Strollers

How to pick the right stroller?

Dive into the world of baby strollers with Authors Linda Meadow and Jane Buckingham, along with Fitness Specialist Farrah Zweig. The most important things to consider when choosing a stroller is what it’ll be used for and how practical it will be. When you first have a child, you want something easy. Most of the fancy and beautiful strollers you probably admire are typically a pain to deal with. They are complicated and not easy to open and shut or fold away into your car. You want something you can single-handedly maneuver and put away while you have your baby in your arms, so keep it simple.

Transcript:

- Picking a stroller is really one of the things where you have to sit down and figure out, what am I gonna use this stroller for? Which is, maybe you don't even know when it's a newborn, but if you don't have sidewalks outside of your house or you live on a hill, or you're always gonna be going with the baby somewhere because you don't live in a neighborhood, then buying one of those beautiful, fancy strollers that everyone, you ... Read more

know, oohs and ahhs about isn't the best for getting in and out of the car because you're gonna be one of those people that's gonna have a baby in your hand or have a car seat in your hand and you're gonna have a stroller that you're gonna need one hand to open and those strollers, for the most part, are very complicated to open and shut so you need something that's one-handed, single-handed, open and shut and not the bassinet that you're pushing down the street. I mean, they're really large. They're hard to get in and out of the car. So, while they're beautiful and they're really cool looking, they might not work for you. Now if you have a neighborhood where you walk a lot then, if you're not gonna fold and unfold it all the time and it's really for the neighborhood those bigger strollers work but you need to figure out what you're gonna use it for and everybody makes mistakes. I think I ended up with eight strollers after three children so, it happens.

- Here's the bad news, there is no one perfect stroller. Your needs are going to change. Your child is going to grow. So don't think that if you buy the Ferrari of strollers suddenly everything's going to be easy. Think about where your child is at that stage of life. When they're first born, you probably want something that you can take easily from the restaurant or the house into the car if your baby's sleeping. If you live in a place where you have to go up a lot of stairs, don't buy the fancy stroller that is super heavy. I think one of the most important things is the ability to have the baby face you so that you can look at your baby and see what their needs are, but chances are all the money you spend, you're gonna have to buy another one when they hit a toddler age and they have to do something else. So look for something that fits your house, your lifestyle, what you can manage, but don't think that only one is gonna be the way of the future. You may find yourself with a couple along the way.

- You do not need a jogging stroller to go walking or jogging with your baby, however, it is recommended, especially if you're going to be using your stroller to walk or jog on a regular basis. I'd say more than three, four times a week if that's going to be your mode of exercise with your child. First of all, it's gonna be more comfortable for you a lot of the times. The four-wheeled or umbrella strollers are not really recommended at all. You're a lot lower to the ground. You're not comfortable. So what you really wanna be doing is have good posture while you're walking. Make sure that your hands are high enough on a bar. So jogging strollers have straight bars. A lot of the times four-wheel strollers have two handles and so you're just not as comfortable. They don't over bumps as well so the seam of walking over a sidewalk or on asphalt is gonna be more comfortable with the jogging stroller. I know when I went from my four-wheel to my three-wheel stroller, the ease of comfort was amazing. I couldn't believe I had walked six months with my four-wheel stroller, so going to my three-wheel was amazing and I was able to walk and jog with that stroller with ease and my child was a lot more comfortable and was happier to sit for a longer period of time.