See if you can get one second hand, I brought mine new for £100 from mothercare and only used it for trips out, like the zoo and things, it was fabulous for those days but in day to day life my older one walked or stood on the back of my buggy on the basket with her head inbetween the hood and the handlebar of my single buggy. Or would a buggy board do?

I hated my double buggy with a vengeance (only good thing about it was that it was given to us - soon realised why they wanted rid of it!) They are awful for narrow pavements and trying to get into any shop.

I encouraged dd1 to walk everywhere from the age of 20months, I'm afraid. We had a buggy board but she didn't like it and it got put away after a month. When she was really tired she would stand in the basket, but mainly I just jollied her along til we got home.

I hated double buggy, too, but older child (I have a 23 month gap) is very uncooperative; he is now 4yo and still stops and sulks and won't walk for us. Naturally he refused to use a buggy board, too. If we drove absolutely everywhere and never walked more than 100 yards -- that's the only way we could have gotten by without a double buggy.

Am now experiencing the other extreme. The 'baby' is now 26 month old & she walks everywhere! She only consents to get in a pushchair when she's so exhausted that she's about to fall asleep. So the answer is... you have to know your own child. If you think your back will be ok for it, you could start out with baby in a carrier and pushchair for the older child.

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I had a 13 month gap and very rarley used a double. DD walked at 9 months so I got her walking everywhere by 15 months, I used a sling for DS and if DH and I went out together we took two single buggies.

Doubles weren't as trendy and light when I had my two, barely fitted on the pavement! I have seen some super ones now and I use a three wheeler double for my mindies, 11 months 19 months

My two have 2y3m between them, and ds has unusually short legs and isn't a very graceful walker. We didn't get a double buggy, we used a buggy-board instead. There have been occasions when I've been out with them on my own and wished I had a double, but generally speaking we really didn't need one. With all the modern concerns over obesity in children, we also felt that it would be good for ds to get into the habit of walking - or at least not sitting all the time.

I disagree about the usefulness of buggy-boards! I think they're excellent going on and off kerbs, and manoeuvre really well in shops. They don't reverse terribly well, though. Also, with my particular buggies (a Graco and a Maclaren) I have to stretch my arms and shorten my stride, which can be uncomfortable over a long period at speed. I don't use it on the Graco any more - ds rides on the basket frame instead.

champagnebubbles, what do you mean by walking "everywhere"? just curious, it is a 15/20min walk at a brisk adult walking pace from our house to ds's nursery - ds is 2y5m and has been walking since 12m, but i couldn't see him doing that walk. how much walking did you actually do with dd at 15m? did you use public transport a lot or were you driving mainly?

very curious, perhaps she is/was a prodigy

Is your ds a big walker? Only you will know this. If he is, then I would wait until your next comes along and see if you can borrow a buggy board for a couple of days. Some kids like them, some don't. And they are quite expensive if they are never going to be used! Just see how it goes for the first few weeks.
With me, I knew we needed a double. We have to walk the dog every day and my dd is the laziest child in the universe and will never walk. Our double converts to a single very easily so did for dd when I was pg and will be fine for ds when she finally decides she's too big for a buggy (when she's about 11 at this rate). It was £££ but I hated the original buggy we bought for her so it was worth the loot forked out. It is a FANTASTIC buggy by the way. Yet another plug for the all singing, all dancing Kiwi Explorer- YEAH!!!!!!!!
Oh, and there is 23 months between dd and ds.

DS2 was 2.3 when DS3 was born in September and the double has already been relegated to the car for days out and long shopping trips.
We use a buggy board for every day stuff.

The double was an absolute bargain so I don't mind that it's already been 'replaced'.

My DS also walked at 9 months -- doesnt mean he cooperated (and often still doesn't) about where we went outside the house, though!

Arabella - depends on your lifestyle, the state of your back, and the size of your children! My age-gap was 22 months, but my back was in a mess from pregnancy/childbirth, and ds1 was heavy for his age. I couldn't cope with a sling - which some people find an easy option. I also don't drive, but walk A LOT. So for long distances the double buggy was invaluable, but once ds1 was 26 mnths it was getting VERY heavy, and I would very rarely get it out. Having said that, for a while we were limited in how far we could go - ds1 was a good walker and would walk 2.5 miles at this age ... but VERY SLOWLY. So it's no good if you have schedules to meet and have to hurry everywhere. We didn't have a buggy board, but I like the idea.

DS2 actually was in a buggy much, much longer than ds1, because we had a long walk home from nursery (nearly a mile), and at 3 pm he was too shattered to walk. So he still had a buggy ride then until it broke just before he was 4.

bossybaubles. we did't have nursery runs to do etc. To start with, say we went to John Lewis, she'd walk around with me shopping for at least an hour, likewise Waitrose/Sainsburys, to the local post office 500 yards each way, and I'd build it up gradually.

We then started to walk to the library and the clinic, about a mile each way. I'd use the coach built pram and if she got tired on the way back I'd pop her on the pram seat. One of the reasons I had a proper pram was so I could walk everywhere.

It all came in good staed when she did the World Challenge Trek to Peru with relatively little training. Now she's a lazy tike at 17 and drives herself everywhere!

Baby in sling or front pack. Ds in single buggy until doesn't need it, then new baby in buggy. Well it's what I would do...

Opps, sorry then I read your message about the back and feel bad. Must read all posts, must read all posts...

Mine are 23 months apart and eldest will walk but gets tired and then a little jealous of Ds in buggy. I bought one second hand on ebay £35 incl postage (bargain!) and mix using it with a sling. Greatest advantage to me is from a safety point of view, safe in and around shops (or more to the point can't run away so better "shopping" experience for me) and of course busy roads. Still let eldest walk whenever poss, shes now 29mths but she has the option of getting in when tired. Some are bulky and heavy, mines a Graco side by side and is the lightest i could find to preserve my back.

thanks, champagnebubbles.

arabella2, i couldn't use a sling last time either. or more specifically, i didn't get on with a babybjorn. but there are different slings on the market - next time i plan to use a kelty kids front carrier which distributes the weight across your hips and back as well as the shoulders...

like the Kangaroo model

that might be another option for you.

I got my kiwi shipped in from from NZ but I think now there are stockists in the UK. Presume (wrongly) that you are British! Check out the thread 'double buggy or tandem' in Products - there are other threads re this fab buggy there too. If you have no luck getting one in this country, try www.winkalotts.co.nz (where I got mine) or www.babbybuggy.co.nz (the original maker of the buggy and a good site to have a look at what one looks like). Cost me £285 including shipping but then had to pay £70 VAT... Maybe they are cheaper now.