Two year age gap - did you use a double buggy?

[BroccoliSpears]

Did you really NEED it?

Anyone manage without?

I already had one but I did use it, my friend has tried but given in after 10 weeks as struggling without. They are strapped in, safe when you're out and about shopping and the like and you can keep them warm and dry when it's freezing cold or raining. Also allows you to get quickly from A to B.

I have a 20 month age gap and was given an old double buggy 'just in case'
I use a sling a lot and thought I would never need it so bought a shiny new single buggy but thank god I have it, it goes everywhere with me!
In the park when DD1 is running around and DD2 is sleeping I can't run after her with DD2 in a sling, but also if DD2 is asleep in teh buggy and DD1 is tired and doesn't want to walk I can't swap them over without putting the baby on teh ground....
The main question is is your odler child old enough for a buggy board? DD1 just jumps off and legs it so until she is old enough to stay I need the double

HTH

Yes I did. I managed with a simgle and a sling for a while, but it was such a struggle with shopping and stuff that I bit the bullet and bought a double. It chnaged my life. We used it probably a maximum of 6-9 months then changed to a buggy board so I advise you to buy secondhand if you can.

no i had a triple buggy AKA a pavement clearer

It depends on the child. When ds was born dd was 2 and i did buy a double buggy but sold it a month later she ws a great walker but an obedient one as well iyswim she didn't run off. Ds is now just two and I have a baby on the way in the next 3 weeks and although he's a very competent walker he likes to run off and go the opposite way to me and if I don't buy a double I know school runs will be a nightmare!

I would recommend a decent 2nd hand over new as well. I loved my P&T but having tried an out & about nipper 360 it is much lighter for putting in the car and more shopping space and not much wider.

My childminder uses one for her DD (3) and my DS (13 months)

I'm due my second in just over a month and DS will be 2 years 4 months. I've had to get a double buggy... theres no way on earth he would walk nicely or stay on a buggy board! Its not that he CANT walk far or that he doesnt WANT to walk, its just that he has a mad compulsion to run away from me at all times even if we are somewhere very fun and interesting like a soft play place, if someone were to leave the door open to the very boring car park he'd be off like a shot... weirdo lol

Used one for a while, mainly because
1 Both my DC are big and heavy (both 98th centile weight and height), so the toddler in buggy/newborn in sling thing was too much for my back as both buggy and sling were v. heavy
2 In the winter it was useful being able to keep the older DC warm and dry in the buggy at times
3 Wanted to have the option for crowd control - if toddler kicked off in shops etc

As it was, we used it for about 8 months - not long, but I was very glad to have had it. We bought new so that we could have what we wanted (twin Nipper, fab machine) and looked after it well, then sold it.
I predict you'll have a real split in responses, 'oh no, no need' and 'oh absolutely my nearly 4 year old sometimes needs to go in the buggy' but ultimately it's about your toddler - how he/she is out and about, how strong your back is, and how much 'out-and-abouting' is involved.

VW - love your name! Why didn't I think of it?!

OOH I was going to get a P&T but like the sound of the twin nipper as well and it's cheaper. How much wider is it and I don't drive would it be as handy as a P&T on the bus?

I didn't need a double buggy. Sometimes ds went in the buggy and dd in the sling. Depends how far you walk I suppose, whether you will need one or not.

DS1 was 30 months when DS2 was born - we had already given up taking the buggy with us on shorter outings (walking to and from nursery 1 mile) So we decided not to get one and we got a lascal buggy board.

HOWEVER if DS2 had been born 6 months earlier we wouldn't have been able to cope without a double buggy.

Had a 2yr and 6 week gap and didn't bother - used a buggy board instead. But don't tend to walk for miles tbh - most trips involve car to a car park somewhere and then walking from there. Buggy board worked fine.

23 month age gap here, and yes, we have a double. I did consider making do with a sling and a single, but it would have been nigh impossible to collect DD1 from school in the rain
Maybe if I drove I could have coped, but as things are I need the double

wanna buy mine? Its FAB

here tis

I have a P&T and a dbl maclaren
Maclaren we only use for airports & holidays

P&T we use every day, baby is now 9mths & we will probably still be using it for another year

30 months between mine, and I did, just for a few months. dd1 was a really late walker, and we just couldn't have got through that winter without it.

Astrophe what's it like on the bus?

25 months between mine. Used sling & single buggy for the first 3 months, then (after much humming and hawing) purchased second-hand P&T. Which was/is fab. But I personally think sling & single was just as easy in the early days

norkmaiden - why thank you! Irony is that I have oft admired your name!!!! I've worked my way through loads of v. boring names, but feel that I've settled into VW, IYSWIM. I was really pleasantly surprised that no-one had already nabbed it, TBH......

Sorry, hijack over.
Oh, and I hate the P & T - to be fair, never had one, but have seen loads and always feel sorry for the baby stuck in claustrophobia land at exhaust fumes level, plus my DC wouldn't have fitted in it for long, plus last week I saw a young mum sprint across the road with one and she accidentally kicked the newborn!!!

22 months between DD's - didn't buy a double buggie. Wish I had!

22 months age gap and yes I used a double buggy. It was a mothercare, working fantastically

As a Childminder I usually use my double with that age group, if we have to go very far, even if they can walk ok, if in a town I use it for safety more than anything else, I have one of these as long as you dont need to put it in a ar al the time (the wheels do come off tho) I have found its the best I have the back part lies almost flat for a baby, it is a 'tall' buggy tho, but I am only 5'2'' and manage. it

26 month gap here

have managed without, but i do have help, so if we head out on foot we often take 2 prams

ds1 likes the buggy board for short trips