Doona Stroller Review – BabyBeautyWithVal

Disclaimer – this post is in no way sponsored by Doona. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Hi friends, this is Danielle, Val’s BFF of several decades. Our babies were born on the same day and we can’t wait for the next generation of best buds. A little about me…in addition to my newborn, Sloane, I also have a three year old daughter and a two year old son. Yes, this makes me part of a unique (albeit insane) club of parents with three under three. It is not for the faint of heart.
That being said, many of you expressed interest in learning more about the Doona stroller. You may or may not have seen the Instagram stories where I covered this but if not, here is the quick summary. It is amazing.
Oh, you wanted more? Let me say that our family has six strollers…yes, six and that makes me a little bit knowledgeable about the stroller market. With our third, I swore that we would purchase not another high-priced baby item and I held out for nine weeks on the Doona. I had other girlfriends in San Francisco that loved it and it looked so versatile. Given our family travels frequently and the need to transport a sleeping baby throughout the day, I bit the bullet. The Doona is not cheap but frankly, neither were the Uppababy, Bob or others that we own. It will run you around $500 for the base and carseat and yes, that is before the plethora of accessories. I bought mine on Amazon so that I could have it the next day for a trip – along with the visor and bag accessories (roughly $80 additional).

Here are the top reasons why I love it and would buy it again:

1. You don’t have to wake up a sleeping baby. You know how it goes, you pull up to your child’s school and need to get out of the car and transfer the baby to a stroller or, a clunky attachment that makes a loud click – waking up said baby.

2. Travel. This is a must if you travel – especially, if you travel internationally. Now, you may be rolling your eyes and thinking “but you can gate check strollers”. This is true. BUT, if you travel internationally and even some domestic airports will require that you pick up your stroller at the baggage claim at your destination. My first traveled over 100,000 miles with me for work and I can not tell you how annoying and heavy it was hauling her carseat to baggage claim (CDG in Paris is the worst!!!). The Doona is truly the only best – just collapse is as you enter the plane (you actually can push it on in first class) and secure in your seat.

3. You live in a city and want to uber safely. Cough cough – San Francisco. To travel with the baby to meet friends for lunch I could park and deal with a bigger stroller or, take an uber and safely transport / navigate with a compact stroller. Also, a lot of places really don’t have double wide entrances and this stroller is pretty compact.

4. Accessories. All strollers hustle you into buying more (I still have the Uppababy snack tray in a box!) but the sun shade is really great and the diaper bag hooks easily without adding bulk.

Downsides:

1. I will say price because it’s not cheap. I do think more companies will continue this trend and it will be available in the future at a more accessible price point.

2. Initial ease of use. Maybe it’s just me but it took me a solid 15 minutes of practicing to collapse and open it. Also, during the peak of holiday season, I attempted to take it out of my car but hit the wrong button and IT EXPANDED IN THE CAR!!! My baby was sideways. I was sweating trying to pull it out. I went home and watched several YouTube videos and practiced in my garage. It’s now super easy but there is a bit of a curve.

3. No skateboard. I have two more toddlers and it would be nice to have the skateboard attachment like with the Uppababy. That way, I could look really insane if I ever needed to wear one, push one and have one stand 🙂
How long will it last? The box says “up to 40lbs” and it has a newborn insert that we are just about ready to remove.

The Doona is a no brainer – especially, if you plan on having more than one child. They offer it in a variety of colors but I would recommend purchasing more of a neutral if you plan on reselling it. My only regret is not having it the day we left the hospital.