2.5 year difference - can I manage without a double buggy?

[dycey]

Hoping to save money and use a combo of sling and toddler board / scooter. Ds is a pretty good walker though slow of course.

If it was a 2 year difference I would be more worried. Do you think the six months makes s difference?

---------------------

Hi,

This thread is a little old and some of the product recommendations are out of date. We recently tested the UK's top double buggies, you can read our reviews of the best double buggies here. Or, if like the OP you're considering using a sling for your LO, you might be interested in taking a look at our top slings and baby carrier reviews here.

MNHQ

I think your be fine with a buggy board or a sling, why not give it a go.
Theres 2.5 years between my brother and me and well never had buggy boards or anything then but mum used to let me sit on the front foot rest if I got tired.
If I was in your shoes I would get a buggy board.

Yes that 6 months does make a big difference.

I'd definitely go with the sling for the first while and see how you get on - you should be fine unless you are planning on walking for miles once you don't want to be carrying the baby in a sling. (I know some do until they are almost school age - I couldn't do it!).

Buggy boards are great, just check a few out and make sure you get one that's a good fit for your buggy.

If you do end up getting a double I'd get a Phil & Ted - they're great for that age gap - the eldest one normally likes the back seat and the baby then gets the comfy seat at the front.

I never had a double, my gaps are 24 months then 22 months.

We managed with buggy/buggyboard/sling/backpack.

I had monster arm muscles for a while, mind you!

I thought I would manage with a sling then a buggyboard too.

The sling was fine at first but once DC2 was in a buggy and using the board it was terrible! Fine for short journeys tbh, but I don't have a car so mostly out for a long time. I kept hitting my feet on the buggyboard and also my back ached because I was bent over more. DC1 on the buggyboard got tired standing and moaned too.

In the end my buugyboard was stloen from the garden (although DH thinks I hid it) so I found reason to buy a phil and teds. Great because DC1 goes to nursery in the mornings and when I only have 1 DC with me I unclip the second seat.

I thinks it depends on if you have a car too. I don't so sometimes out for hours with my DC on foot :)

DC2 is due in a week, and we will have a 2 year 8 month gap. We have got a buggy board, and a sling and we have the facility to have the pram either as a pram or as a buggy - not all at once but we can decide before we go out for the day if that makes sense?

DS is a pretty good walker, but we know that there will times when he will still need to be in a buggy for the next few months - not often enough to justify a double though IMO.

The gap between my dd1 and dd2 is 2.5years and I've never had a double buggy. I do use a sling pretty much all then time with dd2 though and dd1 is happy to walk quite far.

Theres only about 18 months between each of my 3. When a new baby arrived, previous baby was dumped out of the pushchair and made to walk so it could be turned back into a (baby) pram.
I suppose I was fairly lucky as we didn't have to walk far to get to shops/nursery/friends etc.

We did have a little spare pushchair if DH was coming out with us, but hardly used it.
I suppose it really depends on how far you walk. If most places are a few minutes away he should be able to walk. If it is quite a trek, get a board.

Oh and can I just add, I live in Turkey so the buggyboard offered no sun protection and also it is really hard for LO's to walk far in the heat :)

Try it - you may get on fine and you should be able to cope well enough to hold out till a double buggy arrives if its really not working.

All I'd say is make sure you get a good sling that's supportive for both you and your baby - for me, Babybjorn style things were worse than useless (lasted all of 5 minutes when DD was 4 weeks), but I was still carrying her for an hour or two without too much grief in a wrap or Mei Tai when she was 2+.

When is your baby due? I had that exact gap when DD was born last Sept. There was no way I could have managed over winter without a double - cold wet weather and dawdling toddler meant that sometimes I just had to put him in and move quickly to get us home before we froze. Also my DS still had a nap so sometimes he really needed to hop in and sleep. I could have managed with sling and buggy, but pushing a double with sleeping 2.5yo and carrying a baby up steep hills in miserable rainy weather is not much fun (I tried it once!).

I bought a P&T on eBay and reckon I can sell it on for same price or maybe only £50 less.

It might have been different if I had that gap now going into summer as I wouldn't have minded the dawdling so much in nice weather. But still, if toddler is ill or you just need to rush to an appointment then it can be really hard without having something to strap them both in to.

DS is 3 next week and the weather is getting better so we only need the double once or twice a week and I could probably now manage without. So I'm now thinking of selling our double on in a couple of months once we're done with it.

that should have said 'pushing a single with sleeping 2.5yo and carrying baby' :)

Depends how far/often you walk.

I'm going to have 2.5 gap too & am going to see how we get on with sling & then DD walking to begin with. But then I'm only going to be by myself with the two of them 2 days a week (DD in childcare 3 days a week) so really don't want to fork out for a new buggy for those 2 days!

We have a 2yr 10mo gap between ours and used sling and buggy to start with (Maclaren Techno) then got a buggy board after a few months to speed up times we were walking once baby DD was more often in the buggy. I've found the buggy board great (just got a small one, works fine). I walk to one side to avoid bumping my feet on it, a bit like doing a slightly odd scottish dance move, works fine though! However if DS isn't too well/bit ill, he does get tired even just riding on the buggy board so worth bearing that in mind. However I'd never manage them both in a double buggy, DS is really getting too big even for our buggy now (he is tall for his age). HTH.

We have a 2yr 3m age gap, with dd2 now six months. We got a double and initially it was great but now dd1 walks when we go out without dh (he just gives in and carries dd1!)

Like someone else said I think it will depend on what time of year - if its winter the last thing you want to be doing is waiting around for the older one to get on - much easier to put them in the double.

I still use it now for example of just the three of us go to the zoo. And keep it in the car along with the loola so I can choose.

I know they are not very pc but you might want to think about some reins if you don't have any. My biggest fear was dd1 bolting nr a road initially - she's a bit more sensible now, but I always have them tucked in the bottom of the loola just in case! I do remember one moment early on, can't remember exactly where we were but dd1 ran off and the loola was off on is own merry way down the hill with dd2 in it. That was when we invested in the mclaren double!

I am glad we didn't lay out on a p&t for the few times we actually use the mclaren double (sensible dh too) which we got second hand.

I'll have a 3 yr 2 mo gap and DS is a great walker in terms of endurance IYSWIM but a dawdler and inclined to run off/go where he wants rather than where we're headed. I refuse to get a double for this age gap so will attempt a combo of sling-buggy for DS when he needs to be under control and a buggy board. Bit nervous tho.

I had a 2 and a half year gap and went for a phil and teds, I knew I'd only need it for six months to a year but for that period I couldn't have managed without it. I sold it later for a good price so thats always an option. My DS was not a good walker though but it was a good to have the option of having both strapped in for shopping trips and being out and about. I tried a buggy board but found it so hard to push the buggy I gave up - esp if you have a maclaren type buggy where you want the baby lying flat it gives you horrendous backache leaning over all the way to the handlebars!

Don't have direct experience yet as DC2 due later in the year but I would urge you to think carefully about those who've told you about how very specific circumstances have affected their choice, and think about your very specific circs. For example, I have to travel up to the north-west from London if I want to see my parents and I have to do it on my own unless DH takes time off work. Driving 5 hours with stop-offs for feeding with a newborn and toddler will be impossible, so I have to think about how to do that train journey with 2 kids and a load of stuff. If I asked someone about double buggies without telling them that (and a thousand other little details about my house, distance from nursery, type of transport I'm going to be using, the list is endless) then their advice wouldn't mean much. So what I'm saying is you've got to get into the minutiae of your life in order to make your mind up. And as someone said, think about the time of year and likely weather. Also, driving lots of places won't necessarily mean no need for double buggy. I was just thinking today how if I drive DS to nursery with the baby, I obviously can't leave baby in car so will have to cope with toddler and baby in heavy car seat just to drop toddler off. So I'll have to walk and it's 20 mins without kids in tow. So another reason to get a double buggy... Sooo much to think about. Sorry, probably not very helpful...

Wow - thank you so much for all your responses. So kind!

Baby is due at the end of July. I did use a sling with my first for the first 3 months as he was far happier in it, slept or looked about. So imagine I will be okay til the autumn without a double. Though maybe my toddler will be more jealous if the baby is always on me?

We do have a car (but I am nervous driving in London so tend not to use it except for big shops or driving down the motorway).

If money was no issue I think I'd maybe opt for a double then. Just in case, as it were.

You have given me lots to think about!

Ds does occasionally love his pushchair and is very fond of it for naps so I suppose giving it to his usurping sibling is kind of tactless!

Thanks so much for your ideas. Any more comments gratefully received.

Just for info... I was in mothercare today, so thought I'd have a quick look at the double buggies just to see what they were like/how much they cost incase the walking/sling thing doesn't work out.

ALL of them (even the P&T) said they were only suitable for a child of upto 15kgs - DD is 2.5 & was 14.5kgs a couple of months ago, so it looks like the double buggy isn't going to be an option for us! I know DD is at the chunkier end of the growth charts, but she's not a complete porker so this really surprised me!

dd1 and ds1 are 23 mos apart and until ds1 was about a year i either carried him in a front or back carrier with dd1 in the 3 wheeler, or made her walk and put him in it. she would quite happily walk a mile or two by 2.5, but mostly she had the buggy and i carried him. it made me very fit!

later on i bought a double 3 wheeler (they were 12mos and 35mos approx) with bike adaptors - we were living in canada and getting a foot or two of snow, and it wasn't really fair in -20 and below to make her walk, so we bundled them both up together and zipped them in

we did the same thing when dd2 came along - she was in a front carrier for the first six months, and then transferred to a back carrier. 19 mos between ds1 and dd2.

we've never owned a 'normal' double buggy - just a 3 wheeler/ bike trailer version at a later point. (made by chariot carriers if anyone is interested )

Hi,

I would say take your little one out to the places that you would normally go to, take your normal buggy with you but don't put your son in it.

If you can cope with the buggy and your son walking/boarding at the same time then you can get a pretty good idea of what you will need.

I did this recently with my little boy who will be 2.5 at the start of July when my 2nd is born. It tunred out to be a nightmare, he will walk fine holding my hand but I would struggle to keep him entertained on a buggy board whilst in shops etc.

I have opted for a baby jogger city mini double as it was on offer at Next. I am planning to use this for my own sanity!!!

I suppose it depends on specific circumstances.

Thanks, Kerri

I had 2.3 yr age gap and didn't have a double buggy. We used a sling at the start (I borrowed a friend's BabyBjorn which we always got on fine with) and also borrowed a buggy board for a while. It seemed to work fine. Then when dd1 was about 2.5 she starting using her balance bike to get around, which helped enormously.
I think the only down side is it does make it harder to do longer trips so it does depend how much walking you do.

bessie i put my ds of over 15kg in the back of my p&t still most days, and it has not broken yet.. so i think they say 15 but realistically you can get them in when they are a bit bigger, if you need to..
although I will be kicking him out of the buggy soon as will need it for ds3

but OP i think it depends how much you walk, if you go far alot and dc is slow walker may make life easier to have a double, you can aalways sell it afterwaards to get your money back. but as others said try out taking him without a buggy for your normal journeys and see how you get on?

Such a helpful thread. Has really made me reconsider and now think I may have to get a double buggy. I suddenly realise you need to do things FAST with little babies as they need feeding or changing all the time. My toddler won't be quick enough / compliant enough without one. I do try to exercise him in the park every day and that's a good 15 minute walk in buggy. In the wind and rain both children need covering up. Etc etc

But he is just 2 and already weighs 15 kilos.

Thank you AL