gonna have other baby, I'll definatly will use it. I'

[strollerqueen]

Love bassinettes. And everyone I know who has tried them loves them too. I can't imageine trying to strap a newborn into a semi-reclining stroller seat. So far, my baby hasn't been in anything but carrycot strollers. He sleeps in one by my bed, too. Although he does wind up with me quite a bit!

[dukie41181]

I just about a Mutsy 4Rider and got the bassinett with it. I too struggled with the bassinett v. no bassinett decision but was able to find a great deal that included the bassinett. I am excited to have it and hope we use it often! I heard in talking to a Mutsy representative that the bassinett is free-standing so that you can use it independent of the stroller if desired. What did you end up doing?

[MamaBear]

We have a Cameleon, and I loved having a bassinet for my son. We used it for 3 months, and I think if I were to do it over, I'd use it even longer. (We lived in Europe last year, and noticed much older babies still in bassinets/prams/carrycots, and they looked comfy and content.) For those 3 months, it was also his bed at home. We used a carseat adapter for errands (like running into a bakery or bank) that were very short, yet weren't amenable to carrying him in his carseat.

As for Mutsy... as much as I love my Bugaboo, I'm fascinated with the Urban Rider. If that had been out when we were stroller shopping, I think I'd have had a tough decision between these two strollers!

[codex57]

We took our Bugaboo Cameleon bassinet out for use as a stroller maybe twice. However, it was used a LOT in our house. Worked great. You could take baby along everywhere and made it easy to rock em to sleep. I think he was in it til about 3 or 4 months. Also used as a travel bed when we went to visit family (also just used indoors).

Your husband is right in that we used the infant seat when going out, but we still used the bassinet a lot. We never used a carrier much. We don't live in a big city so whenever we go out, we use our car with the stroller in the trunk. Plus, I didn't like having to tuck a blanket around baby's arms and legs and head when in the carrier. Much easier to just throw a blanket over the infant carrier (attached to the stroller) in order to protect baby from the cold.

[pastrygirl]

I plan to get a bassinet next time. My son hated his infant seat AND he hated the Moby wrap and all other carriers I'd gotten (Hotsling, Kozy, Ergo, etc. -- some babies don't like carriers, apparently). He didn't sleep in the stroller at all, or out of our arms. I think he would've slept in a bassinet when out for a nice bouncy walk! But I didn't think of this back then.

[codex57]

It's worth a shot. DS was weird. No sleep in a carrier. Very difficult in a regular stroller. Only slept in infant seat if he falls asleep in the car while moving, otherwise no go there. Bassinet was fine.

[mkg9]

We used our bassinet a lot in our house and whenever we took our son out while he was still tiny. We have an UppaBaby Vista, so the bassinet was included. It was one of many selling points for us, because we never had to buy a separate bassinet to clutter up the house!