Hi...I have had conflicting advice on this...some friends say not to worry about a capsule and just to get the carseat...others say they found the capsule good for the early months. Keen to hear feedback :)
Thanks ladies.
Hi...I have had conflicting advice on this...some friends say not to worry about a capsule and just to get the carseat...others say they found the capsule good for the early months. Keen to hear feedback :)
Thanks ladies.
I found a capsule great for the early months, but I hired one instead of buying it, as depending on your baby you might only be able to use it for a few months.
Personally i skipped the capsule my reasons:
1. My car wasn't big enough
2. I didn't see the point in spending $$ now and then in a couple of months buying another carseat IYKWIM
3. A friend had a capsule and i found it hardder getting the capsuel out without waking a bub than just taking my girls out and putting them in the pram.
It all comes down to personal choice really, but checking they fit in your car is a big thing for me.
I didn't do the capsule with my DD, and regretted it
Bought a capsule for my DS. Loved it, but was heavy.
I had a capsule for ds, loved it he was in it for 8 months. He could stay asleep when we went out and I just put it in the trolley when shopping. I didnt need to use the pram until he outgrew the capsule. I wish I had used it with the girls. I had a unity capsule that went to 12kgs, but he got too long.
Same as ZF here, went straight to reversible car seat. I didn't want to spend the extra dollars on one that'll only be used for a few months. Plus this way, bubs just stays in the same seat until next the baby comes along, then we'll reverse the seat again so new bubs hopefully gets lots of use out of it and we'll upgrade DD to a seat that will hopefully last her as long as she needs
Straight to car seat here to as didnt see point in extra money knowing my kids would be too big for it to fast.
Friends had them and found them heavy and annoying at times others loved them.
It all comes down to what YOU want and think will work for you.
We have a sns meridian ahr car seat which is lush, but we bought a 2nd hand peg perego capsule so i could just easily lift it out and take it in to the school when i had to do kindy runs. Im a small person though and it really is too heavy and bulky for me to carry, so im finding im still just getting him out and carrying him. It is good when we go out and DH is with us though, he loves the capsule.........but hes bigger and stronger than me. I think i would actually prefer to put the sns car seat back in and leave the capsule in the boot to put DS in when needed..............which in itself makes having a capsule overall not really worth having. DS doesnt seem to like being in it in the car either, he screams for most of the car ride everywhere we go, not sure why.
They are handy though if u have the pram that the capsule can clip onto. But in saying that, i have the matching pram and have never attatched the capsule to it, DS loves being in the pram as it is.
If you are going to get a capsule look at the peg perego ones, they are bigger and therefore baby can be in them for longer.
Thats exactly what we did, DD1 used the turn-a-tot til DD2 came along, we borrowed SIL's other turn-a-tot then when DD1 was big enough we put her straight into a 'big girl seat'.:
Also i had a pram that had a hard shelled baby carrier that could fit onto it so i ended up using that attachment where need be.
I was debating this same question and got some great advice which was - if I planned to do several car trips a day and essentially would be in and out of the car then a capsule is a good thing otherwise, go for the reversible.
Seeing as kid's now have to be in car seats until 7 years old most car seats are either birth to 4 yrs or or 6mths to 4 years and they now make 6mths to 7 years or have the old booster seats but they now have to have harnesses so you would still have to buy 2 eventually so we hired a capsule and brought a 6mths to 7 years car seat that way we only had to pay $80 for hire and then the cost of one car seat insted of 2 car seats and that one car seat will last until Ella is 7.
thanks so much everyone, you've all been really helpful!
we are leaning towards going straight to the car seat.
I got a capsule and loved it. It is a little heavy, but my children were never big babies and DS1 stayed in it until he was almost 12 months and DS2 used it until he was 9.5 months. I loved keeping them rear-facing. I've seen too many youtube videos :(
I bought one (it was a babylove) and I feel I got my money's worth out of it. Nipping in to Drs appts, picking things up, going to visit people - i could just leave the boys strapped in and sleeping (on those rare occassions!!)
I was going to get the capsule, so I didn't have to wake up DS after a trip in the car and I was going to hire it rather than buying it, but I ended up with a convertible car seat instead. My main problem was that it was too heavy for me to carry around especially after I had a c/s and couldn't lift anything heavy for at least 6 weeks.
We had DS is April and it was freezing. I was so glad we had the capsule as he was snug in there with a blanket. I also would've found it hard handling the baby and everything else getting into the car, you can set the capsule down whereas a baby you can't!
We put DD straight into a car seat as we didn't see the point of a capsule when we had a good quality, rear-facing car seat. I wish I'd listened to those mum's who had used a capsule and recommend them, it would have been great on so many occassions! I really regret not using one with DD. Waking a sleeping baby from a car seat was a complete PITA! It would have been much easier to just take the capsule and let DD keep on sleeping! Especially as capsules connect into our pram :doh: Yeah, I really should have thought about it a bit more.
We will be either hiring or buying a capsule for this baby. Most of my friends have done the same with their second babies, we all 'learnt' our lesson, LOL! But each to their own
I am wondering the same thing.
As I'll have a 20 month age gap between #2 & #3, I figure a capsule will be a good investment as i want to be able to strap my 20 month old in the car before the newborn as he is likely to run away! I can keep the capsule in the trolley or on the ground until #2 is safely strapped in then pop the capsule in.
Just thinking whether it'll be worth buying one or hiring.
We had a capsule, the peg perego one and whilst it seems you are going to get longer out of them because they are a tad longer, the weight only goes to 9 kilos in this country (even though they are rated to 12 kilos in Europe)....They are also the heaviest of the capsules to lift and when you add the baby weight in there you need som good biceps!
Connor outgrew his capsule length wise at 9 months and because we wanted to keep him rearfacing as long as possible we bought a convertible car seat. In hindsight I would still have got the capsule first even though it seems like we were double buying......it was so convenient to pop him on the pram base ( I didn't use the pram bassinette for ages because the capsule was so much more convenient, I could transfer him sleeping from car to pram or car to house easily. IF we are lucky enough to have a number two I would be looking at the maxicosi Mico capsule.....it is the lightest on the market and has one of the highest safety ratings overseas for a baby capsule...also it fits onto most of the travel system prams with the adapters. If you buy a good capsule like the peg perego or maxicosi, they have an excellent resale value on ebay unlike some of the domestic models.....we got back almost all of what we paid for ours, only lost $50 in the resale so for us it was a good purchase.
To answer your question Stoked about buy or hire....look at the resale values on ebay.....you may find that for some of the better models it works out cheaper to buy new and sell on when you are done, than it will cost you to hire for an extended time.....plus you will know for sure you are getting a brand new seat that has guaranteed never been in an accident etc etc..... just my thoughts on it.....
I used a reversable car seat (the same car seat) for all three of my children.
We are now buying a capsule for baby number 4 (our last baby).
Capsules are just more convient. The reason we have decided to go the extra expense this time around is because the capsule can be used with my P&T's pram, which is going to be ALOT easier for me when I have to do anything with the kids. In particular with school runs on rainy days (we have to pick up directly from the classroom on rainy days), it means I won't have to wake bubs up to get all the kids out of the car to go in the school to pick up my DD. Considering school runs tend to be right around the traditional nap times of my kids, this will be a lifesaver. The capsule we are buying (s'n's unity) goes up to 12kgs - which is about 1yr old. Most capsules will only go up to 8-9kgs. We still have the convertible car seat for bubs to go back into once they outgrow the capsule.
Possums - check with you local council and see if they have a service where you can hire a capsule for 6 months. We did this and found it perfect. I really liked being able to get DD in and out of the car without waking her, but didn't want to spend loads of money on a capsule when they are out of them in 6 months.
We then put her in a reversible seat and kept her facing backwards for as long as possible.
Janie xxx
We went the car seat option over a capsule. In hindsight the capsule would have been good at times, like for those quick dash-in, dash-out trips, or those times in wet weather where I was standing in the rain strapping DS in.
That's what I found Cece, with three kids putting ds into the pram would have been time consuming when we have kinder, swimming and a quick dash to the shops for milk.
My capsule formed part of a travel system with my pram. It was awesome! If your pram has that capability then I definitely go the capsule
I had a convertible car seat for DS1 and hated it. It was so inconvienient.
I bought a safe n sound capsule for DS2 and I never once regretted it. Never needed to unsettle him when we arrived at our destination, no need to take a porta-cot anywhere because he just slept in the capsule, etc etc. It was worth every cent!
I was in the baby shop yesterday and had a look at the new travel system ones and i thought they looked a tad on the small side compared to the older Safe n Sound ones!! I think if you had a small petite baby it would last longer or if i had to do alot of running around with kids etc it might be worth it.
We hired a capsule. I took it out of the car twice in the 6 months we had it - once to get baby off to sleep before we got in the car, and once when she was already asleep - she woke up. We have such a wakeful baby, that it was a total waste. Also, in the capsule she was screaming in the car, but when we swapped her into the rear facing convertible seat, she was in love, and is now super happy in the car. Far more likely to fall asleep too, and i have had better luck transferring her from the new seat than the old capsule.
So for us, and how often we use our car, the capsule really wasn't worth it.
i had Safe n Sound Unity for my daughter and LOVED it
i regretted not having one for my son and am upset i cant use my capsule with this bubs (rearward can only be in middle and with a maxi rider either side no point)
i found the unity fantastic as i could use it with my pram and have her ready for the car which was easier with a toddler running around she also used to sleep in it
I bought a capsule for all the reasons the OP's have said and never looked back! Then when DS was 8 months we bought the S&S Meridian so we could keep him rear facing for a bit longer.
We actually sold our capsule on ebay (originally paid just under $300 and sold it for $250) because we decided next time around it would be worth buying the one that fits our pram. So, I'd keep that in mind. Even though it is an extra expense, you can sell it when you're done and recoup most of the expense.
Friends of ours decided to go for the car seat. But once bubs was 2 weeks old they saw the value in having a capsule so bought one then. If you get the car seat now, you can always see how you go and if it is a PITA you can get a capsule then and put the seat away for a few months.
i really, really wish we had brought a capsule. Poor DD everytime we had to get in and out of the car we woke her up from trying to take her out or put her in. I will be investing in one next time.
I went to the baby shop the other day to look at my options and the attendant pointed out that because I have a dual cab (07 Navara) that a capsule would be a PITA to use as the belt adjuster (which needs to be loosened to remove the capsule, then tightened again, every time you take it out) will actually sit behind the back seat and won't be easily accessible. So that's one thing to keep in mind. No capsule for me, I'll have to stick with convertible.
Ill be getting a capsule I think. I regretted not having one with DD as she was so hard to settle and I could have taken advantage of the car putting her to sleep. Picking her out of the convertible seat just woke her up. DH and I would just keep driving for a bit of peace and quiet and head home once she woke....Something Im sure wont be happening with 2 of them :)
We hired a capsule , only $75 for 6mths, professionally installed and safety checked. check out "hire for baby".
Once 6 months is up, we will invest in buying a car seat he can be in up to 4yrs
This was us exactly too. DD2 hated the capsule. I thought it would make things easier for us but nope. She hardly ever feel asleep in it and if she did and I tried taking it out she would wake up and she never liked sitting in it when it was not in the car. I hired it for 6 months and by 4 months I took it out and put a rear facing seat in and she loves it.:
i bought a polo capsule and used for DD until she outgrew it at 7 months. I didn't find it particularly useful as its heavy and cumbersome, we primarily bought it due to its high safety rating. we moved her into a compaq and at nearly 3 she still has plenty of room and hopefully should see her to 4.
we used the capsule for DS who outgrew it at about 10 months. This time we found it useful as we could strap him into the capsule inside, then go straight to the car while trying to catch DD who would be running around the front yard. So in those situations I found it easier to walk after her and guide her back to the car if he was in the capsule instead of carrying him and herding a toddler back to the car. if that makes sense.
I have got my capsule out on loan to friends at the moment and by the time i get it back i might hold onto it for future number #3 or might just put them straight into one of the 2 compaqs we have, i am comfortable with this as the compaq rates safety high in the reverse mode
if you need a capsule to use when doing school drop offs that sort of thing, i wouldnt worry if you baby wear, if you do, no need for a capsule, if you don't babywear then i can see having a capsule that clips into a pram would be very handy