Being that I am still a working nanny, I still exist in the nanny spaces of the internet. An interesting question came up recently: What baby/kid item do you [nannies] absolutely hate!?!
My answer was something that is not a secret and I will shout it from the rooftops: baby buckets. Also sometimes known as infant carriers or baby car seats. These are usually basket/bucket shaped car seats with bail handles for those within their first few months of birth and have a click-to-attach system to attach to bases secured in cars or strollers or sometimes even grocery shopping carts.
When I was growing up, my own nanny taught me to never say that I hated anything, because that was a very strong and absolute word, but instead to say that I disliked it. I really, really dislike baby buckets.
A regular convertible car seat with an infant insert is just as safe as a baby bucket for transporting the tot by car and saves you from having to buy two separate carseats before tot is two years old. It is a one-and-done purchase. And the tot can be worn or wheeled around in a lie-flat stroller1. Yes, there is the issue of transferring out of the car seat and into the baby carrier or into the stroller, but honestly, it becomes a nonissue as the kiddo will quickly fall back asleep if they were asleep and need more sleep. Baby sleep isn’t as precious as you think, and motion-naps (naps induced by motion such as riding in the car) aren’t something we want to encourage, so waking them from a motion nap pays positive dividends in the end.
1 My personal favorite in this category, and one I personally own, is the MacLaren Quest (affiliate link for the North Carolina Professional Association of Nannies – a nonprofit – because I support them where I can). I got my stroller second-hand through FreeCycle.org, a gift-economy rehoming service for durable household goods.
Since the nanny group where this question was posted does check to ensure that you are a working nanny, and you are likely not, I thought you might be interested in the rest of the responses from the other nannies in the group.
You’ll be able to benefit from over 1000 combined years of childcare experience and avoid the pitfalls without doing much more than reading an email/reading a website.