Car Seats and Strollers: Make Your Own Travel System

There are two baby gear items that you are going to get A TON of use out of: the car seat and the stroller. The odds are good that one or both of those pieces of gear are going to get used on a daily basis, and maybe even multiple times each day. For that reason, you want to make sure they are compatible with one another. Wait, what?!?! What do car seats and strollers have to do with each other? A lot. A whole lot. Allow me to introduce you to the concept of a travel system. This is when a car seat can connect to a stroller creating a “system” by which to transport your child from car to stroller with ease. Why does that matter? Oh young grasshopper, let me explain.

Travel systems allow you to remove the infant bucket seat from your car and secure it to your stroller. This is especially useful when your sweet never-sleeps-at-home baby falls asleep in the car. There are a lot of options when it comes to a travel system. You can go with the “traditional” travel systems made by companies like Graco, Evenflo, and the like. These systems are sold as a set with a stroller and a car seat that connect. These strollers are pretty basic and will get the job done, but may not offer the smoothest ride or easiest push. It does take a lot of the guess work out of purchasing as it’s all bundled together, but that also limits your options for car seat and stroller.

There is, however, another way to get a travel system without compromising on anything. Let’s say you have a particular stroller in mind, but it isn’t sold as a travel system. You’d still like to be able to connect your infant bucket seat to the stroller you’ve fallen in love with. Can you do it? YES! You absolutely can! You can easily create your very own travel system. This is why I always recommend shopping for your infant bucket seat and stroller together. Most strollers on the market today can accommodate at least a few different brands of infant bucket seat. How do they do this? With a car seat adapter. Once you’ve found the stroller of your dreams (and the stroller that fits in your budget), look for the available car seat adapters. Most strollers will have more than one car seat brand that they are compatible with. For example, I fell in love with the Stokke Xplory stroller and Stokke makes car seat adapters for Graco, Peg Perego, Maxi Cosi, Nuna, and Cybex car seats. I chose the Peg Perego car seat and was able to create my very own travel system with the adapter. Brilliant!

Prefer the UppaBaby Vista stroller? It’s compatible with Graco, Peg Perego, Chicco, and Maxi Cosi car seats. Like a Bob stroller? You can choose from the Graco, Peg Perego, Chicco, and Britax car seats. Have your heart set on a Bugaboo? Peg Perego, Chicco, Maxi Cosi, and Britax can all be attached with adapters. I could go on, but I think you get the idea!

The bottom line is, you don’t have to compromise on a stroller to get the car seat you want, and you don’t have to compromise on a car seat to get the stroller you want! You absolutely can have the best stroller and the best car seat for you and your needs! Take your time, consider all your options, and enjoy the beauty of seamlessly moving a sleeping baby from the car to the stroller.

Did you make your own travel system? What stroller and car seat combo did you go with?