Oh The Places You'll Go!

I've been thinking about baby things for a while now and I am still amazed at the huge market for baby things out there. Without internet we would be making decisions without the opportunity to gather effective feedback on items.

My next step is to budget for the baby things. Up to now all I've been doing is research on what is needed and what is too ridiculous to need. As with many things in life a budget is useful when you expect to be spending a lot of money.

This journey has been full of surprises so far. A couple of posts ago I touched on the market of previously stinky cloth diapers. I suppose I should not be surprised that a car seat costs less than a stroller given the way things have been going. To put it in another perspective anyone would expect a back support to cost less than any car.

Of course there are different levels of car seat and stroller, and combinations of both. One discussion that I just had with my wife is whether we want to get the "travel system" or dedicated stroller and seat. I can get into the pros and cons.

Dedicated
Going the dedicated route increases the child's safety. Think about it - the travel system's main feature is quick release. You only want it quick releasing when you want it to. As a car seat it's another point of failure. A dedicated seat does one thing very well.

A dedicated stroller is probably less of a difference. Most travel systems that I've seen so far can accommodate growing kids. As far as I can tell all kids grow so this is good.

The main down side to going dedicated is that things cost more. A dedicated seat and stroller should run about $400 each. I might argue that the stroller can be skipped, until I am the one carrying the wobbly bundle all day. However we would most likely drive out so we could get away with a carrier.

A second major downside is the bundle needs to be transferred from car to stroller or other carrying case. Research shows that bundles awaken when they're moved. I've played enough RPGs to know that's bad news.

Travel system
Generally the cons above are the pros here. It's much easier to move baby around out of the car, especially when they're asleep. The price is usually comparable to other strollers so you could save about $500. However the bucket doesn't look like it fits anything bigger than a tiny baby. If that's the case you end up spending on a car seat anyway. I think in the past car seats weren't as flexible and convertible so it only fit the bigger kids.

Verdict
Not sure yet. We only have one car so we don't need the convenience of a cheaper second base for a bucket. We are also going to be in the middle of summer so there's no worry about the cold weather just yet. I think we're leaning more towards the dedicated route. Either way we have access to very good brands, many reviews, and many options to choose from.