Strollers in Brownstone
so we just had our little baby girl. we live in rowhouse with 5′ high stoop and 4′ deep basement. it means wife needs to pull the stroller up or down the stairs. and she had problems with it. she got crazy stokke stroller just because it alegedly easier to pull up the stairs. but…
so we just had our little baby girl. we live in rowhouse with 5′ high stoop and 4′ deep basement. it means wife needs to pull the stroller up or down the stairs. and she had problems with it. she got crazy stokke stroller just because it alegedly easier to pull up the stairs. but I do not see how.
so the question is: what you do about pulling stroller up the stoop? any particular tips about stokke stroller? she also asked aboul building rails to roll the stroller up the stoop. does it make any sense?
Sell Stokke. Get ErgoBaby carrier, then Maclaren Volo. End of discussion. We tried to make a fancy stroller work when we moved to a walkup. No way.
Seriously, the ErgoBaby is your friend if you live in a walkup.
The Volo is only 8.5 lbs and you will learn to fold it with one arm whilst holding baby in the other.
Yes congratulations, Bobjohn. Don’t get mad at what was spent on the Stokke. CMU can get as sanctimonious and scathing about this as he wants, but there is pressure in society and an entire industry who capitalizes on worried and overwhelmed new moms simply wanting to do the best they can for their babies. A couple people are saying the Stokke can take stairs okay with practice, so take their words for it. Once Summer arrives and your wife is ready to take the baby on the subway or bus she can get a second, lighter weight stroller. Again, here is where CMU is wrong. If you actually pay attention in Park Slope, you’ll see almost everybody has an Uppa GLite or Maclaren which can be folded for travel.
Honestly, you probably won’t be using this stroller much. The carrier is easier, especially when baby is small. Once the baby is around six months you can use a lighter stroller. We have the quinny zapp and we love it. It’s only 13 lbs and easy to handle. With the infant car seat strapped in it became about 30 though- which is why I didn’t use it much- I also live in a brownstone on the top floor.
SUV strollers are pretty ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as all the people who just happen to not have children yet who think they know anything about what it involves. Give me a break. Clearly breeding interests you because you are all always the first to comment on these threads.
hi all. I am astounded by the number and the tone of the replys. I also never looked at the wives credit card bill. So thanks for educating me on how much this stupid thing costs. :(. I cannot tell what she were thinking. I promise, we do not have SubZero fridge.
She ordered car seat with adapters for this stroller. I guess she will be able to get the car seat separately from the base and then the base as people suggested. Obviously the base is heavier then normal stroller so it will make more problems then solve. It also barely fits at the back on my station wagon.
Congrats bobjohn! I know nothing about stroller technology by I have one observation from my house in Clinton Hill. My neighbors have two little ones and they leave their stroller at the base of the stoop all day long on nice days. The family goes in and out and they use the stroller as needed. It’s never gotten stolen, and judging by the comments on this site you’d think this was one of Brooklyn’s most dangerous areas. Clearly it’s not, and this seems to work for them. Good luck.
My neighbors had that stroller and they managed our steps, which are the same steps that caused me to break my ankle in two places maneuvering them, a toddler and an umbrella stroller — so I would say the Stokke does something right. Just make sure your wife does not wear clogs. Clogs are evil.
Another suggestion: get a simple sling, like a hotsling or something, and for stairs, put baby in sling, lug stroller up. Yes, it is a pain. But you know what’s worse? Subways.
As your baby gets older all of this will get a LOT easier. In a few months I promise you will laugh at these early dilemmas!
I know nothing about strollers, but I just wanted to say Congrats to you Bobjohn. Congrats to you and your Missus. Enjoy your new baby 🙂
Chain stroller to fence? Remove wheels. Then baby.
First, congratulations on the new addition.
Second, I have sympathy for first-time parents trying to figure out what kind of stroller to get for NYC living. We opted for a Chicco travel system and a small umbrella stroller for the subway and bus trips. Well, the travel system has a great infant carseat, but it turns out the stroller, once the kid is out of the carseat, is pretty narrow, and my wife found it hard to maneuver on the street. The umbrella stroller was lightweight, but still needed two hands to fold up, plus the handles were a bit too low for me, and my back would hurt if I had to lean over, particularly going down hill.
So we ended up ditching the travel system and getting a Baby Jogger City model. It folds with one hand, though it’s still too heavy for my wife to manage alone with the baby, unlike the umbrella. There’s no optimal solution, unfortunately.
Third, we didn’t look at Stokke because, frankly, I refuse to pay more for a stroller than I did for my first car.
Finally, my suggestion re. the steps issue is to use a carrier (there are several on the market — go try them at BuyBuy Baby or Babies R Us before you buy) while your little one is still little. When she starts to get heavy, but before she can walk (after walking is easy; she goes in by herself), either bring her in first, then the stroller, or go back to square one and try another brand. Maybe your wife is strong enough to manage baby and a one-touch Baby Jogger model? Go try them all out knowing what you know now (or will know in the future). If you end up out $1200 minus resale value on the Stokke, consider it the price of an education in parenting.
Hey, anyone need a slightly used Chicco travel system?