Buying Guide to Double Strollers

You've seen them at the mall, the amusement park, and the playground. They seem to weigh a million pounds and are pushed by bleary-eyed parents that no longer care whether or not they look cool. They are double strollers, and if you have infant twins or two young children close in age, you need one.


Stadium vs. Side-by-Side Seating


There are two major types of double strollers, and the difference is in how the seats are arranged. In double strollers with stadium seating, the seats are arranged one in front of the other, with the rear seat being slightly elevated. Side-by-side strollers look just like you would imagine, with the seats being arranged next to each other. Each arrangement has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The biggest advantage to stadium strollers is their width. Since they are the same width as single strollers, they fit easily through doors and hallways. Graco makes stadium-seating double stroller travel systems. The matching infant bucket car seats snap onto the stroller, so you never have to unbuckle a sleeping baby (or two sleeping babies) and try to get them into the stroller without waking them up. However, stadium strollers are extremely heavy and can be difficult to maneuver. The added length makes it hard to see what is in front of you, and the baby in the rear seat often cannot see over the front seat's canopy, which can lead to a lot of tears at places like the zoo.

Side-by-side strollers tend to be lighter weight than their stadium-seating counterparts, and both children can easily see all that is in front of them. The children being able to sit right next to each other can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on how well your kids are getting along on any particular day. The biggest advantage to side-by-side strollers is that both seats can fully recline, which is important when your babies are too small to sit upright or when both of your older babies are sleeping. In stadium-seating strollers, only the rear seat reclines all the way. The width of side-by-side strollers can make them hard to maneuver through doorways and in other tight spaces; they are best used outside.