Double Stroller Advice - Atwood, KS

I was just looking at strollers and saw a great one at Shop-Ko. It was Graco brand. I liked the single I had when I was a new mother 12 years ago and liked their carseats. Hope this helps. Oh, and it was under two hundred.

I have twins so I've gone thru a couple of double strollers and the only thing I can tell you is DON'T get a side by side. It will make it impossible to go shopping because most isles are only 3 feet wide.

We have a side by side double umbrella stroller. It is Jeep brand and we Love it! I love the price it is only ninety dollars. Before we had a Graco double stroller which was one behind the other. Which I liked the seating arrangment and it was nice because you could put the baby carrier in the back portion and the toddler in the front. But I hated how incredibly heavy it was. It was also hard to turn. The Jeep stroller that we have now is a little bit heavier then your typical umbrella stroller but it is still way lighter then normal strollers. I can lift it with one hand while carrying my little boy in the other. I also like how small it folds up. They also have slightly higher quality Chicco brand side by side umbrella for $130. I have heard those ones are nice too.

I just got the side-by-side Jeep double stroller from Babies R Us. It was like $90 and I absolutely love it. We've taken it to Greece and back, Vegas, all over the place and it still works great. I haven't found a door yet that it hasn't fit through. It's actually quite amazing. Even in Greece and Italy we'd occasionally look at a door and go "I don't know if it will fit" and it did. It's light for a double stroller, folds easily, fits in a trunk, it's awesome. I also like that it has two separate sun-shades that move independent of each other, the fact that the seats recline for younger infants, and the seats have a fold up backing so that the back can just be mesh in hot weather or covered in cold weather. It is an awesome stroller for the price!

Hi L.,
Congratulations on your new baby! I just had a baby a month ago and also have a 3 year old. I wanted to get a stroller but was not too excited about the bulky, "super-wide" strollers I had seen in the market. I found a stroller "Sit-N-Stand LX" from Baby Trends that works like a charm. Your toddler can either sit or stand on it (check it out online for a good visual of how that works) and then your newborn's car seat fits on the front (any car seat works). The stroller will also work for an older baby and toddler, which means you can potentially use this stroller for a few years.
I LOVE IT and the best of all is that I only paid $130 at Target.
I hope this helps! Good luck!

I have a Sit'N'Stand deluxe. I bought it from Target on-line and shipping was free. I think it was like $170 maybe. It is awesome! It's light weight and it's a front back stroller instead of a side-by-side, so it takes up less room. I can put the infant carrier on the front and my 17 month old in the seat in the back the back seat can conform into a bench type seat when they are older or not seat at all where they can stand on the back. I would go to Babies'R'Us and push them all around. If you are close by you are more then welcome to come and check mine out to see if you would like it.

Go front and back, but invest in a good one or they are hard to push. One other suggestion is to take your oldest and put her in the front, and test drive it. I have had both and the side by side are great, but when they are older, my biggest problem with them is getting them in and out of some places.

I have a Graco Duoglider, and I like it. I even put it together myself, which is saying lot. The only downside is that it can be hard to open (unlike my Graco single stroller). My older kid likes to turn around to talk to my baby, who just laughs and laughs. Can't go wrong with that!

We love our Combi TwinSport. We traded in a Graco back and front for it. I can push it with one hand. It fits anywhere except older buildings that are not up to code, including bathrooms. I would not go back to the back and front for anything. I haven't even found a store it's hard to push in. Our Graco carseat works just fine with it. I have used it with my almost 5 and almost 2 year old for the last year and a half and now with the older boys and the newborn. The only complaint we have is no cupholders. I'm sure they have a more expensive model with them. I have a friend who loves her Jeep model -- not sure of the maker -- but it is a bit wider, and she sometimes has trouble getting through doors. Mine even does normal revolving doors. I actually was going to buy that, and then saw the Combi. The Jeep is a pretty basic model. I don't think it has a storage basket. It's also about $80 cheaper, if I recall right. You can compare them at Babies 'R Us. We love our Combi!

L.,

I too thought I needed a double stroller, and I actually bought three different models! What I found I usually use is our nice single stroller for our toddler and the baby in a sling. Double strollers are so bulky and hard to maneuver. They take up huge amounts of room in the back of your vehicle (and we have a minivan!) and they are a pain to lug around. The side-by-side models are easier to steer, but harder to get through doorways and often impossible in store aisles. The front-to-back models are slimmer and more able to make it through standard sized doors, but they are HORRIBLE to steer. I gave away my front-to-back stroller. About the only time I use our double is for walks, long shopping trips at the mall, and the zoo. I like our Sit n Stand. My toddler is pretty controllable, so the SnS works well for us.

Really, the best advice I can give you is to invest in a good quality baby carrier. Skip the Bjorn style carriers, where baby's feet hang down. They aren't as comfortable for mom, and now chiropractors are concerned that they aren't good for baby's developing spine because of the pressure they put on the spine and tailbone. A simple stretchy wrap like the Moby is fabulous for newborns. A mei tai is my absolute favorite baby carrier of all time. I used mine from the time my daughter was 2 months old. (A friend borrowed it when I was pregnant and it took me months to get it back from her!) I still use it for my 15-month, 22lb baby. It's ultra comfortable for both of us, and very stylish too. The Ergo is also very popular, and carries babies up to 45lb. If you have any questions about sling styles or brands, feel free to contact me. I make slings, and love to talk about babywearing, no matter what the brand or style!

Best of luck,
S.
Little Roo
____@____.com

we have the evenflo front and back. there are things i like about it, like the cup/snack holders for each kid and the step that allows my older son to climb in himself. i like front and back because it works better on narrow sidewalks and in narrow aisles of stores. a car seat can fit in the back seat, there are folding canopies for each seat. but if you get this stroller, definitely register it for the warranty and notify the company as soon as something breaks. it is less expensive, but many parts of the stroller are plastic, so they break. the company has been great about replacing parts for us, even sending us a new stroller once when a part was on backorder. but on the other hand, part of the front tray broke just before i had surgery. we were too busy with the surgery to worry about calling the evenflo company and missed the deadline of the warranty. so now we're stuck with the broken tray. otherwise, this stroller has served us well. so my advice is that if you go with a cheap stroller, keep up on the warranty!

We've had a front back and I thought it was very hard to push. Currently I have a Jeep side by side umbrella that I love but with two children of different weights it can also be difficult to push. With your older child already being 2 I would recommend the SitnStand stroller. My friend with twins and a 18 month old loves hers. It's a double and it's still easy to push with all 3.

I have a front and back, and it is so big and bulky to get in and out of the back of my tahoe, or the trunk of the car, that I have only used it 2 or 3 times and I bought it about 8 months ago. It did come in handy when I was at the mall Christmas shopping, but now my daughter is almost 3, and not interested in a stroller, and my son is 10 months, and just needs an umbrella stroller. So I guess it depends on your lifestyle. Will you be walking alot? Will the baby be born in the winter, so you won't be spending much time outside? I wish I had gotten the sit and stand kind, because that would be more practical now.

i have twins and love the double strollers. we had front/back and side to side (they fought more sitting besite one another). the other posters are correct...test drive one around the store. then, more importantly, make sure it fits in your car!!! i have a jetta (which has a HUGE trunk) and couldn't get the front/back eddie bauer (gorgeous, fit the infant seats) into my car. how depressing! i could only use it in the neighborhood. we had to purchase a side/side stroller that fit for our excursions. so, that's my two cents....make sure you can get it in and out of the car. p.s. check out the consignment shops, like kid to kid. you can usually find expensive, sturdier strollers for way less money (and in good condition).

My daughter was almost 4 when I had my second child. I purchased the Graco Sit & Stand and just loved it. It was heavier than a single stroller, but not near as bad as a double. My daughter was too bit to be in a stroller all the time, but too little to walk everywhere so it was the perfect choice. She loved to stand while riding and the infant car seat fit in the front. Good luck!

Get the side by side vs. the tandem and don't hesitate to spend a little more money when you buy. The higher end strollers perform better and the resale value tends to be much higher. I would also recommend craigslist and ebay.

I definitely reccomend a front and back stroller. My two year old was curious about our newborn and didn't quite understand how much was too much (grabbing, poking, etc), so I would have worried about a side by side. Besides, being able to snap a carseat in is a big plus (I have a Graco Duoglider). They are bulkier, but they generally have much more basket space. I may invest in a side by side umbrella stroller later, but I love my Graco for now. I bought a used stroller off of Craig's list for $100 and it's great. I think you can buy a new Duoglider for about $190 at Babies 'R Us, though.

I have a ride on "buggy board" for my umbrella stroller and love it! Worth every penny, and I've only used it for 2.5 months so far.

http://www.amazon.com/Lascal-BuggyBoard-Basic-Red%252f-Bl...