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 go for it but definitely look at second hand ones too.

My dc is 2.5 and is quite heavy. Was struggling to push them in our Mama and Papas sola 2 or lightweight chicco stroller on the school run and they were almost out growing the seat so have just bought a second hand baby jogger city mini for £60. Not had much chance to use it yet but impressed with how small it folds and the full handlebar is so much easier to push one handed than the ones with two handles. Will see how it goes on the school run once they are back open!

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied. This thread has been so helpful! I’m going to look at getting a 3 wheeler. I quite like the look of the Baby Jogger Elite or the Thule 3 wheeler. I wouldn’t mind being able to go for a run to the beach with him too. Does anyone know if these would be suitable? The Baby Jogger mini seems really popular, is this also a good all terrain pram? Would I still need a stroller for the train if I got an all terrain 3 wheeler? I’ve only ever used the buggy on public transport.

We are thinking of having another baby in a few years so I would keep the pram if it was bought brand new. I will probably have a look at second hand ones first though.

@drkpl

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied. This thread has been so helpful! I’m going to look at getting a 3 wheeler. I quite like the look of the Baby Jogger Elite or the Thule 3 wheeler. I wouldn’t mind being able to go for a run to the beach with him too. Does anyone know if these would be suitable? The Baby Jogger mini seems really popular, is this also a good all terrain pram? Would I still need a stroller for the train if I got an all terrain 3 wheeler? I’ve only ever used the buggy on public transport.

We are thinking of having another baby in a few years so I would keep the pram if it was bought brand new. I will probably have a look at second hand ones first though.

You can't run with the elite, and it's really big for public transport especially with a 2 year old who doesn't need it like a smaller baby. I've taken my city mini GT on buses etc but it is quite wide, once my Dcs have been walking age I've used a collapsible stroller where possible. Luckily it folds really easily though so you can set yourself up to do that if needed.

If you want to run, you can't with an elite,.city mini. babyjogger Summit is their running model, or many of the Thule ones are suitable, also the Out and About (it has a sport version but that's got a fixed front wheel.and would be awful for public transport, the regular version still has great suspension and a locking wheel).

However! If this really is mostly for buses, I just don't think a 3 wheeler is what you need, a stroller like the yoyo is so much better, or if you're on a tighter budget there will be so.many decent Maclarens or others likely for sale.

The Thule and elite would both be suitable but Are big prams. The city jogger gt would be great for all terrain and public transport as it folds down to half the size. You can also get a carrycot for it for a second later down the line.

Would one of those ones that convert into a trike be any good? I've never used one but I remember wishing they'd been around when my DS was an older toddler. This sort of thing.

Yoyos are awful on rough terrain - we borrowed one for a city break to Stockholm when DS was 6 months, and we just ended up using the sling. It was great in the airport and on tarmac, but it didn’t go over cobbles, didn’t go over gravel, and didn’t go over grass, so was useless in the city centre. I don’t think it was a Yoyo-specific problem, the wheels were just too small. The bigger the wheels, the better it will go over uneven ground.

We take our City Mini on the bus and train all the time, you have to get on via the centre doors if it’s a small bus, no issues on a normal double-decker. Folds easily. Goes over most terrain - it’s hard work to push over sand, but it can be done. Gravel, grass, etc are completely fine.

You aren’t meant to run with it, but I have (bought a wrist strap for safety), and it worked fine. A Thule, or one of the massive Babyjoggers, is overkill unless you are a committed runner IMO. It is much harder work - I run half marathons, but don’t go past 5k with the buggy. And it will be harder to fit in your boot/on the bus.

The only other advantage to the Thule is you can convert it into a bike trailer, which you may or may not be interested doing.

I have a mcclaren and the three wheeler. They did different jobs, but I used the three wheeler far more. I live in a small coastal town - 30-40 minute walk to the town centre, 15 to the beach, countryside and woods all around. If I had to walk for longer than a few minutes, and I knew I wouldn't have to fold the stroller I'd pick the three wheeler every time.

The umbrella stroller is useful in cafés, crowded shops, buses, airports. The three wheeler carries shopping, can go for miles, can go anywhere, easier to push, feels lighter than the mcclaren even though it isn't, has an excellent long footmuff and rain cover, and I have found it fine on trains. You can at least run for your train with a three wheeler. They were both easy to put up and down, and both fitted in the boot of my car.

You could run with my out n about nipper - not sure if you could for long on sand, depends on how firm it is, when the tide went out etc. I would try out running on the beach before you buy a buggy for that use if you can, just to get a feel for the terrain. If you have a paved sea front walkway you'd be fine.

At that stage we mostly used a second hand Silver cross fold-up buggy. It was strong enough to carry a toddler, but didn’t take up much spade and wasn’t a pain to push when they didn’t want to be in it. There are loads around second hand.