f you are feeling particularly overwhelmed when it comes to choosing a stroller, there is a reason for it. Recent years have seen an explosion in models, types, styles, and colors. When you walk into a large baby store, the myriad choices is enough to make you run screaming for the door.
This recent boom in stroller production is a direct result of more off-shore manufacturing, specifically in Asia. Even the ubiquitous Bugaboo is made in Taiwan! Very few strollers are actually made in their countries of origin any more. Even when the label says “made in Italy”, for example, only the final assembly takes place there. Most of the components are made in China.
So how does one wade through the sea of choices? Trying to categorize them will only confuse you more. These days, strollers fit into more than one category, i.e. one stroller can be a full-featured, umbrella stroller, while another one is an all-terrain, jogging, lightweight stroller.
Try to focus on what you need.
FOR A NEWBORN, LOOK FOR THESE FEATURES:
A Model that Reverses
What this means is that the seat can either face out or face the parent. There will be children who love to see the world as it whizzes by, but more often than not, babies prefer to be looking at their parents.
I hear complaints from parents that their young baby hates their stroller. When asked, most respond that their child is facing out, away from them. Since I test strollers every day, I have found myself riding in one on more than a few crazy occasions. I can tell you that it is a scary feeling, hurtling head first into the unknown, trusting that there is someone behind you who is in control. Your baby might feel a bit more comforted if he could see your familiar, reassuring face.
A Bassinette Option
It is near heresy in Europe to keep babies in car seats for any length of time, since new research studies have shown that extended infant car seat use can cause a number of physical and developmental problems.
In these early months, try transferring your baby into a stroller with a bassinette, rather than keeping him in his seat from the car to the snap-n-go (or adapter for your stroller) and back to the car again. The stroller might be a bit heavier and bulkier than you’d like, but you will quickly get used to it.
Cradle Crib Note: We respect that taking a sleeping baby out of a car seat is like waking a napping lion; something you’d rather avoid. Choose the times that you’d like to keep your pumpkin in the car seat, and the times that it won’t upset him to be transferred to a bassinette.
Once your little one has good head and neck control, you can get a lighter weight umbrella stroller.
