Has anybody used a harness or a wriststrap? Or any other ideas for keeping a buggy-fobic 15-month-old alive...

[justaphase]

My 15-month-old has only been walking for a month but loves it. He now has a major tantrum every time I try to strap him in the buggy.

I am happy to give him the freedom to practice his new skill but while he is reasonably good at holding my hand most of the time he does on occasion let go and run off - a favourite being to step off the curb and than back up again... or try to touch the cars .

Has anybody used a wriststrap or a harness? Which one is better? It is one of the things I thought I would never use but hey...

Or is there any other way to deal with this?

Have a look at one of these Urchin site
Kids Travel Accessories - Toddler Daysack
Price: £12.99 Ref: 56655

I bought one when we went to Disneyland Paris and it was fab to use in the crowds. I also use it when we go into town and dd refuses to sit in buggy. She is 2.9 months but it'd be suitable for younger children too.

It gives them the feeling of independance with all the aspects of safety too. It has secure rein plus a handle for closer security. It's useful too for putting juice and snacks in.

My 16 month old charge has been walking for 3 - 4 weeks

this week is the first week ive been letting him walk (a little bit)

he has to where reins altough i dont always hold them if he is holding my hand nicely.

i would NOT let him walk around outside without reins for a VERY long time yet!

personally i prefer reins until about 20 months / 2 years then a wrist starp for busy places until you know you can trust them

with my old charge we spent a lot of time on their yachts / but the sea / in marinas etc

there it was essential that he was on reins cause he could trip in and drown and die.... thereofre i used reins and and wrist strap (strapped on the the handle of the reins)

We used this systen until he was about 3.5

i therefor had 2 free hand to carry things (were often taking things on / off boat) and if he tripped he was attached to me and could be haled out of the deep water on his reins without actually breaking his arm or even worse the wrist end coming off of his wrist to let him drown

Just thought i'd put in an aside to those mumsnetters cringing at the sight of older children in pushchairs and on wristsraps. Please don't be so quick to judge - my very tall,'normal' looking and gorgeaus 4 yr old is either on the buggy board or a wrist strap. He is autistic with little road sense and a very unpredictable streak! I feel really sad for him that people don't just think 'each to their own' as i blithely assumed they would.
If anyone has any advice for the future I'd be grateful because my 2 yr old twins are not going to be content in a pushchair for ever and it's a 20 minute walk to school!

I'm shocked that people do have opinions about reins! It never even crossed my mind that they might be frowned upon. And I'm not sure why people would think badly of you holding on to your child? Surely it's pretty much the same as holding their hand? Clearly there's no substitute for talking to your child and helping them understand about road safety - and everything else for that matter - but just because DS can follow instructions, under pressure with a truck coming towards him, I'm not so sure how we'd both be!

As someone who has a dummy-dependent non-walking 13 month-old (I swore I'd never use a dummy - but now I don't know why you would want a teething child to continue screaming in pain - each to their own before I'm jumped on!) I'm now aware of the next thing that Mums do to each other! I guess this just never stops!

Sweets before dinner anyone?!

Eve is 2 and a half. Usuually its firm hand holding sometimes reins sometimes buggy she prefers to "Walk nicely" as she calls it just have to keeep my wits about me when she does. She knows she has to use reins or buggy when she has to, I judt di the "Walking Nicely" for V short trips

My 3.4 yr old still has reins. He refuses to hold my hand and has tantrums, I have baby no.2 on way and don't want a double buggy, so for me they are a godsend. I have friends whose children don't run off and wonder why mine does , but if he saw a cat on the other side of the road - he would be off like a shot. He absolutely hates them though and really abhors me holding on to them.

Later on in life, he may turn to crime and blame having to be on reins.....

I used a wrist strap for ds2 - up until the day he slipped it and dashed across a busy A road leaving me, ds1 and dd in a buggy on the other side . It was reins after that.

Today was a riduculous day to go to Ikea - heaving with parents & kids having been on Xmas hols too long! ds (3) got lost twice & the 1st time I was convinced he'd been snatched as he's got such a voice on him. I didn't hear him or see him although I hunted for a good 10 mins. An Ikea employee finally found him but not before I'd had some v. scary moments. I wanted to smack him but covered him with kisses instead & plonked him in a trolley, much to his outraged protests. You'd think at 3 the pushchair days would be over...