Baby
Buy and sell baby gear in Costa Rica.
Plenty of Costa Rican babies spend their first months chineados, carried in arms or against a parent’s chest, so the carrier can end up doing more work than the coche that arrived with the baby shower. Both come up here new and pre-owned, along with the cribs and car seats that last for years and the newborn clothes that are outgrown before they show a mark. Most baby gear is used for a short stretch and then passed on in good order. Before you arrange to collect anything, ask for the age or weight range printed on its label and check that every strap, bolt and cover is still with it.
Strollers, cribs and the newborn clothes that last six weeks:
baby gear splits by how long it stays useful. The clothing in the smallest sizes is often worn a handful of times, which is why it so often comes in bags and in near-new condition. At the other end, a crib from the nursery can serve two children, and a convertible seat among the car seats turns from rear-facing to forward-facing and stays in the car for years. Strollers and baby carriers sit in between, along with monitors, high chairs and the pañalera. Pregnancy covers the months before, from maternity clothes to the long pillow that props up a sleeping bump.
A coche on a broken acera, or a carrier up a lastre road:
the ground outside your door decides more than the brochure does. Pavements in many Costa Rican towns are narrow, stepped or missing, and a stroller with small hard wheels ends up in the road. If you will be pushing on rough concrete or gravel, look for larger wheels with some suspension and a brake you can reach with your foot. If most trips are by car, bus or taxi, the fold matters more: how small it gets, whether it folds with one hand and whether it fits your boot with the shopping in it. A travel system pairs the stroller with an infant car seat that clicks into the frame, so a sleeping baby moves from car to pavement without being lifted out. It is the most expensive way in. A basic new stroller starts around ₡150,000, while a full travel system with its seat runs close to ₡600,000. That gap is where buying used pays off: the frame and wheels outlast the first child easily, so a looked-after travel system loses far more of its price than its condition would suggest. In hilly neighbourhoods, a soft structured carrier or a wrap often does the stroller’s job for the first year at a fraction of the cost.
Car seat labels, crib slats and mattress foam:
start with the car seat, because it is the piece where history matters most. Look for the label or the stamp moulded into the shell with the date it was made, and often a date not to use it after. Ask directly whether it has been in a crash, check that the harness adjusts smoothly and the buckle clicks cleanly, and make sure the manual or the belt-routing diagram is still on it. On a crib, every slat should be solid and none should be missing or glued back; a gap wide enough for a soda can to pass is too wide. Avoid drop-side cribs, and count the bolts and brackets before you load it. A used crib mattress should be firm, sit snug against the frame with no gap at the edges, and smell of nothing. On a stroller, open and fold it twice, push it in a straight line to spot a wobbling wheel, and test both brakes. Anything from baby care that goes on skin or in a bottle is only worth buying sealed and inside its date.
A crib and a car seat leaving a house in Turrialba:
photograph the labels, not just the item. Buyers want the age or weight range, the manufacture date on a car seat and the folded size of a stroller before they make the trip. Say whether the car seat has ever been in an accident, whether the home has pets or smokers, and whether the covers have been washed. Put the crib’s bolts and the stroller’s rain cover in a bag taped to the frame. Anyone driving over from Desamparados or Ciudad Quesada for a car seat will want to buckle it into their own back seat before paying, so meet somewhere with room to park and open the doors.