I skipped the whole baby travel system thing with my other two kids. For one, none of my babies have been big fans of car seats, and they all loved to be held or worn in a baby carrier. Strollers and car seats seemed extra heavy and bulky, so we sorta skipped over the travel system stage.

Fast forward 5 to 8 years and there have been some improvements in the market. Strollers and car seats are more lightweight without sacrificing safety. And though I’m a babywearing aficionado, I’m finding a stroller can be handy more than I realized.

I’m using the RIVA Travel System by Safety 1st and there are plenty of reasons I love it. Here’s a few:

1. It’s lightweight and easy to store

One thing I haven’t liked about strollers in the past is how much of a hassle it is to open them up to use them, or get them to close back down when we’re packing up. The RIVA stroller weighs less than 18 pounds and the car seat is just 7.5 pounds. There are no crazy switches or trick levers to get it to fold or unfold I just pull up on the strap by the seat. I can fold it in one hand while holding a kid in the other. I can easily slide it into the back of my car. Or fold it and leave it self-standing in a corner when we bring it inside.

2. My big kids can help

More often than not, little Lee Lee is in a carrier and closer to my eye level than my other two kiddos. They are both so sweet and helpful that they absolutely love taking turns putting her in the stroller and assisting with pushing her around. It’s light and easy enough for them to help maneuver her. And it’s an easy way for my son especially, to feel like a helpful big brother.

3. Handy when shopping cartless

When I actually go inside to grocery shop, I typically wear my baby and push a shopping cart. When we’re at the mall, or a retail store that doesn’t have shopping carts my stroller comes in handy for holding all the things. Same thing goes when we go on family walks. There’s plenty of room to stash all the water bottles and snacks underneath the stroller in the storage basket even when I am still babywearing.

4. It’s made of recycled materials

My son is really into documentaries about ocean life, and we’ve been learning a lot about how much trash winds up in the ocean and how it hurts some of his favorite animals. So we were pretty darn excited to learn the the RIVA stroller is made with a special blend of recycled materials in a zero waste facility in Columbus, IN. The resin in the frame is made up of recycled potato bags and diaper tabs. The child tray and cup holders are actually made from a resin using their recycled car seats. 130,000 lbs of plastic is saved from the landfill!

5. It’ll last us

For now it’ll work great as an infant stroller with the car seat snapped in. As she gets bigger and masters sitting up by herself we’ll be able to use the stroller as a standalone. The car seat works until little Lee Lee hits 35lbs which, she’s chunky but hopefully won’t be for awhile. And thankfully the fabrics are easy to zip on and off and they’re machine washable, so we can easily spruce it up like new again on those horribly messy accidents.

So here I am, a late bloomer to the baby travel system club. It took 8 years and three kids. But now I’ve joined and I’m a proud card-carrying member.

Tags: baby, lee lee, motherhood, newborn