Getting baby gear that suits your lifestyle instead of what’s currently en vogue

I relate so hard! I’ve hovered over that purchase button countless times but I can safely say our setup not only fits our needs (and our long baby boy) better but will also last us for a longggg time.

Happy to share and chat with you about it!! Our infant setup: — Car seat: Uppababy Aria. It’s the lightest car seat on the market, which was absolutely essential for getting in/out of our home easily. — Travel Stroller: Uppababy Minu v3 with aria adapters. This lives in our car 100% of the time, meaning I never carry a stroller + car seat in/out of the house. We use it to run car errands, since it has a decent basket and an incredible one-hand fold. My dude likes to sleeeeep in his car seat, so the fact it clicks in/out has been essential.Tue downside to its megaportability is that its seat is pretty barebones; I wish it was a wee bit comfier for our guy. — Everyday stroller: Joolz Hub2, although we purchased before the uppababy Kona existed. I think we would have gotten it instead. The Hub2 is GREAT: one handed fold w/carry strap, lightweight(ish), decent basket, comfy with good recline, and the buckle system is great.

We live in DC so I was making our decisions knowing our lifestyle: 50/50 split between car-outings and outings on foot and a ton of travel. This made it easier to justify having a stroller that lived exclusively in our car, which was a game changer, given how many stairs we have to deal with. The doona is like 16# + the baby, with no basket, which represented too big a compromise over the Joolz. It sounds like you’re in an urban area! Happy to give you my two cents if you want it!

This is so helpful. We are in nyc without a car. I think the doona being able to strap into any car (uber/taxi) and not having to haul a stroller with us as well might make it worth carrying it up those damn stairs. But I think a different light travel stroller is gonna be necessary for non-car (90%) of our outings.

The aria straps into any uber/taxi as well! I’m sitting next to my son in a rental in Edinburgh right now. (But of course it doesn’t turn into a stroller on its own!) So yes the doona may very well be worth it for you! Happy to answer any other queries; I probably overthought this part of our purchase so I have ~opinions~.