2.6 year gap - do I need a double buggy or not?

[Gateau]

DC2 is due in October when DS will be 2.6. Ds is a great walker now but also likes to be carried - which I can't do much when six months pregnant and certainly won't be able to do with another baby! So our only solution is to put him in his buggy - but this isn't very often. The buggy does come in handy though, and is sometimes good for afternoon naps (he no longer has a nap at home - it's either in the car or in his buggy).
Am just wondering if we really need a double buggy, or would a buggy board do the job? 2.6 just seems very young to never be in a buggy again.
Any advice?

I think a buggy board would be enough. There are ones that have seats now too.
Not sure where you are but if you have to take public trans at all, double buggies are a nightmare.

I had a 2.8 gap and a double buggy which I barely used. To be honest I think it does depend on alot of things - how much walking you do, how often you use the car, and how good at walking DS is. A baby sling is useful in teh early months, then you can carry the baby, whilst toddler goes in the buggy. I found the double useful for shopping but that was about it.

here's one with a seat.

www.preciouslittleone.com/acatalog/LTS2GHH.html

Buggy board is fine for shopping trips etc. Assuming that you have a dp the buy one of those lightweight umbrella-fold buggies for long days out. It can be folded up underneath the baby's pushchair until ds1 needs it.

I have an 18 month gap so bought a tandem buggy and they're a nightmare.

liking that seat thing myself. I have ds 2 who has just started walking -20 months and ds 3 -12 days. I am going to use a combination of wrap sling and carricot/pushchair.

I would say not. I have a 15 month gap and had one intitally, but it was never used after ds reached about 2. He loved the buggy board - gave him more freedom. I liked it too as it was much easier to get into places. However, a word of warning - if you are tall, they are not at all good for backs!

I think another consideration, well it is for us, is whether your dc actually sleeps in the pushchair - ds 2 doesn't and never has so we're trying to do without a double as by next year he shouldn't be using a pushchair and we don't want to be stuck with a large double. We bought the icandy which converst into a double and then converts back to a single though we haven't bought the conversion kit yet.

That looks excellent,Hollybunda; thanks.
And fortyplus, where can you get one of those lightweight umbrella-fold buggies? Have never heard of those but they sound great!
Thanks everyone for your comments; I don't think I'll bother with a double buggy then.

We're going to have exactly the same age gap when DC2 arrives in September. We've decided against a double, even though DD uses the pram fairly often now. We'll use a Moby sling for the baby and try and get DD more used to walking. We do already have a lightweight 'holiday buggy' should we want to use 2 for days out. Liking the look of those buggy boards though.

We will have the same gap at the beginning of November and are getting one.

I initially thought I'd manage with a buggy board. But then I found out that a buggy board doesn't fit with my Quinny Buzz plus carrycot or rear-facing. So that was out.

I looked into those seats that attach on the side and found mixed reviews. Cargirl also linked me to a lovely looking contraption that is a bike seat attached to the back of the buggy and I thought my problem was solved.

But then someone very sensibly pointed out the time of year. When it's chucking it down with rain or snow, and/or freezing cold, DS1 may well be more likely to want to snuggle in a buggy under a cosytoes and a raincover rather than be exposed to the elements.

So I think we're going to get a Phil and Teds, which can be converted back to a single buggy for DS2 easily. Resale value on ebay is great, so if we sell our Buzz and carrycot, buy a Phil and Teds, then sell that once we're finished with it, the overall cost to us should be minimal and it will give us the option of having both in a buggy without taking up loads of room.

Gateau - you know - they're dirt cheap. You can get them in Argos etc like this: they call them strollers now

I had a buggy board which DD2 could sit on and I really did not like it. They stick out quite far and I was forever banging my toes on it! In the end I went for a phil and ted - it is not really like having a double and much easier than trying to get the older one to walk.

Flowerybeanbag, you could have a point there re the winter and shivering on a buggy board.
Confused now; I think the best thing to do is just wait and see how things pan out when DC2 comes along. I can't see me venturing out with two - without help - for the first few weeks anyway.

strollers are great. We get ours in America. they are a bit bigger here, but they fold down really small and are lightweight.

But surely you won't be walking far in bad weather anyway if you have a car?

I would definitely wait until DC2 comes along. We have a 2.5 year gap and although DS is good at walking, he likes to amble along at his own pace, stopping to examine every single thing on the pavement! So if we need to get anywhere on time he has to go in the buggy for some of the way, especially as we walk quite a lot - he definitely couldn't manage to walk the 40 mins into town and back.

However our double buggy is so heavy once the both of them are in it, along with changing bag, etc and I hate pushing it anywhere so I've found I'm tending to walk less anyway!

So if you can get by without one once your DC2 comes along I'd try to do that.

we had a buggy board, same age gap, baby born end of august so did winter, it's brilliant. you just adjust your walking style a wee bit while using it.

i bet we live further north than you... when was the last time you actually shivered? that's what children have coats for.

also, remember you can use a sling for the first few months (maybe easier on the elder child than chucking them out of the buggy straightaway?) so they can both be happily snuggled in for a while yet.

we don't use the board so often now, as dd1 walks most places, but sometiems she sits on the footplate area of the buggy with dd2 if she's exhausted. she's old enough to hold on tight. if you go abroad you see kids jammed into flattened buggies all the time, i personally think we're a bit precious here.

finally. do not underestimate your desire to tire the elder child out. holding on and standing up on a buggy board is tiring, certainly more so than snoozing in a seat.

i bought a double buggy (24 months apart) but used it once. dd1 looked ridiculous in it. i owned it for a week and then sold it. ds1 was in a sling and then a backpack until dd1 was able to reliably walk everywhere.

lol at you lot and the cold though - ds1 was born in january in canada.

interestingly - we did buy a double cycle trailer when they both old enough to walk lol.

have never owned a buggy board - not practical in the snow.

when dd2 was born (19 month gap) we did the same thing - she was in a sling and then backpack until ds1 had been evicted from the pushchair.

yes I'm sure both Scotland and Canada would beat the East of England in a 'where does it get the coldest' competition. And yes, we do know what coats are for down here as well.

I'm sure it would be perfectly possible to tog DS1 up in coats, scarves, hats, mittens etc when it's cold, and in waterproofs when it's chucking it down with rain all the time during winter. But just because it's possible doesn't mean you ought to do it if it would be easier not to! We decided we rather have the option not to have to do that.

OP you need to think about your own lifestyle really. We do go most places in the car, but if we go shopping to our nearest big town, for example, we could easily be out for 3 hours. It gets bitingly cold where we are and rains a lot and that was also a factor in our decision, as was the fact that a buggy board wouldn't work so it would need to be a bike seat thingy which had mixed reviews. We definitely didn't want a big double buggy that we'd be stuck with if DS decided he wanted to walk a lot of the time, or that we'd have trouble getting through doors, so for us I think a Phil and Teds will do the trick because we can convert it to a single very soon if we need to, or keep it as a double for longer.

If you can wait and see that might be the best option I agree.

wheeeeee... there they go...

lol beanbag, it wasn't a competition, or in any designed designed to belittle your comments. it just made me laugh. the cold/ weather wasn't something i considered, which is probably why it did make me laugh tbh - largely at myself for not taking the cold into consideration in the whole 'double buggy' conundrum, given our circumstances...

but hey ho. just sharing my experience and presenting another option.

twas fine. we made a decision and bought a double buggy. it was the wrong decision, so we sold the double and got on with what worked for us. (sling under one of dh's coats - plenty of room and snuggly buggly. in spring we bought a backpack with a sun and rain visor. twas fine.)

no decision is final, OP. if you think you need a double buggy, buy one. if it turns out you don't, sell it.

or, don't buy one, and when you decide you do need one, buy one.

i love that people have such strong ideas about buggies, but we are all different, as are our lifestyles.

lol, in any way designed (just the once)

There is 21 months between my 2 ds's and we managed with a buggy board quite happily most of the time.

I was offered a tandem buggy and tried it for a few weeks but it was so cumbersome.

DS1 was a great walker and would quite happily stand on the bugy board. they are a bit of a pain to push and as the child gets older they get harder but it worked for us.

It just depends on your older child, how they walk and what you want really. My 2 are 5 and 7 now so the option of a P&T style buggy wasn't there at the time. I may have gone for one of them if they had been available.

nearly 7

DD was 2.4 when DS born 11 weeks ago. I decided against a double buggy and just went for a buggy board which is great. She walks most of the time and jumps on the board when her legs get tired and I think she quite likes the fact that she is a big girl and not in the pram.

The only downside is as you say - naps. Its only if we are on a day out somewhere when I think it would be handy for DD to nap in a pram.