Do you think I can do without a double?

[curiousgeorgie]

I'm expecting my second child, when he/she is born my daughter will be 2 and 2 weeks!

My DD currently doesn't walk and is 17 months. She has only just started pulling herself up.

Do you think I'll need a double?? Or is there ANY way I can do without one? Sometimes I can barely fit through shops with my buggy as it is, and I'm not sure I'll be able to fit a double that can accomodate a newborn and a toddler in my car...

I currently have a bugaboo cam.

I have children with a slightly smaller age gap than you, and I didn't use a double.
I carried DS in a sling and put DD in the pushchair.
Sometimes I would swap DS into the chair and make DD walk.
I didn't have a buggy board, but the pushchair had a bar at the back that DD could stand on when she tired if DS was in the chair. That was really useful too.

Big ask for 2 year old to walk everywhere. What if she needs sleep.

IME yes. I had a 22 month gap and used a P&T double for a couple of years.

Bear in mind that some times you will probably need to get to places in a hurry, sleep deprived, in the rain / snow / wind, near busy roads, with poorly / whingy kids and maybe carrying shopping.

With a double you can strap them in and go. And a good one will carry a lot of your clutter.

Get a second hand one if you're not sure. They're certainly useful things to have.

I have a bugaboo chameleon & whilst did use a double occasionally, I mainly used the buggy board (23 month age gap). It worked really well. I still use the buggy board now loads & never use the double at all although the age gap is bigger this time between DC2 & DC3 (2 years 7 months).

It really depends where you live and what you use a buggy for.

I had an all terrain buggy for my DDs (21 months apart) as i do A LOT of walking over hilly ground. I still use it now for the return school run and DD's are 5.3 and 3.6. We have to walk 1.25 miles uphill and the DD's just can't do it after a full school day (and a 1.25 mile walk in the morning).
Obviously some children can cope with this, but mine can't.

If it were just for pootling round the shops or a short school run then a single with a buggy board or just using a sling should suffice.

My DD1 slept in the day until well over 4 so was very useful if out for the whole day tramping around (which we used to do quite a lot)

I think it probably very much depends on what your DD is like on the streets and how much walking you plan to do.

We don't have a car and walk and bus everywhere plus DS was younger (19m) and a bolter so I needed to be able to restrain him . I found it difficult to do very much with DD in the sling (I carried DS in a sling till 18m but she just didn't get on with any I tried). I'm still using the double now 14mo in but thinking of getting a buggy board soon as DS is a bit calmer now. I'm just borrowing the double off my SIL though, I might have just suffered having a sling + pushchair if I'd had to actually fork our money for one...

I loved my bugaboo cam for my ds but when dd came along I got the Phil and teds. It's slightly more unwieldy than the bug but not wider and to be honest it's a godsend. There are just some occasions when you want them both strapped in!

When your eldest gets older its still useful to have that back seat for them to pop into if they are tired... And if not it's good for shopping

I justified it as bugs and p and ts are easily obtained second hand and hold their vaiue for selling on later..

Believe me, there will be times where you are very glad of a double - just to be able to strap your toddler in and go! There's a lot of tandem double pushchairs on the market and they aren't that much bigger than some singles. Have a look here at pushchairs like the iCandy Peach and Pear, Baby Jogger City Select, Britax B-Dual, Baby Jogger City Mini - which are really some of the smallest folding pushchairs.

I have 2.5yrs between my two DC and was in two minds about whether to get a double. In the end I bought a third-hand one from my mate for about £30. It wasn't the most manoeuvrable thing in the world, but there were times when it really came in handy.

I don't have a car and so we walk everywhere, and there were some trips that DS could not manage to walk the whole way. I did do shorter trips with single buggy and baby DD in sling for quite a while too. The great breakthrough was when DS turned 3yrs and he got a scooter for his birthday - the double didn't get much use after that!

My son is 3 and still needs to use a buggy when we are out for a while! I would say u need a double, sorry!

i'm going to have 35 months between by 2 but have bought a double (third hand P&T from a mate) as I know if we're in a rush or DD is tantrumming I'll need to be able to shove her in and run. She's a good walker but not good enough to go all the stuff I'd need without a buggy