Is it worth buying a new buggy for a 2 year old?

[drkpl]

I haven’t managed to learn to drive yet. It’s my top priority post lockdown.

We’re about to move to a more rural area, about an hour on the train from the city centre by train and a 40 minute walk from the beach. We have a second hand ICandy peach and a Silver cross Reflex buggy for my 25 month old (bought when he was a newborn as it was awkward to get the iCandy on the train). I’ll probably just sell the iCandy.

In short, ds likes to walk but he can’t walk more than 30 minutes without asking me to carry him. He’s way too heavy for me to carry very far now (big toddler, short mother). I find the current prams so heavy and a pain to push around while keeping ahold of ds as he likes to run (or fall to the floor on reigns).

Would you get a new pram/which ones in my situation?? I’ve had a rubbish year, like everyone else, and I just want to make my life as easy as possible when things open up again. I have better things to spend money on but at this point I don’t care, I’ll spend £500 if it just makes getting from a to b easier in the next year!

Yes a very lightweight stroller. Perfect for using on public transport. Could use for another 2 years if you don't drive

I live near the sea and have a rugged three wheeler with a high weight limit (a first generation out n about nipper). My youngest is four and I still use it in the summer to transport beach stuff - the picnics, the toys, the comfy chair for me because I will not sit for hours without back support. The child isn't usually in it.

Anyway, it goes over sand and gravel, and I can get anywhere on the beach with it. When DS was two I was using it all the time. It was so handy and a dream to push.

Get something light but with a handlebar not two handles - much easier to push one handed with vice like grip on child’s hand with the other!

But at already 2 and keen on walking, unless you plan more children, I’d buy second hand not spend hundreds on something that you’ll only need another year or so. They’re not that far off scooting/balance biking age which makes covering ground much easier.

Yes, def get one, also handy for shopping. I recommend baby joger city mini. The easiest fold there is. There is a version with struddier wheels too.

Yes, but second hand.

I would definitely get one. As pp said, look for second hand. I regularly used a light weight one for my 4 year old. Yes I got looks...from people who’d then drive past with their child in the car seat Make sure the wheels are suitable for the terrain you’ll be using it on.

I’d get a second hand light weight one; if it makes life easier then no reason why not and you don’t have to spend much money

If you’re after an umbrella stroller, the silver cross zest is much lighter than the reflex. I find it much easier to steer with my 2.5 year old. I prefer my Bugaboo Bee as the handlebar (rather than 2 handles) means it easier to steer one handed which is useful for shopping trips where I’m trying to manage a basket or if I’ve got DD on the reins. The wheels aren’t great off terrain though.

Yes - especially if you are thinking of having another child in future. We bought a lightweight stroller suitable from birth for my nearly 3 yo when I was pregnant so we used it for the 2yo and then when baby was born.

Don’t forget you need to plan it as if it’s a day when he’s ill and you have to get to the doctors, or you’ve shopping or he’s refusing to walk because he saw a stick 10 minutes ago and now wants to pick it up and your train leaves in 5.

I think I had 4 different buggies, several second hand. The baby jogger city mini was the best! One handed steering, folds flat, good all rounder and good second hand resale value.

@drkpl We bought a very cheap ( way way less than £500 ) lightweight stroller thing because we had to take a long haul flight to where DH was working at the time and it folded up. -DS just about walking but not consistently - honestly I think it got used on that trip and thereafter more than the expensive pram we initially bought.

Personally if u had the money and it would make Ur life easier then go for it. I bought a babyzen yo-yo for my 1 year old having had enough of the big bugaboo fox (albeit lightweight) I am due another baby in 2 weeks and it's a real struggle to think of going back to a big pram. Contemplating buying the bassinet for the yo-yo as it's so lightweight and compact x

Yes, absolutely. My two year old will walk for miles some days and won't walk to the end of the driveway on others. I refuse to be so constrained! We walk a lot and always bring a buggy, she's in and out. I'd get an out n about nipper or baby jogger city mini in your shoes, second hand if you can get a decent one unless you're planning more children.

Second hand stroller. You'll get one off facebay for under £20.

Get a decent three wheeler

Mountain buggy
Out and about nipper
City jogger mini GT
Thule glide
City jogger elite.

Another vote for the baby jogger city mini GT. There are a couple of baby jogger selling sites on fb if you wanted to buy second hand but they hold their value well if you wanted to buy new and resell later.

Agree with this, most lightweight strollers won't be good if you want to go anywhere without nice even ground and you need both hands.

If you do want lightweight and good for the train, the babyzen yoyo is amazing. if you want something that isn't too heavy but good for long walks, 3 wheelers are amazing as @Vanannabananna said. My favourite of all time has been my Citi jogger GT - so robust, easy to fold, and basically bomb-proof. You can also use from newborn if you're planning another baby, of if you're definitely done then there are often good second hand prices, the Out and About Nipper is meant to be great too.a

We have the city jogger gt amd it’s so versatile

Baby Jogger City Mini - easy to push one-handed, easy to fold one-handed, and big enough for my nearly-four year old to fit in easily. And sturdy enough to go over grass/cobbles/gravel, if you are moving somewhere rural.

I agree you need something for long walks, times when you need to get somewhere quickly, and days when your DC is ill. DS uses his bike for most trips, but we use the buggy maybe every two weeks still.

The other thing to consider is a toddler sling? Much cheaper (£80-100), and easier to stick in a bag for emergencies. Easier than picking up a heavy pre-schooler in your arms.

We take ours on long days out (trip to National History Museum, day out hiking, etc), where he’ll be on his feet all day, so I can carry him home and still have hands free to manage train tickets etc (I put him on my back, it is like a more-secure piggyback).

He can also sleep in it safely (he doesn’t nap any more, but if he has been walking all day he does sometimes fall asleep on the way home, and he is too big for me to carry off a train in my arms)

Definitely. I just sold the our buggy when my DD was 4.5. The buggy got me through spring/summer lockdown.

I didn't get rid of the buggy until she got very good on the scooter.

Yes, get one! One of mine hated sitting in a buggy once she could walk - the other still wanted it at 3! I ended up buying one when on holiday one year - so much easier than dragging a fretful toddler along or carrying her.

I still use a buggy for my 3 yo sometimes. We don't really drive here at the moment except to do our big weekly shop (urban area and we're doing our best to stay local). The best walks are 2-3 miles away. DS is very energetic and an excellent walker but there's no way he could walk that at a quick pace and then do a decent ramble around the woods or common after that. So he goes in the buggy, I get my exercise power-walking to get us there, and we have a lovely walk away from the city traffic and pollution where it's safe for him to run and look at things.

I agree with others. Second hand. Or new but investigate resale values first.

Or wait until you move. See what life and the terrain and transport is actually like. Then buy. See in what ways what you already have doesn't work. That way you avoid another expensive wrong choice.

I still used a buggy until the age of 3 and a bit a couple of times a week for the school run. She couldn't keep up! School run isn't a leisurely stroll.

Just get a really basic lightweight buggy and buy DS a mini micro scooter. He can walk a bit, scoot a bit and go in the pushchair when tired. When he's walking or in the pushchair the mini micro scooters are really light so can hang off the pushchair.