Car seat or capsule?

I was investigating prams yesterday when I was told that apparently I first need to decide if I want to use a car seat or capsule. I have no idea so I was wondering what all of you recommend?

We used a convertable carseat because we couldnt afford to buy both a capsule & a carseat. And from what I have read you can keep kids rear-facing for longer in a carseat than a capsule

whether or not you choose to use a capsule is entirely a personal decision - and its' only if you decide to get a full travel system that it dictates your pram choice

we used the steelcraft strider dlx travel system - so we had pram and capsule that fit together - could take capsule from car, sit it on the base, and keep going. personally, i loved it! everywhere we go from here is at least a 20 min drive, so more often than not, DD was asleep by the time we got anywhere (or got home) so i simply took her out of the car and either took the capsule inside or put it straight on the pram. she was a winter baby so we could strap her into her capsule inside and she wasn't exposed to the cold as much going from house to car, car to shop, shop to car etc.

you can still choose to use a capsule without using a whole travel system though! a lot of people hire a capsule from the local council and will transfer baby in capsule to the house etc, but when out shopping, they put them in their pram (i'll admit, when we were out for a big shop or long time, i didn't leave DD in her capsule, i put her in the basinette on the pram as it was a flatter surface for her to snooze on). if you choose to do this, your pram choice is not dictated in any way by your decision to use a capsule

if you choose to use a reversible carseat, all of the above is irrelevant and your pram choice is yours

only you will know what is going to be most viable for you. we kept DD in her capsule until she was about 8 months, and then put her carseat in (rear facing) until she was 13 months or so. we could have gotten away with just using her carseat the whole time, but the convenience of the capsule worked for us kwim?

We bought a capsule because it was the only thing that fits in our car, same way we have a bassinet because that's the only baby bed that fits in our house. We don't have a pram for the new baby - again, nowhere to put it in the house.

It wasn't much of a tossup between house and car for us. We're getting a new house. Baby stuff is just too damn BIG.

We purchased a Safe N Sound Meridian..started rward and then goes fwd. It goes up to 22kg I think??? This was for DS1 and is now being used for DD and she is still rwd facing in it. We certainly have our money worth out if it. The travel system is a great idea..my SIL had one.
I found we had no trouble transferring with the safe n sound one, all kids were used it so they transferred well.
I can also depend on how close you intend on having the kids if you want more..as if you want them close together. Our Safe n Sound has worked for us as by the time the next baby came along the previous one was ready for a bigger seat.

I hired a capsule from Kidsafe for 6 months - $65. I'm so glad we did that because she grew out of it after 3 months and it would have been an expense (if we'd bought one) that was unnecessary.
We now have a Safe and Sound Sleep N Recline and it's fab!

I wouldn't even bother hiring a capsule again though. I find that the car seat we have would have done bubby even when she was tiny.

Sue x

I don't think whoever you spoke to knows what they are taking about :confused: you can only use a capsule up to about 6 months and then you would need a car seat anyway. You can hire a capsule for the 1st 6 months if you want to be able to take the baby out of the car and keep them in the capsule without actually picking up the baby, some find this useful if there bubs wakes up easily when picked up. We decided to get a car seat that bubs can use till they are about 22kg (I think) and if bubs is asleep in the car seat we bought a cocoon to put them in and carry them inside in that to continue sleeping, the cocoon also fits into our P&T dash pram so they can still be lying down sleeping... of course with our system we are counting on bubs not waking up when we move them from the car seat to the coocoon. I'd ask some more questions in a different store.

I've got a Viaggio capsule and my little one still easily fits in them. The SNS Unity is a cheaper/similar concept. They're designed for 9-12kgs depending on the model I think. The SNS has been rebadged for the HiPod capsule and the Fisher Price capsule. And both capsules fit into a number of prams.

My Viaggio fits into my P&T Sport with an adapter.

I find it convenient when I'm not using my Ergo. It just makes it easy to snap and go and she faces us.

But it's pretty much personal choice and budget.

We are going with the capsule system, but mostly because I like the thought of being able to move my baby about without waking it. One thing that is not emphasised at all over here when looking at capsules is that they are not suitable for long periods of time because they squish the babies body up too much. When they are still young their bones and internal organs are very maleable and the curved shape of the capsule is not good for their spines and organs. So if you were planning a day out, you would need to take the capsule in the car, and also take the basinette for them to lie flat in. One friend of ours got one and loves it, another didn't bother because they said they weren't planning on leaving the house for 6 months, and really didn't, so it's really just a matter of choice and finances.

As others have said, it's totally personal choice. Capsules and car seats are both safe for your baby so personal preference is all it comes down to.
No doubt the stroller salesperson said what they said because there are some really neat travel systems out there if you want to go for the capsule option. I really wish I had've considered this before my first, but we were given a car seat as a gift so it didn't really occur to me to investigate (plus the travel systems are much more prevalent now than 4 years ago!)
We coped fine with just a reversable car seat, but I must admit I had capsule envy when my friends at playgroup brought their 2nd kids in a capsule, placed them in a quiet corner to continue sleeping and went about playing with their older kids.
There are plenty of capsules now that can safely take a baby up to 8-12kg, so I think it is possible to get your money's worth - especially if you then have more than one kid.
Having said all that, if you see a stroller you really like or just simply can't afford a travel system (the good ones are really quite exey) then get the stroller you like and think about car seats later.

We got the S&S Unity capsule for DS for the reasons others have talked about. I found it great, but did wish that I had of spent a bit extra and bought one the one that fitted on my bugaboo. When DS was 6 months PIL wanted to buy us a car seat so we got the S&S Meridian. TBH DS could've stayed in the caspule longer (he's 13 months and not yet 12kgs, but would be a bit of squish anyway). We sold our capsule on ebay, because next time round I want one that fits the pram, we got $210 for it and I think we only paid about $260 or something, so for us it worked out cheaper than renting it.

With DS we only had the reversible car seat that we had rear facing for 11 months then turned around when he reached 12kg. We didn't bother with a capsule as we didn't want to buy two car seats. For DS2 we are borrowing a friends capsule as we figure it will be easier to have the baby in the capsule in one hand and ds1 in the other hand as he is a bolter. Its personal preference really.

Thank you everyone for your views. I understand that it is a personal decision but by reading some of the positives and negatives to each option that you have stated it will make making my decision a little easier (well at least I think so anyway!).

With DS we just had a reversible car seat. I brought a capsule with DD. For me it was one of the best things I've brought. DD is 1yr old in 3 weeks and still in it. It made things so much easier not having to wake her every time we went out. If it was nap time and I knew we had to go somewhere soon I would put her down it her capsule and just took her out asleep.

Capsule all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Such a bonus having it!

I had the S & S AHR Meridian for DD1 and it is a brilliant carseat, but we got a capsule and travel system before DS because we had a lot of issues with waking DD1 every time we wanted to get in and out of the car. I absolutely love my capsule!!! If I know I am going out, and baby needs to go to sleep, I can put them down in the capsule. My capsule has rockers on the bottom so I never needed to take another rocker with me. As I already had a toddler, the capsule meant that I could put it down on the footpath while I got my toddler/s safely in the car and didn't have to try and juggle baby as well. Baby could sleep in the car and keep sleeping. My pram and capsule made an enclosed space when I was out so I didn't have random strangers touching my sleeping baby (as happened often with DD1). The capsule fits into the top of shopping trolleys and have little feet that grip on. As my capsule was part of a travel system, I kept my kids in it until they were 9 months old (they got too long but my kids are in the 75th percentile for height so other babies might not grow out of it as quickly) - the hire ones are smaller and a little more difficult to carry as the handles aren't as nice.

I can't say enough good things about my capsule. I love love love it and it was probably one of the best things I ever bought for my babies. I paid about $200 for my capsule (it is a Fisher Price one) from Target on sale. My pram is a Mocha Latte Steelcraft. The steelcraft prams were designed for S & S capsules and the FP capsules were designed for a FP pram, but I found they are fairly interchangable. We took our pram into Target before we bought the capsule and tried it out. It turned out to be sooo much better than we ever could have imagined.

If you can keep your baby in the capsule long enough, you may be able to get away with not having to buy a rearward facing carseat. We have the AHR Maxi-riders and they have a slight decline back on them for forward facing babies. If I didn't already have a convertable carseat, I would be likely to try and stretch the capsule out longer. To be honest though, my babies are getting too long for a normal convertable carseat by 9 months too though - they don't stay in it long before I have to turn them around.

Hope that helps :)

Oooo. This is an easy one. Capsule. Then at six months sell on ebay. Wonderful, wonderful invention! Used it with DD 8 and a half years ago and plan to use one again, with this bubs. It was never a question of not having one.. More of which stroller to choose. Good luck with your choice!

It is so unfortunate that they are so dear here. In Canada they range from $150 and up. That includes capsule and stroller. Have fun!