To bucket or not to bucket??

wyomommyx3 · Jul 29, 2011

Trying to decide whether to buy another bucket or just skip it and go for the convertible.

Any experience from those that have skipped it?? This is baby #5... I'll outnumbered no matter what

I do have two slings and a double stroller.

Thoughts?? Thanks!!

Jan06twinmom · Jul 29, 2011

No BTDT advice - but I would also take in consideration due date and climate. I really like the ease of the bucket seats for hot summers where I live (temps into the 100s in the summer) and I know other people like the buckets to get through winters.

Melanie

Kat_Momof3 · Jul 29, 2011

I didn't skip it entirely (planned on using it, brought her home in it, but she HATED IT)... I moved Ruthie to a convertible, though, at only 6wks old...

before I did, I was using the infant seat as if it were one, anyway, simply cause she hated it.

I wore her and used strollers and she wasn't one of those light sleepers that didn't go back to sleep... she either stayed asleep or went right back to sleep... so it worked really well.

I'd definitely keep the slings... you'll want them... maybe even expand your collection... you can't have too many (and wraps are so easy to make so you can have light guaze ones in the summer, thick fleece in the winter... SIGH... I miss wearing my daughter)

what double stroller do you have?

skipspin · Jul 29, 2011

I mostly skipped it for DS2 and am totally skipping it for #4.

I *had* a bucket for DS2 and used it until I got my CCO and he was 6 weeks. I took it out twice and regretted it both times. I think I missed the bucket 2xs, but he would have outgrown my 22# bucket by then anyway. One time I did put my CCO in the cart at Costco. He was really sick, finally asleep and I *had* to get some groceries. It wasn't bad at all and didn't even look dumb.

I have my CCO this time and no bucket (it was from ds1, and used by another tech before that, so expired) and have no desire to buy one. I want a few seats, but no bucket is calling my name at all.

Like you, I'm outnumbered anyway. I'm having a December baby, but I'm in FL, so no sub-freezing temps. I use my Maclaren for short trips if for some reason I can't/don't want to use a carrier, like chiro appts (can't get adjusted holding baby! lol), or when I want something to hold my junk or possibly my 2 yr old.

I think it's a personal choice, but for me it's not a sacrifice.

wyomommyx3 · Jul 29, 2011

Kat_Momof3 said:
what double stroller do you have?

A Phil and Teds (with the toddler seat, not a side by side)

wendytthomas · Jul 29, 2011

I've never used an infant seat, other than the two weeks I had one to review for the blog here. Piper was a July baby in NC, Laine a September one in WA. Wearing them worked just fine. I don't use a stroller. The two weeks I had the infant seat to review it made me feel just fine that I hadn't missed out on anything.

Wendy

bnsnyde · Jul 29, 2011

Baby #5?

You really might want a bucket.
Getting my kids safely through a parking lot is a lot easier with the bucket because I put it on the stroller and stick the toddler on the "sit and stand" part. And the 3 and 5-year-old can be trusted to hold onto the stroller.

Of course, if your kids are older then this might not be as much of an issue.

And in winter I'll just stick the shower cap thing on the baby seat.
That is HUGE. It'll save time as we somehow get out the door.

Defrost · Jul 29, 2011

I skipped it. I hated buckets. I've managed a truce with some of the ones that have come out since my youngest was born, but I still prefer convertibles. I needed my baby in a sling anyway so I had a hand each for the other two.

3acorns4Christy · Jul 29, 2011

I'm going for the bucket for me, going on three kids. More due to parking lots. I can get the bucket out, place it next to the wheel while I get the older two out (sedan). Then off we go. I only really carry them in the bucket until they can sit up or are a bit bigger for the sling. I like easy pop in pop out type slings, not wraps so I wait until they have better headcontrol for errands.

But this time around we didn't have to buy one, one was given to us and one we had from our last.

Carrie_R · Jul 29, 2011

I am not a stroller girl (um, because I can't fit anything but an umbrella in my car,) so I find I actually have fewer hands with the bucket. When I wear, I have full range of motion in both hands; when I bucket, I am crippled by the 334 pounds of plastic dangling from my arm. I can never carry those things right.

I also find that by the time I unload and unfold a stroller, wrestle the infant seat out and snap it in, I could have the baby in a sling.

If you totally disagree with this post, you want a bucket. If you agree with it, you do not.

wyomommyx3 · Jul 30, 2011

bnsnyde said:
Baby #5? You really might want a bucket.
Getting my kids safely through a parking lot is a lot easier with the bucket because I put it on the stroller and stick the toddler on the "sit and stand" part. And the 3 and 5-year-old can be trusted to hold onto the stroller.

Of course, if your kids are older then this might not be as much of an issue.

And in winter I'll just stick the shower cap thing on the baby seat.
That is HUGE. It'll save time as we somehow get out the door.

They will be 8 1/2... 6... 3 1/2 and 22 months when the new little squishy gets here

The older two will be in school full time, so I will only run errands then... if we take all 5, dh will be with me!!

Decisions, decisions

wyomommyx3 · Jul 30, 2011

Carrie_R said:
I am not a stroller girl (um, because I can't fit anything but an umbrella in my car,) so I find I actually have fewer hands with the bucket. When I wear, I have full range of motion in both hands; when I bucket, I am crippled by the 334 pounds of plastic dangling from my arm. I can never carry those things right.

I also find that by the time I unload and unfold a stroller, wrestle the infant seat out and snap it in, I could have the baby in a sling.

If you totally disagree with this post, you want a bucket. If you agree with it, you do not.

See... that's definitely the way I'm leaning. I love my slings/wraps. I have a Moby and an Ergo. Both work great. Right now I always put baby in the sling first... then get the other 3 out.

In my head, I'm thinking new baby in sling, 2 year old and 3 1/2 year old in the stroller... no problem. Just don't know if it's feasible or the hormones talking

LISmama810 · Jul 30, 2011

I used a bucket with my first.

With my second, I had a bucket for the first couple weeks but found I never used it as a bucket and switched to the convertible.

This time I'm skipping the bucket entirely (except maybe for our second car because I really want to try an Aton!).

I don't really understand how buckets make things easier in parking lots. To me it seems easier to plop Baby in a sling, then I have two hands free to help DD get out (DS is fine on his own), then I have two hands free for holding their hands.

On occasions I need a stroller, I have one with good recline, so that's always an option.

Ninetales · Jul 30, 2011

I used one with Elsa. She was born in the winter in Michigan, so I liked being able to get her all buckled in and then plunk her in the car. Also she didn't like the sling. She liked the Moby but I didn't like having to put it on and have the tails drag on the ground or the concrete.

We have a stroller frame that didn't take up much room in the trunk and was easy to unfold, so that worked out well for us.

Once she was big enough for the Ergo we did that a lot, and once she wanted to be more upright and stopped sleeping in the car we moved her up.

Kat_Momof3 · Jul 30, 2011

wyomommyx3 said:
A Phil and Teds (with the toddler seat, not a side by side)

AWE-SOME!

that would totally work with my thought... the baby with it reclined flat, the 22mo old up top, and then put a board on the back for your 3.5yr old for times you want to use the stroller for all 3 (and down the line, the board would work with the little one in the 2nd seat on the rear and the bigger one in the main seat.

it just calls for a board that is adjustable in how far it can stick out... I'd look at the valco hitch hiker because (though it's a learning curve to figure out all your options for attaching it), once the anchors are attached, the board can be popped on and off really easily.

jsta1005 · Jul 30, 2011

I have both buckets and convertibles for K and I like having the bucket in the car in case I need it. I usually wear her, or sometimes put her in the stroller, but I like having the bucket mostly so I can take it inside and buckle her. It's one less kid to buckle outside while we're trying to go somewhere. Also, if it's been one of those days I like that I could leave her in the seat and take her in somewhere so she will stay asleep.

If you get an infant seat you don't have to use it as a carrier. You can leave it in the car, but if you want the carrier it's still there too!

EmmaCPST · Jul 30, 2011

My main love of the bucket is because my DS was a car-only daytime sleeper. For six months that kid would not sleep during the day unless it was on my boob or in the car seat. Pretty much the only way I ever got anything done was to take a drive or a walk to get him to sleep and then bringing the carrier in the house until I finally got him to start napping in his crib around 6 months.

bnsnyde · Jul 30, 2011

For me buckets make things easier in a parking lot (think winter here) because you don't have to expose baby to the cold so much, with the shower cap.

Now, some days were a "grab the baby seat and run" it was SO cold. And I mean and 11-month-old in a seat. So that's heavy. Maybe waddle, not run.

Other days I could get the stroller out. But I couldn't wear gloves and do that easily, and some days my hands hurt after a few seconds of cold exposure. This was below 0.

Summer could be different, perhaps. But I love my bucket right now for my newborn this summer.

I also find it 1.) Really easy to get the required newborn angle with a bucket
2.) Nice to have the bucket in the house b/c I know it's always an option to seatbelt install and use it in any vehicle, even without the base (thinking emergency trips, emergency in sitter's car, etc.)

cookie123 · Jul 30, 2011

I forget where you live. My thought on the subject, being from MN - I would want one less child to stand out in the cold and buckle in. Plus I don't like putting a itty bitty in a cold car seat.

wyomommyx3 · Jul 30, 2011

We're in South Dakota.... COLD or extremely humid!

To bucket or not to bucket??

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