Baby on the go Safety 1st Springtime Pooh Travel System

When there's a baby on the way there are so many things one has to worry about buying; two of the most important (and often most expensive) items are a car seat and stroller.

A friend of mine had a travel system for her son...that is, she had a nifty little stroller that her infant car seat could snap into and her son could ride snug and well strapped in. I thought this was a great idea, so when the time came to find a stroller and car seat for my own baby-on-the-way I knew I wanted a travel system. No problem. My husband and I took a trip down to the local Wal-Mart to price some baby items, but the cheapest travel system had a price tag of $120. Now that could be a problem. At the time we both worked at Wal-Mart, which I'm sorry to say isn't the best job if you're trying to prepare for a new child, we just plain couldn't afford it.

Enter Granny. One morning about five months into my pregnancy a very large box arrived on our doorstep. Apparently Granny got wind that I wanted a travel system, and of course all my baby items were Pooh Bear and somehow she managed to find a Pooh system.

Rip open the box. Ok, here we have many assorted pieces and a "what the heck's that for?" look on my husband's face. There is something to be said for an item that forces a man to use the instructions. On the plus side the hour or so it took to assemble the stroller was a cause for much hilarity and pictures...and finally a stroller did emerge, along with a couple extra pieces that close scrutiny proved to be "for packing purposes only, dispose after assembly".

The car seat

The car seat is a little larger than most rear-facing infant car seats, a fact that caused a bit of a problem getting it in and out of my Taurus, and completely prevented it from being used in the back seat of our extended cab F-150. On the other hand, our son ended up a little larger than most newborns and gained weight and size at an alarming rate from there, so the additional size turned up to be a welcome feature...even though he still outgrew it at seven months after getting too tall for the seat.

A friendly suggestion to all...always play around with your car seat before your child is born, make sure you know how to work the harness and buckle it into the car and so on. This seat has a harness which consists of buckles at chest-level, then a complicated little buckle at the bottom that requires one to hold two buckles together in order to slide them into one thing, a contraption that could prove to be pretty tricky with a squirmy baby. Luckily for us our son has never had much difficulty sitting still in his car seat.

The best feature of this seat was a nice plastic anchor...a hard plastic base that I can buckle into the vehicle and leave there, the car seat easily snapping into it and snapping back out via a release lever on the back of the seat.

The stroller

The stroller has large double wheels on each corner, package specs say they're 8" wheels and the stroller is said to weigh about 25 pounds. There is a large red sliding button in the handle that collapses the stroller, push down on the handle and it will fold the stroller in half, more or less inside out. When the car seat bar is on the stroller it is very easy to grab that bar to aid in folding up and carrying. Once the car seat bar is removed, however, there is nothing to grab onto to aid in folding and moving the stroller. There are brakes on front and rear wheels...that is each wheel has a little lever on it much like one on most vacuum cleaners that engages easily by stepping on it. It is somewhat bulky when folded, being the width of the wheels placed one in front of the other, that keeps it from being stored easily in small nooks, but it also stands on its own when folded so one doesn't have to worry about finding a place to prop it.

Now to go walking. I first used this stroller when my son was three weeks old. At the time I was still pretty drained from giving birth to him not long before but I wanted to get out. The car seat snaps easily onto the car seat bar that goes across the stroller's seat and is supported on the other end by the toddler dink tray. Car seat removal is easily done by pulling a bar on the back of the car seat, the same mechanism used to free it from its anchor.

The stroller itself felt stiff and top-heavy with the car seat, but once all the wheels straightened themselves out it glided along beautifully over concrete, asphalt, and gravel (though I try to avoid that when I can). The nice thing about when the car seat is on it, one can use the car seat awning and the one on the stroller itself to create a nice shaded tent for little one, and the awning on the stroller has a nice little fold-back flap that reveals a window so one can still keep on eye on the little one.

After baby got big enough to leave his infant car seat behind and graduate to the forward-facing toddler car seat, his stroller converted easily to his new status by simply removing the car seat bar. Now I can set him in and buckle him down in the actual stroller.

The stroller harness is a basic three-point "lap belt" which seems secure enough with the toddler drink tray on, but strikes me as not quite enough without the tray. Granted, he's never fallen out or anything, but having the belt only on his lap makes it possible for him to lean down and try to play with the wheels.

I have been using the stroller now for a year and a half and it still glides like a dream, a true plus. Most of the people I know have had to replace their strollers after a year or less as wheels get stiff and balky, not so with this one. Without the car seat attached it is no longer top-heavy so even the initial stiffness I experienced with it is gone.

One thing many people will not like, however, is that the stroller handle is not adjustable. I lucked out, it's at a great height for my 5'6", but anyone significantly taller or shorter may find it uncomfortable.

To conclude...

This travel system has turned out to be the best baby gift we ever got. The car seat served us well even with our minor difficulties with the harness, and it snaps easily into and out of the stroller and its vehicle anchor. The stroller is sturdy and durable, still working like new after a year and a half. This is an item I'd definitely recommend and one I'm certainly holding onto for the next baby.