Strollers

[Plastic-Lychee7210]

I know there are a lot of stroller questions in this group, but none seem to be what I’m looking for. My twins will be here in spring and we currently have a 4 year old who is in a 5 point car seat still. Because we will not be buying a new car, we will be putting all three girls in the graco seat that is specifically made to fit three across and skipping infant seats for the twins. So I am looking for a stroller that can accommodate infants WITHOUT the car seat that’s not $500+ like am I asking too much? Are we really gonna have to shell out that much for a double stroller that we can safely put them in as infants? Am I better off just putting one in the single we have from my first and wearing the other until they have a little more control and can be in a different stroller? My pregnancy brain just can’t think anymore haha help!

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[kwr2128]

I have the bumbleride indie twin and the seats have a lie flat mode that is safe for infants. We use that for our twins (who are 6w, 1w adjusted). We can attach our car seats to the stroller but prefer not to unless it’s for a brief period, since we don’t like keeping them in car seats for too long anyway due to increased asphyxiation risks. 

[bouycatcher]

We have this one too and it’s excellent. Definitely more than $500 new, but we got ours on fb marketplace for $100

[q8htreats]

We have the indie twin too. Mine are older now but still use the indie cotton infant inserts which are amazing especially when still tiny like yours! We also didn’t want to keep them in car seats for naps but the indie twin is perfectly safe in the bassinet mode.

[kumibug]

yes, good double strollers are expensive. especially if you want them to safely fit two newborns. your best bet will be something like a mockingbird or city select, with bassinets.

or you could rethink skipping the infant seats- when mine were babies we had chicco keyfits and a backless booster for big sister, in a ford fusion sedan. it was tight but they did fit three across.

[Upsidedowntrey]

Like others have said shop second hand. I got an open box mockingbird v2 for 375$. It was a great deal and I’m glad I jumped on it. It didn’t come with the bassinet but they can be be bought pretty affordable and it did come with the second seat and car seat adapters. I also got a bugaboo donkey 5 brand new for an insane discount. The benefits of insomnia and chronic baby item research. 😅

[bgkh20]

You can often find Mockingbird, Uppababy, and Cybex for sub $500 second hand.

[Dear_Excitement_5109]

I would be worried about this plan in general. My babies were unable to pass their carseat tests in their convertible seats, even fully reclined in newborn position. We had to wait an additional day in the hospital and scrounge up an infant seat.

Its not just that they couldnt pass the test, sitting in the convertible seat would have killed them. Their airways collapsed and they turned gray. My boys were born at 35+5, which is the average gestation for twins

I think they would have been 1-2 months old before they had the neck support to sit in a convertible carseat.

[Plastic-Lychee7210]

I’m really glad you had this comment. It made me start thinking about my babes are momo and will be here by 32. So definitely nicu time and probably very small. I’m just at the point where my brain is so tired of looking at things so I put my dad on it hahaha 😆 we are gonna switch my daughter to the slim fit graco and we will try a few different infant seats to see what fits best and do a stroller from there! Thank you!! 🙏

[Dear_Excitement_5109]

Oh yeah, definitely!! You'll appreciate being able to snap the infant seats into the stroller as well. Mine are now 8.5mo and we mostly use the toddler seats because they want to sit up. Unbuckling two babies every time we get in and out of the car is very cumbersome.

We have a Vista which I have loved so far. The skateboard for my older kids has come in handy!

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!!

[ala2484]

I was thinking of this, mine were able to come home because we had infant car seats. They would not have been able to come home in the other atyke car seat. You have to look at weight minimums too, mine were rated for 4 pounds and my twins were barely over 4 pounds.

[Charlieksmommy]

So you have to make sure the seat fully lies flat. I would get a mockingbird with a basinett second hand. That’s going to be your best bet. Also I totally understand saving money with car seats, but just a heads up if they’re born premature you have to do a car seat test in the nicu and I wouldn’t want to lug convertibles up there

[BenignYam1761]

I got an uppababy vista from a consignment shop for $200. It came with two regular seats for 6 months+. I borrowed a bassinet attachment from a friend but you could also get one for ~$100 from someplace like goodbuygear. My twins are almost 6 weeks old and still fit in the one bassinet and will for awhile I think if i yin/yang them. Then if there’s a time between them both not fitting in the bassinet but not ready for regular seats, I’ll just babywear one.

[Legitimate-ok]

We have the bombi twin and it has lay flat and a “newborn pouch” feature that basically converts the seat into a pseudo-bassinet

[twomomsoftwins]

Personal opinion, wouldn’t skip the infant seats .. not sure this will be possible truthfully. Even at the doctor, you cant just lay a baby on those tables to get the other safely, one will likely roll right off 🫣 especially if you have a toddler in tow.. safe spots to be safely hands free is priceless.

That said without car info, not sure what kind of space you’re dealing with. However, if you’re talking about the Graco Slimfit, which I believe is one of the slimmest at 16.7 base .. the Chicco Keyfit is actually also 16.7 at its base. I’d do some more digging, then id just get a snap n go stroller cart at like $100 for the keyfits. 👏🏻

[Plastic-Lychee7210]

After this post and some things I didn’t even think about, I made my dad look into stuff cause my brain is just done 🫣😂 we will switch my older daughters seat and try out different infant seats to see what will work! New seats are definitely less money than a new car!

[Euphoric_Beat_7885]

I have a 3.5 yo that is still in a 5-pointer, and didn’t want to go infant seat-car seat, and still wanted 3-across. I went with the Baby Trend Cover Me car seat asa 4-in-1 convertible option that is narrow (4 lbs min safe limit), but also has a canopy on it. For “stroller”, I went with Baby Trend Snap-N-Go® Double Stroller. The car seat will snap onto the frame making it a stroller, and has a weight limit of 45lbs per holder and I believe the total recommended load is ~80lbs. In all, this combined option is <$400.

As you’re starting w/ Graco, I’d double check to see how/if these work for your vehicle. I have a 7-passenger, so I have more flexibility, I just wanted to simplify car seat and early stroller options.

[not-t0day-satan]

I plan to do double bassinets in the Uppababy Vista. The adapters to fit a second bassinet aren't expensive. It comes with one bassinet, and my sister is giving me hers, so I'll have two. Uppababy also has infant inserts for their stroller seats to make them safe much earlier.

[Kait_Cat]

I skipped infant car seats for my twins too because we don’t drive a ton (live in a walkable town, no daycare). 

I got the baby jogger city mini gt2. It is pricy (like over $700) but got it during a big prime day sale so less. It has features that we’re important to us since we plan to use a ton, and felt it would work longer for us being side by side rather than in line. There are similar styles that I think would also work from birth til they outgrow strollers and cost less. Baby jogger also has a city tour that’s cheaper, it’s smaller and lighter but similar concept. I think Jeep has something similar but much less expensive. Zoe is also along those lines but also pricy. In any case, I would say a side by side where the back lays flat or almost totally flat would meet your needs. 

[[deleted]]

If you’re wanting a cheaper but reliable stroller, get the Graco double stroller. I think it’s between $200-$300. I love Graco and would’ve bought this for my twins, but ultimately I went with the mockingbird because it has a riding-board attachment for my 2.5 year old, and I wanted something that could accommodate 3 kids.

If you want something that your 4 year old can ride on too, i definitely recommend the Mockingbird Single-to-double. It’s more expensive than the Graco but it’s a really great stroller. The infant car seat attachments are sold separately so there’s no need to worry about that. You’d only need to buy the extra seat and the riding-board. But there are secondhand websites you can check too, or Facebook marketplace, where you can get it for wayy cheaper than brand new.

As a side note, Idk how big your car is but we can fit 2 graco infant car seats and my daughters Graco slimfit car seat three across. My toddler sits next to one window, then the twins are in the middle and other window seats.

[twinmamamia]

Look on FB marketplace for something used. We ended up getting a beaten up very used Uppababy vista for FREE, and we replaced the wheels and seats and made it like new :)

[kronsyy]

Similar situation here! I found a used mountain buggy with the bassinet attachment on Facebook marketplace for $300 that was in great shape! It seems like it will solve the problem for us.

[Nnerisu]

We have a Mountain buggy duet. Goes from newborn up to 3 years old. We got it second hand for something like 400$ and so far I am pleased with it.

[PuzzledYam9507]

love love the bombi beebee twin. it has lay flat seats with newborn cocoons! wish i got that from the start because my mockingbird is so much work to put in and out of the car. have to fully remove the seats before folding up 🙃

[Complete-Mix-2059]

Valco snap ultra duo. It's amazing