Newborn & Toddler: Tandem buggy versus Pushchair & buggyboard?

[arwen110578]

2nd DC due in April and my DD will be 2.2yo when baby arrives. Every day she is getting more and more independent and we are using stroller less and less.
Hubby and I had initially assumed that a tandem buggy would be the way to go with a toddler and newborn (side by side buggy not possible as town we live in has loads of really small shops and we have watched other people having a nightmare trying to negotiate them around the shops!).

We were going to sell our perfectly good Maxi Cosi Mura 3 and buy a tandem (prob Phil & Teds). But I am now thinking that we won't actually get much use out of the tandem and we may be better off keeping our existing pushchair and using a combination of buggy board and good baby carrier to cover various out & about scenarios.

I will be on mat leave for approx 9 months so also confused about what would be best/easiest for times I am on my own.

Does anyone have any experiences or advice about which option they used or suited them? Thanks for your help! (not sure if this was right area to post in??..)

In a similar situation to you right now. I am going to keep the newborn in a wrap until the toddler is walking happily, maybe get a buggy board for longer trips/resting depending on how his walking is when the baby gets too cumbersome to always carry.

I'm going to have the same age gap (DC2 due in a few weeks) and have bought this one - I know it's a side by side but it's really narrow; it's the same width as our Quinny Buzz!

My friend uses one which I why I chose it. It's easy to push with one child in it. I really wanted to have some way of strapping both children in and legging it

BTW there is a Pushchair topic which is worth exploring. Good luck!

I plan to do what FutureNannyOgg is doing. I feel sorry for babies in the bottom of phil and teds!

posy - I always think it looks like they are in the luggage rack

DS barely used his pushchair until he was past 6 months, and he was HUGE (over 99th centile) so I figure even if DC2 is just as gigantic, he will be 2.6 by then and fairly reliably mobile. Plus I have a much bigger range of slings now (ringslings for when wraps are too hot/fussy, woven wraps for back carrying bigger babies) so we can probably go much longer.

I have a Phil & Ted's Sport (15 month age gap though).

DS1 is 3.9 so never uses it now, but I still put the back seat in because it's very handy for all the crap stuff we carry around with us (and for putting shopping in!). It is good as a single pushchair too. Perhaps get the doubles kit, or indeed the whole thing, second hand?

Or otherwise, it sounds like a Buggy board is a better idea.

I shall ignore the luggage rack comments .

Thanks for all the replies! I think we might try the buggyboard with pushchair first and if its not working out look at changing to a double.

I love my Sit'n'Stand, these are basically pushchairs with a built in buggy board and a bench for the toddler, so if they are too tired to stand they can sit. They dont seem to have taken off in the UK yet, but you can find them on eBay/second hand.

Mine is super lightweight and small (considering its for two kids) and DS loves it as he can hop on and off when he wants.

www.amazon.com/Joovy-Caboose-Ultralight-Stroller-Blueberry/dp/B003H4QFPU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326652647&sr=8-1

I have a Bugaboo and a Maclaren, both I can/will use with a buggy board. Am more likely to use Maclaren and a sling for newborn though, is that an option?

No plans for a twin system.

Depends how far you walk on a regular basis. I have a 20min walk to pre-school and even at almost 3 I would prefer DD1 to be strapped in so we actually get there on time! They might be good walkers but only have little legs and dawdle an awful lot! We have P&T Vibe and generally love it. Got it 2nd hand.

Same age gap here. Youngest is now 9 months. We have a Bee so I got a board for it. It has worked fine for us as DD1 isn't a bolter and we're only a short walk from the shops.

However, i have now got a very old secondhand P&T for naps. DD2 will only nap in the car or a pushchair these days and I was fed up of sitting in the car when I could be doing something exciting like washing up .

Looking ahead we won't have too many regular 'long' walks and I am planning to put DD in pre school while on mat leave but it is a car drive. I def think using a carrier for newborn so DD can use pushchair if she gets tired when we are out and about should be manageable and could be a sneaky way to convince hubby we need an ergobaby thanks for the advice its really helping me look at our situation a bit clearer amongst my foggy pregnancy brain!

My initial plan was to carry DD in a sling and still use the old buggy, but she is massive and DS is still a little unpredictalbe on the roads for a board so bought a second hand tandem which is great as he can sit in it when he's tired (or stroppy).

My friend managed without a double buggy (just normal buggy with buggy board) with an 18 month gap - so it can be done with small gaps.

We will have a bigger gap (2.10) and are not planning on getting a double buggy - although if DH and I are both around we may use our spare buggy sometimes too I guess and push one each! Otherwise will be buggy board/slinging it.

Just like to add that I think it depends very much on temperaments. I needed a double buggy as somewhere to strap DC1 when we were faced with tantrums or bolting. There was no way I could have coped with carrying a kicking, screaming child as well as a sleeping baby in a sling.

If, unlike me, you have a nice, even tempered child then buggy plus sling should work just fine .

Same gap and 6 weeks in with DD.

We got a Phil and teds because DS is a bolted and the shops are just a bit too far. Plus I can use the car seat too when I don't want to haul DD in and out of the sling.

I also have a manduca sling which I use for short trips with DS in the maclaren (it's like an ergo). But DS is very heavy to push now!!!

We have an 18 month gap here and have a Baby Jogger City Select, as well as a Bugaboo.

For me a tandem was an essential as although DS is a good walker now (2.1) I don't drive, so we walk a lot and use public transport. Also he is prone to big tantrums on leaving the park etc. so it saves me having to throw a wailing child over my shoulder.

The good thing about the Select is that the rear seat is higher than the front one, so DD can see out. That said, it weighs a bloody ton, and I much prefer to use the Cameleon, but it does rely on DS behaving and therefore mainly gets used when DH is around to carry him. We have a buggy board but DS regards it with the same suspicion he reserves for the Hoover.

Meant to add, I managed with a sling for as long as possible but DD was born big, never lost an ounce and is now a 9kg whopper at 6mo so that fell by the wayside long ago!

I have a 20m age gap and have not used the double buggy since it got dark early when the clocks changed, which is when DS1 was 2.0y. Before that I used it to go to and from nursery (DS1 often walking next to it), but when it got dark our short cut through the woods was no longer possible so we have driven. I also used it for going to the shops as DS1 had wandering hands,but he is better behaved now.

As I am on maternity leave we really don't need to get anywhere particularly fast so it doesn't matter if we have dawdling (sp?). DS1 is a pretty good walker and reasonably well behaved. He has a little backpack which is reins too, which he likes, and we used that a lot in the early days, not so much now.

I got buggy board a couple of months ago, which is the other reason I haven't used the double. With hindsight I could have had it much earlier but I was convinced DS1 was too clumsy for it (he fell off 3 times the first trip we used it and not fallen off it since)

I walked for miles and miles when on maternity leave with DS1 (mostly to get him to sleep), but I don't much this time, too difficult between feeds and sleeps and meals and toddler groups etc etc.

Thanks everyone this is really helpful. Now I am just getting impatient to meet the LO!

I like the buggyboard and sling option. Those big tandem things are awkward and you end up trying to keep the older one from poking and bothering the baby a lot of the time. Toddlers need to wear themselves out running, walking or balancing anyway.

Although... pushing a buggy while at the same time carrying one in a sling can really wear you out. It's far more effort than just pushing.

I had three years between most of mine and found the older ones loved having a doll buggy of their own to push while I just carried the baby.

Ah interesting you say that Mathanxiety, DD1 received a pushchair and dolly from 'father christmas' this year. We are shamelessly pushing baby roleplay ready for April! She loves it and insisted on pushing it to the park this weekend, but she isn't great at steering yet :o

the DCs' steering was really terrible, and I spent a lot of time tugging the buggy out of bushes and pulling twigs out of the dolls' hair.

They all wanted to push the real buggy if the baby ever used it, and of course had a hard time understanding why this wasn't possible..

2 year age gap, definitely loved our phil and ted. Had to get rid of it when oldest was 4 as wouod never walk otherwise!