What kind of age do kids often stop using a buggy?

[PainAuChocowhat]

Caveat up front: I know all children are different and there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach but some anecdotal guidance would be much appreciated!

Being a relatively clueless first-timer, I realised I have no idea when my 18 month old DC will, to a certain extent, grow out of using her buggy.

We’ve just bought a lightweight option to cart around London (well, around the ‘burbs anyway cos, covid) and my thoughts have turned to buying a footmuff mainly because the buggy says it will do her til she’s around 4.

However DH reckons she’ll be mostly done with it by the time next winter is over so we should just use blankets & clothing to keep her warm in the meantime.

She’s robustly built, has been a confident walker since 16 months and no additional needs identified.

Depends on your mode of transport. I've known people who drive everywhere do away with them at 2, and other families where it was when the child started school because of lots of walking and/or not having a car, so it depends a lot. Also whether there are any SENDs or physical reasons why the child struggles more with walking/running off

I live in a big city and we walk everywhere so still use the buggy for most nursery runs and DS is 2.5. I also have to do stuff like schlepping all the shopping home and I can't do that with DS walking.

If we go on holiday and we're driving, we barely ever use it. We just drive where we're going and DS walks when we're there.

Just turned 3 year old still uses buggy. Mainly for nursery run though she'll sometimes ask to walk home.
When out and about with her gran she uses her buggy as gran doesn't drive and it's easier for both of them.
If we go anywhere in the car we don't take the buggy.

DD is still in love with the chair at 2.5, and I prefer her to be in it if we have to round shops or similar (she won't go in a trolley seat at the mo...). She does look tall in it though and she definitely isn't a tall child!

We haven't used a footmuff with her since last winter as her shoes just made it disgusting very quickly so she just has clothes that are suitable for as if she wasn't in the pushchair. There's always a cheap blanket at hand too but generally don't use it as her clothes do the job!

Barely touched it after age 2 and if she doesn't go in it's for 5 mins till she's then arsing at round with the straps etc.

Depends how much you need to walk and how fast you walk when you're running errands. I kept it until mine were 4.5.

I found that when my daughter was about 2.5-3 she got quite tall and would annoyingly start to drag her feet on the floor when I pushed or would suddenly want to get out and walk, then I'd be left pushing the empty buggy without a free hand to control her. At that point I had to bite the bullet, ditch it and walk everywhere allowing extra time for dawdling.

You might want to hang onto a lightweight umbrella fold one though if you're planning to go on holiday or abroad. They are handy if you're out late and need a snooze or it's too hot/they're too tired to walk.

I used mine until dd was 4. We don't have a car.

With my eldest we used it less frequently after age 2, and stopped completely at age 3. The main reason we needed it between ages 2-3 was because she still needed a nap in the day, so if we were out for the day we would take a pushchair so she could nap.

With my youngest he was in a pushchair till age 4.5 but he has SN.

My 2.5 year old shows no sign of giving up the buggy yet. She's small for her age and isn't much of a mover, despite much encouragement and opportunities.

It really isn't just for my convenience - she's getting too heavy for me to carry and we'd end up driving everywhere if we didn't use a buggy. There is no way on god's green earth that my toddler could walk a mile or 2, as suggested by a pp.

Reading some of these replies - wow, my DD is 22m and I'm nowhere near ready to drop the pram! She walks as much as possible but sometimes I just want to stick her in the pram because I don't want to stop and look at every bit of gravel or stick or bit of rubbish in her path for 20 minutes, and it's great for controlling her around the shops or else she'd be elbow deep in the chocolate aisle. Can see this being our last year with it though.

Around 2.5 - 3.5 but it depends on your lifestyle if you have a car, how far you walk, how heavy they are to carry (mine was huge!) etc

We went to the IoW and took the buggy for a nearly 3 year old but that was an exception

Personal experience is that if you’re a family who go most places by car, they drop it sooner. If you’re a family who mainly walk and use public transport, you’ll probably need it for longer. DC1 was well over three before he stopped using it. DC2 is almost two and I suspect he’ll drop it earlier as he is such a confident walker but I can’t imagine us being without one this time next year.

Just past 3 years.

He didn’t walk until 22 months and we don’t have a car so they were factors in it. Hasn’t had a long term impact he is 7 now and will happily walk an 8 mile round trip.

Surely it depends how much you drive?

2 or 3. When mine were all little I couldn't drive so walked long distances so needed the buggy for those long walks.

My eldest started refusing the pushchair at 18 months and it was fully gone by 2.

My youngest is almost 16 months and not walking yet, so I think she will be in a pushchair much longer.

I also don't drive, but we managed fine without the pushchair, she didn't want to go in it, so she had to walk!

I stopped using it for shorter walks when she was 2, for longer walks she was a few months after her 3rd birthday. I think it does depend on the distances, I don’t drive so there was a lot of walking and a 30 minute walk for me pushing a buggy is definitely not a 30 minute walk with a footloose 3 year old, especially the return leg 😅

Surely it depends how much you drive?

Nope.

It depends on the child.

Some toddlers can walk miles others can't.

We walk and use public transport more because it entertains DD and more importantly gets her tired.

I use to drive to a particular large supermarket to get stuff. Then I realised if I walked the scenic route to the supermarket DD would be tired out. Then she decided she could walk and scoot the 6 mile round trip which is up hill for a mile in both directions.

She isn't unusual as one of my nephews and another child I babysat for at the same ages could walk the same distance. Funny thing is like DD they all had a sibling who wouldn't walk anywhere at the same age.

Eldest continued to use it until after 3, she didn't have the inclination to walk long distances and we didn't make her because we had to take buggy for younger one so was easier to just take the double than deal with the tantrums if her sibling got to sit and she didn't.

Youngest stopped just after 2. More of a keen walker and we were also keen to get rid of it sooner because didn't want to lug it around. Saying that we do still take it on long days out, partly to give a rest when tired (dc2 is 3) and partly because we can store all our junk on it!

I don’t drive so ds age 3 still uses the buggy quite frequently. Because it takes us ages to get pretty much everywhere he’s reluctant to walk. It’s a 30 minute walk to the nearest train and bus station at toddler pace. Dp drives and we don’t really use it when we go out anywhere with the car. We probably did until he was around 2 years 9 months though (he’s a tantrumer). I’m trying to get him to walk more as I’m exhausted by pushing the damn thing everywhere. I imagine he’ll probably be using it for the next year or so for longer days out (with no car).

We stopped at 1 and 2.5. All kids are different

I still use it relatively often for just turned 4yo. When we're running late, we quite often have to sprint a couple of miles to nursery and there's no way DC can go as fast as we need without the buggy. Also, I take the buggy if we're doing a big shop (I don't really drive) so we can stash the shopping under/in it. We often go for days out in central London and can easily walk 5 miles or more along the river or through a park (and we normally stop at a playground or two) so I usually take a small folding buggy. On a good day, my DC will manage most of it but I really dislike being stuck in a deserted corner of the park or a street far from the tube when it's going dark with all our stuff and a 4yo who has worn themselves out and can't walk any further. I have back problems which make carrying DC on my shoulders for any distance quite painful.

We probably get a lot of judgement as DC is very tall and looks older but I don't care. What we do works for us and we have great days out a long way from home. If we were just walking to the corner shop and back or if we drove everywhere, we wouldn't need the buggy.

At one? really? Swapping to using a sling doesn't count.