Best car-seat/stroller for a preemie taking cabs?

November 21, 2011 7:11 AM

We hope to take our daughter home early next year, but she will likely be only 4lbs plus then. We've been given a Phil & Ted stroller, but we'd like initially to use something that detaches into a car seat. We don't drive, but use a lot of cabs, walking etc. in Singapore. The reviews online seem more for people with cars or bigger babies. Any advice or recommendations for a light stroller that will detach into a carseat that can be used easily in a cab?
posted by viggorlijah to Shopping (9 answers total)

Phil & Ted's make carseats that lock into the strollers. Not available in all places (we couldn't get one in the US, for example) but they have an adapter kit to make other major brands of seats fit the stroller.

In my experience pretty much all stroller/seat combos are ginormous monstrosities. But we love our Phil & Ted's stroller, used it from day 1 with the seat adapter and are still using it now that our son is close to 30 lbs.

Lighter strollers sound nice when you are carrying them, but if you are going to be walking a lot stick with something that has better wheels and more carrying capacity. We have a simple umbrella-style stroller we generally keep in the trunk, but if we know we will be walking a lot the Phil & Ted's goes with us because it is so much more comfortable to push.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:24 AM on November 21, 2011

we used a Graco pumpkin seat with a univeral car seat holder stroller. It was great - easy to fold, not huge, big storage basket on the bottom.
posted by dpx.mfx at 7:27 AM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

My friend, whose 25-weeker daughter just went home last month (yeah!) used a Graco infant carseat with the stroller base dpx.mfx linked to.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 7:51 AM on November 21, 2011

Any chance you could rent a preemie seat or car bed until she's over 5lbs? This was an option with my niece (in the US, not sure how common that would be elsewhere). Once she's over 5lbs you have a lot more options (and it hopefully won't take more than a few weeks for her to get from "OK to go home" weight to 5 lbs).
posted by mskyle at 8:00 AM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This would be an excellent question to ask at www.car-seat.org. Your request is tough because 4lbs is very small to fit properly in a car seat, and installing car seats in cabs means you have to be really confident you can do it well every time, to be safe. I'm not familiar with any of the preemie car seats, so I would definitely suggest asking the experts on the boards at car-seat.org. You don't even have to register to ask a question.
posted by Joh at 8:22 AM on November 21, 2011

I know you didn't ask and might already know this, but I can't help but point out:

For walking, especially for a small baby, it's much easier, more comfortable, more fun, and better for the baby to use a carrier that holds the baby to your chest. We used the Baby Bjorn at the beginning and then switched to an Ergo when he got heavier, but there are dozens of other fine options. Good luck.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 8:33 AM on November 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

2nding dpx.mfx on the universal car seat holder. Generic term is snap n' go. Also, our car seat (Chicco) has an option to use the car's seat belt to secure it.
posted by cestmoi15 at 8:58 AM on November 21, 2011

I loved my Peg Perego. It can be a bassinnette, which is important for a babe that cannot yet sit up (4 months - can't remember). You can also have it go in either direction, so you can face the baby toward you, which has been shown to improve language acquisition (and, in my experience, to protect your babe against unwanted strangers and dogs).

Note that the latest studies show that you should not use the car seat as a stroller, except for short distances. They don't even want you to let your baby sleep in a car seat anymore, due to asphyxiation. (The straps restrict breathing and chest movement.) Don't ask me how you keep the baby awake in the car, though.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 1:41 PM on November 21, 2011

Response by poster: We are planning on using a sling-wrap thing for most of the carrying, but we will be taking her back and forth in cabs for 10-30minute trips, and need to have a car seat for cabs. My previous toddler experience (adopted, so no baby experience) was that the stroller basically carried all the kid apparatus and bags, while the parent carried the actual kid until the point of exhaustion.

We're going to have a look at the snap & go system recommended, and double-check on the Phil & Ted's car seat options. The one we're being given is a big model, and she said she had to fit it carefully into the boot of her large car, and it is comparatively heavy.
posted by viggorlijah at 5:42 PM on November 21, 2011