Doona - Doona +

Honestly surprised at how many people are upset by the height. I’m 5’7 and have zero issue. It’s extremely convenient when running errands, especially with ny toddler in tow. IMO the biggest downside is that it’s damn heavy, but since it doubles as a stroller, the only time I’m carrying it is into the house. All that said, we bought from a trusted secondhand source, so didn’t have the hefty price tag.

We got gifted one and really like it. It is our on the go stroller

I have the Doona and I love it. So convenient to just take the car seat out of the car, press a button and it’s a stroller. No fuss no muss. I also have a Joie Ginger stroller for when I take my baby for walks in the park. It’s worked well for us. I was gifted a a Cybex Libelle travel stroller but haven’t used it yet. Seems cool though.

I have used it as my primary stroller since my son was born and love it. It has been super helpful for me and I don’t regret it for a second. I live in a city and don’t own a car so it is very conducive to my lifestyle. It’s much easier to navigate around places like city grocery stores with tiny aisles and the bus, and I was able to use it with ride shares as well (although I know use Uber car seat option now). I don’t think it is that heavy but I don’t know what to compare it to. Yes it’s a bit of a physical feat lifting it into some vehicles but I usually collapse it right by the car. Also, I AM five feet tall so the height is a plus for me. I have an UppaBaby Vista that was handed down to me. I have been using it more for long walks and excursions as my son as gotten bigger. I find it much harder to handle and it feels huge. So I am all in on the Dooma but it’s largely a lifestyle fit. Edit; and I traveled with it when he was 8 months old. Amazing in the airport and ideal because I was also renting a car at the location. But probably there are cheaper options if that’s the main draw unless you travel constantly.

I loved it for traveling. Also amazed a couple pilots when I was collapsing it at the gate for them to check. It was perfect because my trip involved car rentals, car shares and flying. That said it is pricey so if you could borrow one for travel that would be the way. It’s my every day stroller though.

We live in the City and Doona has been awesome!

We had the Doona and it’s one of our top 5 baby items. Incredibly convenient for quick car rides/errands and the best baby product for travel. Literally no cons except that our 99th percentile baby grew out of it around 12-13mo. I am SO sad that we can no longer use it.

I absolutely love our Doona for car travels. I take Uber pretty frequently and it’s just so easy for in and outs. I also traveled across the country and it was sooo handy in the airport! I found it heavy in the very beginning but I actually think I’ve gotten stronger since then because it’s easier for me to lift now. we were lucky enough to get ours for free so that is also a plus; we could never have afforded it with the hefty price tag

You’re only lifting it for a couple seconds vs. carrying an infant seat. I would not say it is heavy unless you have an ailment or injury, but that would make carrying any seat difficult ???????

I LOVED it. We live in a very dense city and didn’t have a car when my son was small. It was awesome for navigating tight spaces and for use on public transportation and Ubers. I wouldn’t recommend it for a more suburban lifestyle.

Absolutely love ours. I love it because you don’t have to transfer them from a car seat to a stroller if they’re sleeping. Just makes like so much easier. I wouldn’t say it’s the best stroller but for short distances it’s great.

I flew solo with my kiddo at 5 months old cross country US (6.5 hours) and I used a Doona, it’s the car seat/stroller combo. It made the whole experience so incredibly easy. I flew Southwest Airlines and sat in the front row with the baby by the window seats (required for evacuation purposes). Now I’m going to be doing the trek again later this year with a nearly 3 year old and I’m dreading it. I wish they had doonas for toddlers ?? They have travel car seats that are supposed to be very safe and easy to pack/carry so I’m going to be doing my homework on that.

Loved our Doona. Yes it lasts a year, and its heavy if you plan on carrying it around, but beyond lifting it in and out of the car there is no reason to carry it around, it's so easy for wheels to drop down and turn into a little stroller. We used it for out two kids and then I sold it so we felt it was very worth it.

I was skeptical because I’m 5’11 and knew I would be having a 2nd c-section but I decided to give it a try because I found it at a steep discount during the Nordstrom Sale and I absolutely love it! I was able to load it in the car pretty easily post c-section and it’s super handy especially with having a toddler to herd as well. My only complaint is that it takes up a ton of room in a shopping cart but in reality, my previous infant carrier took up most of the cart as well.

I am 5’6” and primarily used it. Partner is away for work a lot so I had lots of solo errand running w baby. I LOVED it. She is 14mo and we still use it but I finally just got a seat that will transition w her for many more years. Now we use the Doona in my partner’s car. He loves it too.

The Doona. It’s amazing that first year.

Doona!!!!!!!! Especially if you travel. You don’t need anything extra.

I got a Doona to make my life easy until I absolutely need something bigger. It’s amazing!

It’s very pricey but the Doona sounds perfect for you. It’s great for walking then you can just fold it down into the car seat if you need it. It’s compact which would be great for public transport. There are some knockoffs or dupes for it I’m sure.

We loved ours too! We flew so much with ours and it made travel so much easier! I miss it lol

We hired the doona from tinyexplorers at that age for a holiday to Turkey. Our hotel was about an hour from the airport so didn't want to rely on the car seats provided by the transfer company. I think it was about £60 for the week? We received a brand new one which was excellent but I don't think that's common! We checked it in at the plane door. It was a bit scuffed up by the end of our holiday but the company never said anything. Just boxed it up and dropped it off to the post office.

Correct it does not need a base, it installs with just the shoulder and hip belts of a seatbelt There is one available though, so I do recommend that for anyone using this as a primary stroller/car seat.

Flight to the UK, here. Oh we had a lot of attitude when we brought our approved-for-plane Doona onboard. The flight attendant was so snooty about it too. "You'll never fit it on the seat" he told us. Except it fit on the seat perfectly. Showed him the sticker and everything. He left in a huff. Though, they had the last laugh because the second pram we actually had checked as baggage got lost. It was with Norwegian Air and I was so salty about the whole thing I never flew with them again.

CPST here- do not get a doona for a 10 month old. Get a Chicco fit2 with a chicco frame stroller. You’ll get a year of use from it. And it’s a better car seat and a better stroller.

We have it and it is pretty useful. The stroller isn’t great for long walks because the wheels are really hard rubber so you feel all the bumps, also it’s pretty short. But it’s great for trips to the grocery store or to a restaurant or something.

We are in south east Asia too but originally from uk. We use a Joie I-gemm car seat, it attaches into the car using just a seatbelt so it easy to switch from car to car. You don’t need a base and you can buy attachments so it clips onto the yo-yo. :) The doona is also a good option. The only thing you need to be wary of with the doona is that really they shouldn’t be in it for more than 40 minutes at a time because it’s not a good position to sleep in :) Maxi cosi pebble and cybex cloud Q also attach to the yo-yo with an adapter and can be attached into a car with just a seatbelt :)

Are you willing to carry around your car seat and possibly stroller all day? I went on trip lugging both around, it was such a hassle that I eventually rented the Doona overseas.  You could consider renting the Doona just for your trip too. My baby is around your baby’s length and it was only slightly cramped. (Our longest car ride was 1 hour, it wasn’t that bad for baby.)

No, that thing is a monster. Add a kid, and you have like 40 lbs to carry with one arm twisted. It's also more manual than you'd hope. Lasts a year max if you don't have a large bebe. But! If your back is 100% super duper and you're incredibly fit and under 5'2"ish, it works great!

The doona is hard to install correctly and most people do it wrong. I’ve installed it at least 50 times, never once have I seen a family install it correctly. It has no storage so people attach stuff to it which is unsafe. The Chicco frame stroller has a huge storage basket. Also the fit2 is outgrown at 35 inches, the doona is outgrown at 32 inches. Without knowing how tall this child is, there’s a far lower chance of the seat being too small if they go with the higher limit seat.

I agree with that it is great for traveling but I didn’t like it as an every day car seat.

I didn’t get the Doona at first because I thought it was too small for a stroller and too heavy for a car seat. I used to joke about people pushing that tiny thing around like a real stroller. Well, I took a one-month trip back to my home country and ended up buying a second-hand one from a friend—just for the trip, or so I thought. Now? I haven’t touched my regular car seat + stroller combo since. The Doona goes *everywhere* with me. It’s hands-down the most convenient, easy-to-use baby item I own. I swear by it and totally regret not getting one sooner! And now that my daughter is *almost* outgrowing it, I’m already dreading the day we have to say goodbye to our Doona.

Nuna pipa + nuna trvl I don’t get the love for the doona. it’s very short so if you’re remotely tall you’re going to be uncomfortable. And it’s significantly heavier than other car seats so something to consider when swinging in the back seat of a cab

I guess I'm going to be the odd one out but we travel with ours and love it for that. We actually just flew with it today. It's easy to get into an Uber, walk through the airport until security, take our baby and collapse it and it fits through the little TSA scanner, then pop it back up put baby back in and walk to the gate. When you get to your destination you still have a car seat and stroller to get to your final destination It's great for travel, but we would never use it as our main car seat or stroller

I love it as a car seat, it’s great for travel/errands. We also have another stroller we use for walks and park trips though. Really depends on your lifestyle whether you’d get enough value from it.

Same! We used it as a stroller for around the block. Used it to run errands and for all those doctor visits in the first year. Brought it on a plane to NYC and on the subways. I honestly loved it and loved not having to take my kid out of the car seat and put them into something else if we were going somewhere.

I know you didn’t mention it but we absolutely loved the Doona car seat/ stroller combo.

My husband has this in his car and to be honest, I was never able to use it by myself: it is too heavy with the baby in it. But it was very easy in the first 6 months for doctors appointments and such. I just saw a Doona at Tj maxx yesterday for $399.

Absolutely love our Doona

Buy a car seat that is designed to be used with or without a base. Doona is one option but they are expensive. Uber drivers in NYC are accustomed to families with babies; in my experience they have been patient while I take 2-3 minutes to strap the car seat in.

Extra pieces of advice: 1. Get an [FAA approved car seat ](https://www.safeintheseat.com/post/what-car-seats-are-faa-approved)and the lightest one possible, especially for the older one. We got an Evenflo one that weighs less than 11 lbs, and then got a rolling carrier for it. 2. I think the more difficult one is the 1 year old, because car seats for 1 year olds that can be rear facing are going to be harder to find in options that are light. If you can splurge, this is where something like the Doona would be worth its weight in gold.

Doona car seat is worth every penny. Having a built in stroller is a game changer.

Ours was gifted but we never used it in the car ?? we used it for walking around the city and if kiddo still fits when we travel by plane soon we’ll bring it and use as our car seat. We had grand aspirations that we’d be able to uber downtown and bring baby for date nights… yeah that didn’t happen for many reasons haha It was super convenient for small spaces/sidewalks, stopping for a quick bite to eat, and running errands. My kiddo grew pretty quickly and while still fits at 10mo, they’re much more comfortable in their full size stroller and convertible car seat. I think if we lived in huge city w/no car, it’d be worth it more than living in our small (everyone needs a car) city.

I have one and I love it. I don’t find it too heavy, but I imagine all of that is very individual. I also bought mine secondhand and paid less than half price, so that may color my perception!

Doona! 100%. We go every where SO easily, so convenient to hop in an Uber at any time. You can also Uber home from hospital, call a nice Uber XL or Uber Black. You can always get a compact nice stroller with bassinet to walk around the city like a Bugaboo Dragonfly or if you wait for child to be bigger a Butterfly. Don’t count on a carrier for 100% use. Some babies hate them, sometimes it’s hot / muggy. Sometimes they get uncomfy in a coat in the carrier during winter, etc. Good luck. FWIW I’ve never met a fellow New Yorker who regretted a Doona.

We do so much travel so this and the Nanit are top items for us. Critical for travel!!

I understand the frustration but to be frank, there are dozens of airplane models across dozens of manufacturers across dozens of carriers and none of them are building/buying their plans with fitting every type of car seat in mind. We took our Doona on the last trip with our 13mo old and booked him his own seat. The Doona is listed at 17” and Air France economy bulkhead is 17”. It just barely fit and then the seat belt also just barely stretched enough over to buckle. Our kid spent maybe 2hrs of the 9hr flight in his seat. If you’re set on using a car sea and spent thousands of dollars on flights already then your best best is probably just spend a few hundred bucks to buy a Doona and take that instead of the Cosco Scenera Extend. Regardless of the travel struggles, enjoy your trip with the kid. It’s awesome to watch them learn about the world while traveling to new places.

I borrowed one from a friend for an out of town wedding. It was super convenient for travel and using a Lyft, but I wouldn’t use it as my main stroller/car seat. People must be referring to it being heavy when carrying it in car seat mode, because it is lightweight like a travel stroller. You can’t hang anything on it and there’s no storage built in. Walking around, we hit an uneven bit of pavement and it would have tipped over if I hadn’t had a good grip on it. As with so many things, everything is a personal preference kinda thing. One of my sisters uses a travel stroller as her main stroller because she only uses it when out and about. I’m a walker - baby and I have been outside for a walk with the dog practically every day for the past 8 months. I love our UppaBaby Vista because it’s sturdy, has storage, and is adaptable. We used the bassinet until he was big enough to be in the infant insert. I’m pretty sure we only used the car seat into stroller feature in the early days for doctors visits.

As far as car seats go, there are some travel car seats like the RideSafer on Amazon that are easy to pack and take with. There are weight requirements for them, so not sure on the 1yr old, but the 4yr old is probably a good fit. If you don’t want to spend more money on that, your other option is to get car seat bags and check them on your flight to Florida. Obviously there’s pros and cons to that as well. We have two kids, 9mo and 2.5yrs, we took our Doona car seat and a RideSafer on the last trip, it works fairly well. Pro tip: get the RideSafer out and adjusted at home before you leave on your trip. Trying to harness up the little one right before you leave is not a fun experience… For transportation, you can do an Uber XL or hire a private shuttle. Some hotels near the ports will have shuttle service, but you’ll want to call in advance to confirm. Typically shuttles range from $15-25 per person. Privacy will totally depend on your party size, your willingness to pay a bit extra, and if there are other travelers in your hotel. When traveling for a cruise, especially with kids, I’d recommend coming in the night before and staying at a hotel so you have some flexibility and don’t miss your embarkation.

My kids lasted to a year. It depends on how long your babies are.