16 mth age gap - did you cope without a double buggy and if so, how?!!

[spongebrainmaternitypants]

Looking for some advice from wise mumsnetters!

I am pg with DC2, due in October, DC1 will be 16 months old.

At the moment we have a Mamas and Papas pram/pushchair and a McClaren pushchair. I had, until recently, set my heart on getting a double buggy (P&T, icandy, zoom, for example), but have recently started to think about whether I really need one. They are so expensive and sooooo huge - can I do without?

I do alot of walking - mainly into town and back which is a 3 mile round trip, but also round the local park, along the seafront, etc. So here are my otions:

• double buggy from the word go

• stick with single buggy for DC1, and carry DC2 in a sling

• DC2 in the pram and DC1 on a buggy board

Lots of my RL friends are wading in with their two penneth but they all have 2 year + age gaps and surely that makes a huge difference?

If I were to use a sling all the time what would be best? I used a babasling and babybjorn with DC1 but he was mainly in his pram, lying flat, when tiny.

And, is DC1, at 16 mths, too young for a buggy board? He's only started walking in the last couple of weeks and is a few weeks away from being a confident walker IMO. Won't he find it really tiring standing and holding on for long walks?

Any help, advice, opinions, gratefully received before I go and blow £600 on something I don't need!

TIA

Are youlikely to have a big baby?? If yes a double buggy if no I would go for a sling

The wrap slings are meant to be able to take a childs weight up to 3 years so you could swop how goes into the sling/buggy. if you google babywearing, you will find lots of good websites that explain the different types of sling and what to do with them. My DS2 was a 10 pounder, and I am already struggling with the babybjorn (he is 6 weeks)

I recently bought one of these

On special offer for £250, had tried a jane powertwin & a maclaren that were loaned by friends but did not like them. I am really pleased with it - so pleased I went out everyday in the rain last week with it instead of taking the car!

I was trying to buy a strolli rider, but the UK distributor has just gone bust and there are no retailers that have any left. It was going for £49.95 on Preciouslittleone.co.uk in May but now on ebay 2nd hand ones are going for ££60-70!!!!!!

sponge I love our Phil & Ted's, agonised over what to get for weeks and have been completely thrilled with it, it fits in our tiny kitchen and has worked for every stage so far, we are about to go the buggy board route now. It also converts really easily back and forth to single - so we could do single + sling when the baby was little very easily too, and when single converts easily from newborn lie flat to toddler sit up too if swopping children. I vastly prefer slinging to pushing in a buggy, and we now do quite a lot of sling + walk with no buggy at all. But there were times we needed the buggy from day one - you can't sling a newborn and, say, lift a toddler on and off swings with any ease - and there were days where the older one was fractious and got jealous if I was carrying baby and not him, so I would have one ready in the house if I were you.

It all depends partly on how strong you are feeling! I've got a 19 month age gap - dd1 was 2 last month and dd2 is nearly 6 months & we don't have a double buggy. I carried dd1 pretty regularly until she was 14 months or so - & she's quite a big girl, so I was reasonably confident I'd be strong enough to manage. We've got a basic single maclaren & a sling (we used a babybjorn when dd2 was tiny, now a sleepy nico where she wraps her legs around my waist). DD1 wants to walk most of the time, but I usually take the maclaren to give her the option of riding.

But it's up to you, obviously - and I can see I'm going against what everybody else on here says! I like carrying babies (dd2 had all of her daytime naps in the sling when she was tiny) & I don't like those enormous double buggies where one child is on top of the other. But I realise that lots of people couldn't manage without them.