How old were your DC when you stopped using a buggy?

[Thistledew]

Just wondering if we should be doing more to stop using the buggy with DS, who is just about 3.5 yrs.

We live in an urban area so shops, the park etc are an easy walk away for an adult, but still seems quite far away for little legs. For example, the nearest park is about 0.8 miles away. If we are just going there then DS usually goes on his scooter- he isn't fully proficient on it yet as he hasn't quite cracked the steering. I will sometimes pull him on it if he gets tired pushing.

But we still use the buggy on our typical weekend route which involves a trip to the high street shops, then on to the park for DS to run around for about an hour, then walking home. The route is about 1.5 miles in total, plus walking around the supermarket and running in the park for DS. He will usually walk the 0.5 mile to the high street, then ride on his buggy board to the park, then either sit in the buggy or ride on the buggy board for the 0.8 miles home.

To be honest, I'm reluctant to give up the buggy entirely because it is so useful for carrying shopping! But I worry that I should be encouraging him to walk more.

3 1/2, with very occasional use if unwell

Can't really remember but at least up age 3.5 - 4 on occasion. Had to negotiate a busy road on school run and was just much safer and quicker to use buggy. Also handy for supermarket, waiting at dr surgery etc. That may have been a bit younger though.

My 3 and 5 year old love going in the double buggy still

I remember vividly being stood outside the CO-OP in August, in a t shirt and shorts with the pram and the dog, waiting for my nana, and the heavens opened and I had to wrestle with an 15 month old dd who kept screaming 'I'm a big girl, no cover' as I tried to put the rain cover on. I won. The pram was soaked though. That marked the start of the pram refusal- over winter we used it, but then we moved house when dd was 19 months old and there was no where for it. So it was folded up and put under my mums stairs just incase, but we never needed it after that.

Very occasionally all the way until 4.5 when we had a very short turn around time between an activity and picking up big sister from school (put in buggy and run).

Better to keep using a buggy occasionally and walk/scoot, than not use buggy but then drive more.

My eldest was 2 and 4 months (went on buggy board), my 2nd and 3rd were around 3 and 4 months (stopped using buggy when they started nursery).

We don't have a car and walk everywhere, which I think probably makes a difference.

DD was just over three, I think. She’d have happily carried on for longer, as she bloody loved her buggy
We used it once more when she was 4.5 and hurt her knee, she was so happy to have it back 😂

1.5- DS hates it but he's happy to walk a long way and I can carry him. Just makes popping to the shops one hundred times slower

After 3 we rarely used the buggy with our twins who were good walkers. We sold sold it when they turned 4.

Barely use a buggy but now 4yo was walking a mile by 2.5. She needs the exercise to behave.

DC2 (15 months) will be in a running buggy for a while but will start him on little walks soon. I use a sling for the school run and errands.

Dd1 was climbing into the pushchair with her sister (one behind the other) at 6

3.5 to nearly 4 with both DC. We were living in a big city, didn't have a car at all with DC1, got a car when DC2 was about one but still used public transport most of the time and walked a lot. DC2 was born not long after DC1 turned 4, so I weaned him off the buggy before that.

They both still napped after lunch until around 3.5 so a pushchair was pretty essential if we were out all day, and they were both big for their ages so way too heavy to carry by that age.

I think if you drive a lot it is very different.

Similar lifestyle to you, phased out over the summer when ds was 3.3 so it could be hidden and then come out flat and different when ds was a few weeks. Also phased it out with her over the summer, with lots of towing on a scooter and use of backpack reins, and some days taking buggy to station, attaching it to bike rack, so we could walk round Central London but then pick it up for the last walk home.

DC1 was just over 2 when her sibling was born, so walked or went on the buggy board.

DC2 was about 3.5 when he started refusing to go in it, but really only used it for speed on the school-run at that point.

Eldest 21 months. 30months

Eldest I started phasing out around 2 and a half, had pretty much stopped by 3.
Younger one was probably out of it by 2 and a half.
I lived in a city, no car, used public transport a lot - and walking, but crucially wasn't usually in a big hurry. Our station had lifts but they were always breaking down, and it was a pain to have to take a buggy on the bus too.
So circumstances rather than choice, but both DC adjusted very quickly and could happily walk for miles at a young age.

Dd liked to in it from time to time when she was around 3.5, and one day it broke when she jumped in to it! I didn't replace it. Ds is nearly 3 and doesn't really like to go in his, but I insist if it's going to save me a load of time.