AIBU to buy pushchair weight limit 2.4 stone, child is 3 stone but.....

[infinityforever]

Have already had to spend far too much time looking for a buggy.

Child has just turned 4 but will need a buggy for as long as poss as we go on massive trips and no car.

Been using a Maxi Cosi that i've only just realised he is 0.6 stone too heavy for. He's really cramped in it for lying down, a key feature for us. Mama's and Papa's Armadillo has loads of room but same weight restriction, WIBU unreasonable to buy it? I've heard that the US often certify pushchairs for much higher weights just because they have a better system for assessing them (or something?) than the UK has.
Please help, pushed for time!

I notice also that nobody has commented on the safety aspects of taxis. They don't have car seats or booster seats. As a non car owner, I use taxis with kids very occasionally in a REAL pinch but avoid them unless it is absolutely essential for this reason--and I will do absolutely anything to avoid putting a young child in a taxi when traffic is busy or it would involve going along a main road.

Amazed at the kids who'll walk 10 miles happily on a regular basis. We live very rural my kids are driven everywhere, my friend lives in the city no car had her double buggy in use long after me prob til her boys 6&4. Her boys today (11&13) are way way better than any other kids I know around here for walking. they walk or cycle to school, friends, shops etc I can't believe people on here using buggy for long journeys even at that age makes sense n who can afford to taxi everywhere & WHY is that better than having a buggy?!

Some people really try to make everything difficult don't they?

Yes. Just look at all the people who would rather see a child in a car than in a mix of walking and a pushchair, or who think scooters are the answer to everything and have absolutely no drawbacks, or who can’t really conceive of lives different from their own.

I particularly love the “why would you walk 13 miles for an enjoyable activity! You should do that shit in the car or on the bus instead of going for more environmentally friendly and healthy option that you prefer. Your kid should rest their legs on the bus or in their car seat! Resting them in a pushchair is somehow TOTALLY different!”

As you say, some people really do try to make things unnecessarily difficult.

part and parcel of living somewhere without a car is that surely you're accepting that you can't do the same things as someone with a car.

But why shouldn't you do the same things if they are doable by having a buggy available for when your child has had enough walking?

Having suggested a scooter upthread I thought of this thread yesterday when my 3yo ws knackered and crying for the school run.

I stuck with the scooter in the end and he was fine but he would have been quite happy in the buggy I think

People on this thread are the exact reason why going out, with my 4 year old jn a buggy is a judgemental nightmare.

The looks I get are terrible. The whispering that he’s too old for a buggy makes me feel like shit. But my son has Autism. If he walked he’d be under a bus in a flash.

You can’t tell he has ASD. But that’s the point isn’t it? Perhaps people should go about their own perfect lives and leave others alone.

The people on this thread mystified by using a buggy instead of driving are going to be fucked when petrol and private transport is heavily restricted in twenty years time. Bet they’ll be using a buggy then, not carrying their grandchild and a scooter.

What nonsense is this? I didn't drive until my eldest was 7. We lived in a rural area with shit public transport. By age 4,buggies were ancient history! In fact I don't think she sat in one after age 3. We walked for miles - you just pace them and bring plenty of water. We had a bike with a bike seat attached too at one point. A buggy indeed. No wonder so many of the children I work with won't walk the length of themselves!

We walked for miles - you just pace them and bring plenty of water.

That’s lovely.

Not quite as practical when you’re dropping your child off at nursery and then have a train to catch to get to work.

My eldest used the pushchair until he was well over 3, almost solely for the nursery run. It was a 20-25 minute brisk walk for me. In a choice between ‘let’s walk at your pace and have to get you up 30 minutes earlier, and then go to bed nearly as soon as we get home from nursery’ and ‘we can have more quality time together at home, you can sleep how you naturally would and I’ll pop you in the pushchair’, I can’t tell you how obvious the pushchair was as a choice until he was reliable enough on the scooter to do it.

DS2, nearly 4, loathes a scooter. If we still had that nursery run, I daresay he’d be in a pushchair. Unfortunately as we now also have the school run I have to drive to do drop offs/pick ups.

I’m not sure being in the car is all that much better for him, TBH, particularly as he can’t get in and out for a run.

Get bike with carrier. Cycle to train and leave bike locked up. we cycle or walk most places.

I am an extremely confident cyclist, who holds her nerve when being passed by HGVs, but I'm not willing to cycle on A-roads with a child in a carrier.

If you are and have found it a successful strategy, good for you.

I used a pushchair and walked on the pavement beside the A-road, myself.

Not sure if anyone has said this already but I work in a buggy shop and I wouldn't get the armadillo if your child is 3 stone.

If you're child is to heavy for it and you put them in it voids your warranty.

You can find some really good quality buggies with 25kg weight limit. I have a cosatto woosh but Silvercross pop/popstars are fab too.

Is this thread still going?! Well done to you all who's kids will walk for miles and miles each day, you should be very proud of yourselves. Back in the real world where kids are slow and whiny and tired, a buggy can make all the difference.
Where I live we have great public transport, and lots of cycle lanes. You often see older kids, who should be cycling themselves really, in cargo bikes. Is that better than in a buggy? Is a kid on a bike seat, bus or in a car better than in a buggy??
My youngest hated waking anywhere, he still does really. I used the pram until he stated school as i couldn't be arsed to argue with a stroppy child and then deal with him walking 0.5 MPH and getting everywhere late.
He now does three different sports to a high level 5 days out out of 7. But he's still a lazy arse when it comes to actually walking anywhere! (So it's bus scooter or bike as the car is for long journeys only, much to his annoyance).
OP I hope you find a suitable pram

I'm finding all these responses strange, because I was in a similar position to the OP a few years ago.
Didn't drive, often made long trips on public transport, sometimes out for the whole day.
I didn't have a buggy for the 3 year old, it had broken and I decided not worth replacing, as dc was a good walker with plenty of stamina.

Sometimes if we'd been delayed we had to walk home a couple of miles from the station, because otherwise we'd have been waiting nearly an hour for the bus. (If you rely on public transport, you have to accept delays often).

From this thread, you'd have expected us to get widespread approval for "making him walk". In actual fact, if anyone who knew us drove past, they'd usually be horrified, and stop to offer a lift (which I usually had to refuse as no car seat.)

So, damned if you do, damned if you don't. You may as well do what works for you.

@StopSayingPickyTea you were a SAHP? with plenty of time? how lovely for you. a lot of people don’t have the luxury
and a biking on a country lane with a bike seat or trailer can be suicidal. i definitely would do it (and certainly not just to be smug about buggies)

We walked for miles - you just pace them and bring plenty of water. We had a bike with a bike seat attached too at one point.

Why is a child in a bike seat or carrier any different to a child in a buggy? Or in a car seat?

Not ignoring the other half of your post, some days my DS will go for miles, other days (like last week when he was ill, or he's in a shit mood etc) I put him in the buggy. It's not the end of the world.

DS and I often walk the two miles to the nearest town and then get the bus back, or vice versa. Last time we did it we worked out that he takes three steps for every two of mine. He's six and tall for his age, but his legs are still doing a lot more work than mine and it takes quite a bit longer for the two of us to walk than for me to do it on my own - and I'd walk both ways on my own, weather/light allowing. Mostly uphill there as well so a scooter would be of limited help. He'd never go in a buggy now (though he will still occasionally ask to be carried), but I can see why the OP is making that choice if she has further to walk and less transport options.

What nonsense is this? I didn't drive until my eldest was 7. We lived in a rural area with shit public transport. By age 4,buggies were ancient history! In fact I don't think she sat in one after age 3. We walked for miles - you just pace them and bring plenty of water. We had a bike with a bike seat attached too at one point. A buggy indeed. No wonder so many of the children I work with won't walk the length of themselves!

Err--so you were basically using a bike seat in the same way as a buggy (as a place to plonk the kid when they get really tired or when you need to move quickly). Not everyone has hours on end to spend "pacing themselves," by the way.

And I am another one who would be uncomfortable taking a child in a bike seat along a public road unless it was incredibly quiet. They have neither a car seat not the body of a vehicle protecting them when they are on a bike.

Get bike with carrier. Cycle to train and leave bike locked up. we cycle or walk most places.

Oh yeah, cos that is so safe and all the passing motorists will love you!

I don't drive, my DS used a buggy untill he was 5 on long journeys. Yes we where judged by car using family's. He is now 11 he walks/rides his bike everywhere while those same families still ferry their kids in cars. Take a guess at which kid is healthier, just for the record it's not the it's not tne judgy car driving familys. Also using a bike carrier is no different to using a buggy so please don't let others delude you into thinking it is.

Funny thing on MN. When it comes to Disneyland, pushchairs are deemed acceptable, up to age 6.

Non-driving parents who model walking to their child on a daily basis and keep the pushchair beyond 2 will make the world fall in, but it's fine to get a pushchair just for Disneyland.

Aaah but jamie
People who go to Disney land are far better off than the rest of us and probably have a 4x4 at home to ferry the kids about. Those people are acceptable!

I agree In.a town like where i live where you are never more than a mile from a shop and all the supermarkets have bus stops outside if them and taxis are 3.50 anywhere across town it would henan bit silly to have a buggy. In fact given how many arseholes there are about who refuse to move on a bus you will be dying to get rid of it asap.

But rurally theres obviously no choice. And this arguing over what method of kid sitting on their arse is acceptable is hilarious.

I wonder if the are the same ones who get in a flap at their kid having to get a bus to school or worry how their kid will cope crossing more than one.road.

Simply get the nanny to take them in the car!

Mountain buggy have high weight limits, especially older models, but usually 3 wheeled. Maclaren major and knock offs have 4 wheels but don’t look fun to push. I think you’re going to have to go 3 wheeled tbh.

The Stokke xplory goes to age 4 and 3 stone + (20.5kg). I lies down, too. It's not cheap though. But you may get a second hand one on ebay, or get an older version.

Why on earth is it somehow morally better to put a child in a bike seat or a car seat than in a buggy????

Bonkers and illogical.

Very tired children are often put in a car with the aim of them sleeping on way home from a day out or visit. Why on earth not use a buggy the same way

It's far better for the environment