can you recommend me a good harness/reins and also give me advice on how to avoid grief from silly people while using it?

[muslimah28]

hello

ds is very active and i like letting him walk, but just need to keep him safe when he tries to run off. can anyone recommend a good brand?

i heard the sunshine kids is not so good, purely for the long length of the harness which youd think would be a good thing but i read some reviews of people getting grief for using it cos its too 'obvious'. these people recommended the backpack type, but i'm worried about whether they're strong enough/good enough quality- anything gimmicky like that starts to compromise on quality IME.

any advice?

also any tips on how to use it which may minimise risk of anyone telling me i'm treating my child like a dog. like i should care more about a dog than my child....

please dont post if you're fundamentally against harnesses/reins, i'm not looking for a debate, just some recommendations on products!

many thanks :)

Relatively small, the size of a cart D'or ice cream tub?kind of... Perfectly fine for a 15 month old.

I haven't got reins for DS yet because he doesn't seem to have figured out running quickly yet. However, when he gets too quick, I'll definitely get reins and ignore any disapproving looks. I live on a busy high street and a few months ago, as I was coming up to my front door, a little boy of a between 2.5 and 3 ran out blindly into the road in front of a car.

Thankfully, the driver saw him and stopped in time. As I was unlocking my front door, I saw his very shocked mother kneeling down talking to him on the pavement, asking why on earth he had run out into the road when he KNEW it was dangerous; he KNEW he always had to wait to hold her hand. The little boy just mumbled (he was on the edge of tears), but on the other side of the street there were some balloons outside a shop, so I suspect he got excited and ran out towards them without thinking.

I'm suspicious of anybody who claims that their toddler knows they have to hold hands to cross a road and would therefore never, ever run out into the road. Toddlers are impulsive. I'd rather not take the risk.

My DD refused to wear reins and would make her legs go limp and dangle from them in protest, so they didn't work.

If anyone had commented negatively on the reins they would have got short shrift from me I can tell you. "Better than a dead child, thanks for minding your own business in future" would have been the politest. Who gives a stuff over what other people think about reins? Some toddlers can't half run fast and could break free of your grasp in a split second, a literally fatal combination. It doesn't bear thinking about.

I use reins for DS - standard Mothercare ones. He loves it as he thinks he's running off free, DH and I love it because he isn't. (He 18 months BTW). I've never had any negative comments but lots of curious looks, people laughing, (and also photos taken) because we regularly go to Germany and they're unheard of there.

Like alot of people I used the mothercare reins. I only recieved positive comments about them. Most of these came from older people saying that it showed how much i cared for my DD. I put her in reins before she walked so that she got used to them. DH has heard so many stories of children running and having serious accidents, ie into roads etc.

Tommee Tippee Moma reins have an additional handle at the back of the neck - great for holding closer for crossing roads and for helping them climb stairs.

Also the tommee tippee ones are padded, so if the DC tries to pull away, it's not just hard webbing that might chafe.

Only comments I've had are from people asking where to buy them!

Also have Little Life backpack - not nearly so good - single point of contact, longer strap that tangles in things, was easily unfastened by our DC at 18mo.

Forgot to say... with the Tomee Tipee reins you can use them as an impromptu high chair harness - just loop the walking rein through the back of the high chair and then tie to the extra handle on the reins. So many cafés don't have straps or harnesses on their high chairs - very awkward if your DC is a climber.

I know this is an old post but it might help someone searching today. I used the diono sure steps one for my now 6 year old and for my now 3 year old twins.
I got them from Green Child Of Mine online www.greenchildofmine.com/products/diono-sure-steps-child-safety-reins-and-harness

My oldest used them and no issues but with the twins, one sat down and the other was raring to go, so they are good if you have one little one but for twins it maybe a little more difficult :)