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What is the difference between a pram, a stroller, a bassinet and a capsule?

Four words for things that look similar, sold in the same shop, and used interchangeably by the people selling them.

Dadda ask the magical tube this question. The magical tube give him four thousand answers and a shop give him six more. So here it is once, properly.

The short answer

  • A pram is the thing with wheels. In the shop the word is used loosely. "Pram" and "stroller" are often used to mean the same thing. The label on the box tells Dadda very little.
  • A bassinet is really a bed. It is a small sleep space for the early months. On a pram, the bassinet is the lay-flat, bed-shaped attachment that sits on the frame. Same word, same flat shape, two places it turns up.
  • A stroller is more like a chair. It is for a baby or toddler who can hold themselves upright.
  • A capsule is a car seat. It is a small rearward-facing seat for a newborn that lifts out of the car with the baby still in it.

So the question is not which word is on the box. It is whether the thing bub lies in goes flat.

A baby needs the flat option until they can sit up on their own. That is roughly the first 6 months. Under 6 months, a stroller seat should only be used if it reclines to at least 130 degrees.

Only one of these four — the car seat — has to be in the car before Dadda can drive his baby home.

What Dadda actually needs

He needs one car seat, and he needs it before the drive home from hospital. That is the only one of the four with a deadline on it.

He needs somewhere for the baby to sleep in his own room, which is a cot or a bassinet.

He needs something with wheels, eventually. It can wait. Nobody takes a four-day-old baby to the shops.

So the buying order is: car seat, sleep space, wheels. Most dads do it in the opposite order, because the pram is the fun one.

One at a time

Pram

  • What it is. A pram is a wheeled vehicle for a baby who is too young to sit up unsupported. It usually holds the baby fully reclined, which means lying flat.
  • What it is for. Moving a newborn around without bending their body into a shape it cannot hold yet. A small baby has no neck strength and cannot be propped up.
  • The part that confuses everyone. Many prams are sold as one frame with two tops — a flat bassinet for the early months, and an upright seat for later. Sold that way, often with a capsule as well, it gets called a travel system. It is still one set of wheels.
  • When he needs it. Before the birth is comfortable, but it is not urgent. There is no deadline and no drive home that depends on it.

Stroller

  • What it is. A stroller is a wheeled vehicle for an older baby or toddler who can sit upright. Strollers are often adjustable, so the seat can also lie flat or sit at an angle.
  • What it is for. Everything after the lying-flat stage. Most families end up using a stroller far longer than a pram.
  • When he needs it. Later. If a seat reclines far enough it can do both jobs, which is what most Australian families buy.

Bassinet

  • What it is. A bassinet is a small sleep space for the first few months. It has a firm flat mattress, sides that let air through, and a stable base that is not tilted.
  • What it is for. Sleeping, in the same room as its parents. A bassinet takes up less room than a cot next to a bed, which is the main reason people buy one.
  • When he needs it. Before the birth, if he wants one. A cot in the parents' room does the same job.

A bassinet is outgrown fast. It should not be used once baby can roll over, or pull themselves up the side, or is over three months old.

Capsule

  • What it is. A capsule is a small rearward-facing car seat for a newborn that unclips from a base and lifts out of the car.
  • What it is for. Getting a baby in and out of a car without unbuckling them, and without waking them. The base stays belted in. The capsule clicks on and off.
  • When he needs it. Fitted, checked and in the car before the drive home from hospital. This is the real deadline in Trimester 3.

Capsules are outgrown in a matter of months, so many Australian families hire one rather than buy it.

The bit that causes the trouble

In Australian shops, "pram" and "stroller" are used to mean the same thing. The two words get used interchangeably.

So the word on the label does not tell Dadda whether the thing lies flat.

The thing to check is the recline, not the name. Children under 6 months old should only be placed in a stroller if it reclines to at least 130 degrees. Push the seat back in the shop and look at it. A "pram" that will not go near flat is a stroller with a nicer word on the box.

Two more traps worth naming:

  • A bassinet that clips onto a pram frame is not a bed for overnight sleep. It is a pram attachment. A pram is never a substitute for a safe cot, and a baby should not be left unsupervised in one.
  • A capsule is not a pram part, even when it clicks into a pram frame. The thing that makes it a car seat is that it is built and approved to be one. Clicking into a frame is a convenience feature and says nothing about safety.

What this does not decide

  • A capsule is not safer than a convertible car seat. Both are built and approved to do the same job. The difference between them is convenience — whether the seat lifts out — not protection. A dad who reads "different" as "one is safer" has read this page wrong.
  • A bassinet is not safer than a cot, and a cot is not safer than a bassinet. Both are built to the same rules for infant sleep products. A cot lasts much longer, which is a practical difference, not a safety one.
  • This page does not tell Dadda which pram to buy. It tells him what the words mean. The buying decision is in the item pages.

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