14 and half months between DC (DC2 due Oct 2012) - do I REALLY need a double buggy?

[passmyglass]

They look huge and unwieldy! Can I get away without having one? Is it feasible to cope with just single pushchair (for DC1 who is very active, so I'm hoping might be very into walking by the time she is 14 and a half months) and have DC2 carried in a baby bjorn? Has anyone else done this and felt it was ok? Or am I insane to even think about going without a double buggy? Thanks in advance for all opinions!

Like any buggy, it also really depends on your circumstances as well.

Here's my advice if it's any good to you...

Sling and single - if your baby ain't too neavy and you don't have back trouble
Side by side 'high-end' buggy - if you like going on hearty walks and want to push easily and don't need to worry about shop doorways
Tandem or inline buggy - if you do need to keep nipping to the shops and don't want to run anyone down
An easily fold-downable - if you need to use public transport much
Two singles - if you and DH or Grandma or au pair or maiden aunt will be out and about with them together!
Oh - and buggy board option on single for later.

Hope this helps a bit!
Good luck.

We did sling + single buggy for a 16 month gap. Live in London and walk or public transport much of the time. But the sling wasn't a Bjorn. You can definitely do it, but you need a good sling.

But as a pp said, you can stick with sling + single and if it doesn't work buy a double later. I'd go along to your nearest sling library or sling meet www.slingmeet.co.uk and find a sling that will work for you.

I can't believ you're even considering not having a double! Unless you never use one now and always use a sling, I'd imagine you'd find it pretty difficult!

My dd started walking at 10 months and is now 17 months and a very confident walker, but also very easily distracted and I can't manage to walk anywhere that far with her, and definitely not if I'm in a rush.

Equally, with 2 children comes an awful lot of crap and it's just easier to shove it all in a big basket and off you go.

And I agree with everyone who says sometimes you just need to strap them in and go.

Get a Britax B Dual and be done with it!

BabyJogger do a fantastic double.

A good sling will be useful too. I use a ' sleepy nico' which is from 4 months-3 years and easy to use and doesn't kill your back like a BabyBjorn.

I had 14 months between my first two dc - I would definitely recommend a buggy. I had a Phil and Ted. It was brilliant i still use it now with dc2 and dc3 three years later.

I have a 14 1/2 month old. He's been walking 5-6 weeks and will walk a distance- slowly and on his terms. No road sense, straight for the curb, any 'ohee ohee's he passes (dogs and cats to you and I), wants to stop and look at/touch everything. So imo, you'll need a double buggy... :)

Haven't read all the replies, but this is the exact gap I had between DC1 & 2. DS couldnt walk until he was 16 months, so I kept him in the buggy and carried DD in a sling. That was fine and we got along great, i really couldnt be bothered with the extra hassle of a double.

Fast forward a year, and I ended up shelling out on a double anyway. For days trips with a heavy older baby and a tired toddler....it was hell we needed to be able to transport them, they both could nap and life was so much easier. Wish we had bought one from the start, although we did get along fine, looking back it would have been easier.

And after all my grumbling at the start about not wanting a big double, i bought one of the hugest on the market, it was ace! I loved it and it was a real head turner too. Couldnt recommend it highly enough:

www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10751&langId=-1&productId=102256&source=froogle&cm_mmc=Froogle--Shopping%20Sites--CPC-_-Froogle

I have a double (I have 9 month twins) and they are not as bulky as I thought it would be.

We also have the backpacks as DH and I and elder boys love walks in the country.

DTS1 is walking, No 2 shows no inclanation at all! DD is due in 15 weeks when the twins will be 13 months. I plan to use sling/double combo and backpack/double combo. I have considered buggy board or one of those bikes that attach.

I would really recommend double. I get the feeling trying to deal with children in buggy whilst others are in sling/backpack is gonna be a right royal nightmare.

Although DH and I have also discussed about getting a stroller for when we are all out together or

a triple pushchair for when it's just me

I would agree with all those saying you need a double. We bought the Easywalker Duo which though it is large has fitted (just!) through every shop doorway so far!!

We have used a combination of different things and now that DD1 is three we are often back to the single with buggyboard but the double is in regular use if we want to walk longer distances at any speed.

I'm sure you could find a good quality second hand one somewhere on 't internet.

Good luck! As someone already said on here, you've got some tough months ahead of you, but siblings close in age can become such great friends, it's a wonderful thing!!

19 months between dd1 and dd2. I didn't bother with a double buggy at first - had a single buggy that was suitable from birth, and a ring sling that could accommodate baby or toddler, and swapped them around between buggy, walking and being carried depending on who was tired/awake/in need of attention. Worked very well for about a year, by which time they were both rather heavy to sling! And dd1 was starting playgroup and I wanted to be able to get there in 15 minutes rather than 45 :-) So at that point I got a cheap side by side umbrella-fold double which was only fractionally wider than my existing single.

My twins were that age when I had dd.

I had to make do with our Nipper and buggy board when dd grew out of her sling and was too heavy.Was ok but not ideal. Nearly had a nasty accident when one of the twins fell asleep on the buggy board and slid off.

The Nipper double 360 is fab,both my dsis and best friend also have twins and had the same buggy.It was the thinnest around at the time,it glides and you can steer with one hand if needs be.

hi

i haven't got two (yet), but i got an icandy peach so that when a second arrives, we can convert it into the double. i have friends that have done the same and would really recommend - it has the massive advantage of stacking rather than being wide and unwieldy, so you can still get through doors. and i would also recommend getting one second hand from ebay - they are bloody expensive new, but are a brilliant buggy.

A friend of mine was the oldest of two, and her mum was pregnant by the my friend was three months old. Her grandparents were going to buy them a pram for their first one, and her dad was too embarassed to say that his wife was pregnant again. So they got a single buggy. My friend was kicked out the pram as soon as she could walk. She can remember being incredibly resentful of her little brother, this lasted more or less throughout their childhood. She seems to think that it is to do with being kicked out the pram. Something to consider?

Seriously though I would not want to be dealing with a just walking toddler and a newborn, with all the sleepless nights this entails and not have a double pram. Why make it difficult for yourself?

We have 20 months between DD1 and DD2. DD1 walked at 10 months so was walking very well at 20 months. BUT a double buggy would have been a necessity if I had them on my own more often. I work full time so DD1 carried on going to nursery while I was on materity leave. We tried not getting another buggy, but when we went on holiday we finally purchased another single one.

DD2 is now 13 months and walking resonably but there is no way I would take her out yet without a buggy.

NO you do not really need a double buggy. I had 15 months between my first two, and my first did not even do his first steps of walking until the week before I gave birth to the second. I managed fine. I did get a buggy board, and used this a bit on the back of my normal maclaran umbrulla buggy. I can't use slings due to back issues, but never really needed it.

I found that I was only doing limited trips out when they were small, and as they got older the older dc1 was getting better at walking.

As soon as dc2 was walking, they took turns in the double buggy or buggy board or walking with wrist straps, as needed.

I would only consider a double buggy an essential if twins, or you are doing tons of walking when they are both still small.

The thing is how much walking are you going to do?

We have always walked a lot,no way could a 15 month old do some of the walks I used to do 2 or 3 times a day.

Also we were told in the baby shop buggy boards for the under 2s aren't safe. They didn't want to sell said board to me but could see I was kind of stuffed.

have you considered one of these?

www.buggypod.com/

I am going to have a gap of just under 2 years when my DC comes along in Sep and I am thinking about these... I have read mixed reviews, but its got to be better than a buggy board, and its way cheaper and slimmer than a double! My DD (currently 17 months) likes to walk a lot already but she still needs naps sometimes when we are out and about.

This might be the answer for you too? :)

Short answer? Yes, IMO. Our Phil & Teds inline is great. Really wish I'd just bought it rather than our original mammoth Silver Cross for DC1 which is now festering in the attic. We now use the P&T as a single buggy, with extra room for shopping!!

Sorry, but yes! 20 month gap here. I had hoped to use a single and buggyboard but DS1 was too young to reliably stay on the buggyboard! Unless you really don't go far, then you need a double. I lived in central London at the time and had one of those with one seat in front of the other IYSWIM, so it wasn't any wider than a normal buggy. Much easier to manage. I think it was a mothercare one, the back seat folded down flat for the baby and DS1 loved being the "driver" in the front