Today we have a guest post from Koochi with some great tips for buying a pushchair
If you’ve already been through the process of having a little one by your side at all times, imagine just how hard life would have been without a pushchair. It doesn’t bear thinking about, does it? You’d have had to carry your babe in arms all over the shop.
And sure, babies don’t exactly weigh very much, but carrying something is going to quickly tire your arms. This will only become more noticeable as your little one starts getting… less little. And if you’re trying to juggle bags of shopping; well, that just isn’t going to happen.
What we’re trying to say is simple: pushchairs are great. If you’re expecting a delivery from the stork, you are going to need a four-wheeled friend. There is actually quite a lot to know when it comes to buying one, so before you head out and get all confused by the various regulations, let us give you a bit of guidance. Forewarned is forearmed!
One thing, first of all: any child under the age of three months should be laid back at all times, like in a pram. No sitting up allowed!
Examine the Safety Features
Any decent parent would want to make sure that the pushchair they buy is safe, right? Thankfully, British law states that all prams and pushchairs (new and second hand alike) have to comply with the British Standard 1888.
Ask the seller about this, and you can try and find it for yourself – look for a mark saying “BS EN 1888”!
Try Out the Brakes
Brakes are important – you don’t want your child flying down a hill in a scene eerily reminiscent of Ghostbusters 2, do you? No, of course you don’t. So make sure the brakes work well!
You want ones which are easy to apply, yet are nice and durable, able to work well on even steep gradients (like said hill). Also, check the tyres, both in the shop and on a regular basis; they can affect the performance of the brakes. Visit www.koochi.co.uk for more information.
Seatbelts on, Please
Of course, you’ll have to ensure that you’ve got a pretty decent safety harness on your new pushchair – having your little one fall out would be mortifying, never mind potentially dangerous and painful!
If you want to get the very best of pushchair security (which you do), make sure that the safety harness goes over the shoulders, around the waist and through the legs. This’ll keep your lovely bairn nice and safe in there!
Stand for Stability
A rather simpler point to finish the article off on – make sure your chosen pushchair is nice and stable before splashing the cash. Take it for a spin around the store, or take it for a stroll down the road. Put some shopping or something in the seat to emulate the weight of a child for verisimilitude.
When you have eventually decided on which model to purchase, make sure you never put loads of shopping bags on the handles as you push the little one through town – this can cause the pushchair to fall back.
This is a collaborative post
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