Go read the Disclaimer again. I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice. Seriously.
I'll tell you straight up: I don't like strollers. They're annoying. I don't like it when other people are using them. I don't like it when I'm using them.
But they have their uses. We're on our third or fourth stroller or stroller-equivalent, and I always have my eye out for another.
I bought a car seat carrier (the Universal 2, from Kolcraft) in order to go grocery shopping. I figured the car could carry the bucket or the stroller could carry the bucket. No way did I feel up to walking a mile and a half each way, with a baby in a carrier and a backpack full of groceries, with, probably, a bag or two of groceries in my hands. The basket under the stroller works great for heavy items. My husband and I have done the weekly shopping this way twice. It gets us both exercise, gets us all outdoors, gets the groceries and gives us a solid hour to talk to each other with minimal interruptions, which is enough to deliver the bird to my guilt over using a baby container.
Teddy outgrew the baby bucket, or at least we think that's why he was so unhappy in it after a growth spurt. We got a new car seat, but the carrier no longer worked. We'd gotten so hooked on doing the grocery run with the car seat carrier that we started using the second stroller (originally intended only for exercise) for this purpose.
My mother-in-law bought us a Bob Sport Utility Jogging Stroller, which is not quite as useful for going grocery shopping, but deals with curbs much better. We've taken it out for one test walk and Teddy sleeps quite happily in it. If the weather would improve, I could start taking it out for actual jogging.
The Bob works well for grocery shopping (when the weather cooperates). We had thought it too long to maneuver around Madison Market, which is a small store, but it actually works fine. Teddy and I made it down to the car (with the carrier, carrying the stroller, which folds), to Green Lake, around the lake, back to the car, back up to the apartment and then to nap. It's a lot easier taking walks without the car; there's a good bike/foot path nearby. I've even jogged a few quarter miles with it. The weather is even beginning to cooperate.
Teddy complains if he's stuck in the stroller for more than an hour (which is most grocery shopping trips, which is an hour round trip plus time in the store). We swap the backpack full of groceries with him and carry him for a while, and put him back in if he's willing.
We're currently eying bicycle trailers, including some that convert to jogging/XC skiing/etc. devices.
I bought Roland a Burley bicycle trailer. The Chariot was tempting, but we decided it was too wide.
We eventually bought an umbrella stroller, primarily for air travel, although we used it for around Seattle as well. It was nice to have something I could take on the bus, since Teddy's tolerance for the car seat has always been limited. Unfortunately, he has never been able to nap in the umbrella, which does not recline at all. After we moved back to Brookline, the jogger got some use around the neighborhood for exercise. We got a stroller bag to make sure Teddy stayed toast warm without resorting to the bright yellow rain guard.
If I had it to do over again, I might buy one of the tripod strollers, available overseas.
Because the umbrella stroller was primarily used in airports as a legal-past-security luggage cart, I shopped around and found a T-strap with D-rings (the Traveling Toddler) that connects a LATCH car seat to a rolling carry-on bag and is usable as a stroller. We like that a lot.
I revisited the stroller dilemma once it grew some additional horns. While the Volo and the Bob have been troopers, neither one works particularly well for travel because neither one reclines. And I don't really trust the Kolcraft car seat carrier. An ideal stroller would hold our Britax Companion securely, recline, have a seat that reverses to face the person pushing it, and have a big enough seat so Teddy could be strollered when tired while his sister was being worn. It should also be compatible with a Buggy Board or similar.
This is more or less a description of the Maclaren Techno XLR, which I have not bought because it is $350 and I'm cheap. Ebay has, thus far, not worked to reduce this noticeably.
A fraction of the requirements are satisfied by the Britax Vigour and eBay did come through for me there at around $170ish. Roland has set it up and it seems sturdy. The seat reclines and reverses. The Britax clips in. It won't fit Teddy in the seat but it is supposedly Buggy Board compatible, which we own but have not yet attached. At some point after Aliane arrives, I may get around to updating this. It is not a lightweight stroller but collapses about as far down as the B.O.B..
I may also replace the Kolcraft with a Maclaren Easy Traveler, but I'm too cheap to do it right now.
I thought seriously about a variety of pseudo-double strollers (the Joovy Caboose and the Sit 'n' Stand) that let a toddler ride on a jump seat or stand on a Buggy Board like step. Partly this is because Teddy has recently really enjoyed napping while being walked in a stroller, after months of refusing to have much to do with one.
Travel Gear, including strollers, the Traveling Toddler and a host of other items
Copyright 2006 by Rebecca Allen.
Created March 30, 2006 Updated July 7, 2008