Baby trikes - give me your pros and cons

[Lilkat]

I've been offered a baby trike - not even sure if that's what they're called, but it's a trike with a hood and a handle so it can be pushed along as well as peddled.

We have limited space, so I'm not keen to get stuff that won't be used regularly, and I wondered if other mums have them. If you have one/tried one, how long did your baby use it, did they enjoy it, and was it practical? Most of our walks are on rough pathways/fields/gravel paths and our buggy can handle that but I'm not sure how much use a baby trike would be.

My little girl is 7 months which is another factor - by the time she could use one it's going to be winter, and I'm not sure of then typical age range.

Pros and cons appreciated!

They're hard to push, bad for your back, not comfy for child, better waiting a few months and getting a balance bike. We had one for first child, gave it away quickly. Not sure what the point of them is? Others will disagree I'm sure.

We got one second hand and used it about twice. I wouldn't bother again personally.

We got one when DS was 13 months (so 3 months ago). He's obsessed with it - wheels it toward the door every morning to tell me it's time for our walk. I think he feels more in control / upright compared to the buggy. He sees more and he likes turning the handle himself.

The only real cons are that ours doesn't fit in the car (long handle is a pain to detach) so we can really only use it near home; and the lack of storage underneath.

Also, I'm not sure how good one would be on tougher terrain - it's all smooth paths around here.

I didn’t use ours much for our first but used it loads with my second as when his brother was on his bike it meant I could push him along on a bike too rather than him being confined to the buggy. He was probably about 18 months when we used it a lot for a while until he got fast enough on his own bike

Personally we love ours. It folds up so goes in the boot of the car. Little boy loves it, it's less of a faff than our pushchair we find and he prefers it. I'm hoping he will enjoy using it to peddle himself when older. But we use it near enough every day for walks (I have a dog) and have done for a year. It isn't the best on rougher ground but it copes ok on gravel etc

We never had one. They had ride on toys at home and then bikes, but I either carried them in a sling or in the pushchair if we were on public roads or paths. But where I live there isn't really anywhere that would be suitable as we have a lot of country lanes with no pavements or paths that you'd really need an off road buggy for. My sister in law has one and says her baby loves it, but I have to say it looks like a lot of trouble. She puts it in the car to go to the park but hers doesn't fold down very much and it takes up a lot more space than the buggy.
I probably wouldn't spend money on one, but if someone is giving it to you I guess there's nothing to lose - unless storage is an issue of course.

It's great for when they're little so they are excited by being on the bike during walks. I always liked the idea of it becoming a trike but DS is now 3 and still can't pedal it as it's too heavy, so a bit useless really now. If it's free I say take it, if your buyingone I wouldn't bother

They handle like a broken shopping trolley. My niece’s trike kept veering towards the road and she kept putting her feet on the wheels instead of the footrest so kept tripping me up. I was so mad with the trike by the time we got back! I point blank refused to ever take her out on it again and we didn’t take on for our child.

A balance bike from 2 years old is a much better option IMO than a peddle trike (for the ones that concert from push along to peddle).

Thanks for all the comments! I think we'll be better off waiting until she's big enough for a proper trike and let it go to someone who might get a bit more use out of it.

I got a second hand one and to be honest I've used it about 3 times so far since having it and I find it uncomfortable to push/control. There's probably much better ones out there (higher spec) but why pay £200 pounds or more? Although I must admit my DS does like his trike, it's just not very long distance walk friendly. With the pushchair I can go miles but with the trike maybe a couple of times up down the road.

Our toddler loves it, i hate to use it! Theyre terrible designs, i keep hoping someone like Out and About who do fab offroad prams will design one

Our toddler loves theirs.
The handle is too low and it won't fit in the car but it gets used a lot for walks.
Doubt ours would go in a pushchair anymore as they like the freedom of the trike. Reduces down to a normal trike as they get bigger.
I use it for the nursery run as it's just too far for little legs to walk and feels safer near the roads.

we bought a second hand one for dd's first birthday. It's almost her second birthday now and we have literally never used it

We had one for DC’s 1 and 2 and barely used it. I just saw it as a pain in the arse.
DC3 loves it, and we now use it daily! He does the school run on it twice a day (a mile each way). He’s 17 months though.

DS loves his. It is a bit of a pain in the arse to manoeuvre, but he loves it so much I put up with it. Since he started walking he hasn’t been very keen on the pushchair - he’s a (stubborn) independent little thing so it works well as a compromise for us