Preg with #2 Help re: prams, car seats, beds??? PLEASE HELP

Ok so I am preg with #2!! The due day is 18th April, 2009, so if this bub was born on his/her due date they will be exactly 21months apart.

So at first we had a Sleecraft pram with a reversable handle which was good but heavy and they the canopy bit snapped on both sides where it attached to the pram so we bought a jeep stroller which is lightweight and great.

Anyway now I am unsure of what to do? i.e will Noah be walking everywhere and we won't need a pram for him? We don't use the pram for him that much anymore. Usually when I'm at the shops he is in a trolley and we just use the pram if its a long shopping day and therefore he will need to sleep.

But I know we used it all the time when he was young, we had a Tomy baby carrier but that didn't get used that much. And I thought by that stage Noah might want to walk a lot. My mum said that with a newborn though we probably won't want him walking everywhere and sometimes we will need him in a pram if we need to focus attention on the newborn.

We plan on having 4 children all up and we will almost definitely continue with similar age gaps of about 2yrs apart. So if it is necessary to have a pram for 2 kids we will want to get a good one because we already have the one pram and one stroller and don't want to keep buying more and more.

Also we have 2 car seats - one for my car and one for Phils car both are the same reversible from newborn-18kg anyway I saw in a catalogue a booster seat of the same brand which says 14kg up. Noah is 11.9kg now so not sure how fast he will keep putting on weight as I know they slow down now. So I don't know when he will get to 14kg. So I'm thinking should we buy him a booster for when this one comes along and let the newborn use the carseat or is it best to leave Noah in the car seat right up til the maximum weight before going to a carseat? And then either putting up with swapping the carseats over or buy more carseats or hire capsules? Also how long will a capsule last for? i.e by the time #2 has grown out of it will Noah be definitely ready to go to a booster seat?

So if Noah will only stay in a pram til about 24months then we can m,aybe use the hired or bought?? capsule for #2 the pram for Noah and then once Noah is out of the pram #1 can use it??

Also with Noah we had him in our room in his pram or often co-sleeping from halfway through the night. I think for #2 we will buy one of those safe and sound sleeper things you put in your bed but it has the walls on it and a light etc so kinda like cosleeping but they have their own little bed in the middle. So just wondering when would we put Noah in a big bed??? His cot goes into a toddler bed should we do that first to prepare him or just buy a bed and put him straight in there. It would be great if he could go into the new big bed before this one comes along so we can have his room and the nursery set up before we get even busier iykwim?

So what do you think? All advice, opinions and experiences would be very helpful

hi there
here is what we are doing (and our 2 will be 16 months apart).

BEDS
At the moment (and the past 5 months) DD has been in a portacot witha proper mattress. We have bought her a single bed in the hope of transitioning her over the next few months
#2 - will go straight into the cot that is empty (we also have borrowed a bassinette for the early weeks in our room. The cot is a toddler bed also for later

CARSEAT
We have 2 x car seats that are birth -18 kg. We never used a capsule with #1 and dont plan to with #2.

PRAM
we bought a P&T pram with the toddler seat and plan to use this. HOwever also have a sling for #2 in the first 6 months to baby wear :)

HIGHCHAIR
Only have 1 - will see if DD can sit at the table by the time #2 is in a highchair...

Nina was 21 months old when Emily was born, so hopefully I can help.

Pram: we have found it's easier to still have Nina in the pram, as well Emily. If Nina was walking, then I'd find it very difficult to keep a hand on her at all times, as she thinks it's fun to run away at times. This phase only started at 20 months. We have the Phil & Teds and it's brilliant.

car seats: When Nina was a baby, we had her in a Safe n Sound Guardian (birth-18kg). We then bought a Safe n Sound Maxi Rider for her (8-26kg) and Emily is in the Guardian.
Nina has just reached 14kg and she's almost 2.

bed: we needed the cot for Emily, so we moved Nina into a big bed at 15 months. It was a very easy transition for us as she was ready for it. If they're not ready, then it will take a while, so be prepared for that. We let Nina help us take the cot out of her room, and put it in bubby's room, and she helped me set up her big bed. We told her that she's a big girl now, so she goes into a big bed. And Emily is a little girl, so she needs the cot.

Hope that helps.

i think the maxi riders can go from 8kgs up if that helps with choosing a booster seat! still has the 5 point harness can then go to the H harness

oops, you're right Jol's. I'll edit my post :)

I had a 17 mth gap and here is what I did.

BEDS: Bought a bunk bed that seperates to single beds and put DD in the one with the rails all around it from 15mths (in her new room and closed the door to the old one). Transition went very well and didn't have to worry about her falling out.

PRAM: Had an umbrella stroller so we had to upgrade. Decided on the Phil & Teds with the doubles kit of course. I wanted something that both kids could still sleep in if we were out all day long, and because I realised the DD wouldn't be sitting it in for much longer so its still the size of a single pram. The seat on the back is excellent for holding all the shopping too when you only have one kid in it.

CAR SEAT: Had a convertable for the first so we went out and got a maxi-rider for DD and had the convertable for DS. When #3 decides to come along we are going to go out and buy a booster seat like the hi-pod or something that has the adjustable back and just shift each kid into the next seat up. ie DD in booster, DS in maxi-rider and #3 in convertable.

HIGHCHAIR: Went out and bought a booster seat for DD that straps onto a dining chair. Sooo convienient. we take it away when we go camping or on holidays. Have a normal high chair for DS.

Hi thanks ladies!

Well I hadnt even thought about a highchair! Do you think by the time #2 is 6mths old and we use a high chair Noah will be about 27months old is that old enough to sit at the table of will we want another high chair?

I googled the maxi rider, it seems a lot of ladies on here have them. Anyway the pic that came up was a velour looking one. Do the come in other material. It's wierd but neither Phil or I can stand the feel of the material makes me all goose bumpy and I couldn't stand it....sad but true! :rolleyes:

Also with the Phil and Teds, is that seat underneath comfy? Sometimes kids seem a bit sad in them so low to the ground? What do you all find? Also does anyone have any experience with the bertini? I'm not sure exactly what is out there? I think I would prefer a pram with toddler attachment rather than a twin or extra long pram but I would like the seat to be suitable for sleeping and would prefer a 4wheel pram.

My younger two are 19 months apart.

DD#3 stayed in a cradle till 8 months, then we bought a second hand cot off ebay (new mattress of course)....we felt DD#2 at 27 months was too young to go into a big bed.

Pram: Have got a three wheeler and todd. seat - great for when bubs was newborn.
Ive also got a twin side by side stroller - which is what i use now. Oh, and ive got a maclaren single stroller for the quick ducks into the shops....

Carseats: DD#3 went in the SNS convertible, and DD#2 went into the newly purchased Maxi rider - this is our second maxi rider (DD#1 has one too).

Highchairs: We got one of those booster seats too that strap onto your dining room chair. We also found our bumbo great for DD#3 when she was starting solids.....

I don't think your DS will need another highchair at that age. We got the booster seat thing as our DD wasn't high enough at the table which made it hard to eat.

There are other brands out there that do a similar seat to the maxi-rider but off hand I don't know who, and I don't know what type of material they are. Maybe look into a booster seat with a H harness like Infa Secure or something. The H harness will be a lot safer than normal seat belt and your little darling shouldn't be able to wiggle out of it either.

As for the Phil & Teds. I never liked the underneath seat either, but the thing that sold me was, the toddler seat sits on top when you have a newborn and its still like sitting in a normal pram so sleeping was never a problem. I got a coccoon when I bought the pram too so that it was easier to get DS in and out when you have the toddler seat on the top.
We hardly use the toddler seat now as DD is 2.5 yrs and walks most places and has done since about 2. If we are out and she does want to sit in the pram I just put her in the bottom seat. She seems happy enough.

Hope that helps. Happy hunting!!

Just thought I would add some info, my first two are 3 years one month apart and dd1 wanted to be pram as bub was though only lasted a month or so so bub was in a baby carrier for that time, my sister who has 2.5 years between hers had a carrier two as her dd wanted to sleep etc still when out.

If I was starting over now I would buy the ABC pram that has a toddler/newborn seat on the top of hood, google it and you should find it.

Car seat things, new laws hopefully to come in soon say upto 6month reverse, then up to 4 years carseat then 4-7 years booster, so in your case I would look at the maxirider or similat that concverts from car seat to booster seat my second dd is in one and just converted to bosster as she is 5 and now to heavy for the built in harnes, it is better to keep them in the carseat to they physically out grow it.

on the bed front by dd1 went into a bed at 2.5 as wanted her in there before bub so she did not think bub was taking it from her and she was fine so if you get a bassinette for the second the your #1 can stay in cot till around 2.5 then move to a single bed.

hope this helps.