subject: The Changes In Pushchairs And Strollers Over Two Decades [print this page] Nearly two decades ago, when I had my first baby, I entered the world of baby paraphernalia, which was somewhat different to the baby seats, pushchairs and strollers that more modern mothers know today.
Take baby car seats, they were almost as heavy as the baby itself. Stiff and unwieldy, specifically designed to protect the baby in an accident without much thought for the comfort of the parent trying to lug the weight from the car to the house or vice versa.
Pushchairs were also big and heavy, based on the big Silver Cross prams, although some of the most modern did have swivel wheels to make them a little more manoeuvrable. In those days, they came with a carry cot and a pushchair seat which faced away from the pushing parent.
There were a few accessories - all extras - all weather related, a rain cover, sunshade and fleecy snuggle toes. But they all had a good tray underneath, ideal for groceries and, being so sturdy, you could hang no end of carrier bags off the handle if you purchased a couple of special hooks.
Roll on a few years and stick buggies made an appearance, light weight, easily folded travel options that made getting on the bus a great deal more easy. On the down side, there were no luggage racks underneath and, if you did hang shopping off the handles, you had to remember to take the bags off before removing the counter-balancing weight of the child. And if you overloaded, your baby could end up on its back looking up at the sky.
Move forward over a decade and jogging strollers were all the rage - with a single wheel up front for ease of pushing whilst keeping fit.
Folding most pushchairs still required being able to hold the baby with one arm and manipulate a series of clips and clamps with fingers or feet and it was more than ten years later that we saw the first one-hand-fold strollers. These revolutionised the world of baby transportation because you could hang on to your baby with one hand, pull at the centre of the buggy and watch the whole thing collapse in half to become flat and easy to put into the car or take onto a bus.
Somewhere in between, the designers of baby perambulation equipment decided that such modes of transportation should provide an all-in-one solution to every baby's needs. This meant that the carrycot part of any pushchair/pram combi should double as a car seat. And that car seat should be light enough for a parent to carry easily but also durable enough to provide sufficient protection in an accident.
Rules also came into force regarding the positioning of such baby car seats in the rear of any vehicle because of problems with air bags in the passenger seat.
Pushchairs and strollers have come a long way from the original baby carriage.
