Double Stroller Necessary??

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2004
Double Stroller Necessary??
4
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 2:09pm

I have a son who is currently 19 months and I'm pregnant due in July. I’ve been looking into double strollers for months and come to the conclusion that it would probably be a waste of money. Any BTDT moms of two close in age, please let me know what you think, or if I’m missing something. My DD is going to be 13 years old this month, so I have no experience with two close together.
-Georgie will be almost 2 (23 months) when this baby is born. He already doesn’t like being in the stroller for very long and I don’t see it being more than a year before he’s done with it, at least unless we’re somewhere that would be too much walking for him. This is definitely our last baby so we wouldn’t use it after these two.
-95% of the time when I’m out using the stroller (mall or flea markets) either DD or DH is with me. I’m sure this will continue once I’m dealing with two little ones. We have a Graco travel system and an umbrella stroller, so as long as there are two of us, we can use both strollers when necessary.
-When shopping at Target or for groceries – Georgie can sit in the cart seat, while the infant carrier can be inside the carraige. Obviously I couldn’t do a lot of shopping this way, but I usually do large shopping trips after DH is home to watch the kids, or when DD can come along to help (in which case we can use stroller) even with just Georgie.
-If I want to take a walk around the neighborhood or something by myself, I have a Snugli carrier that I can use for the baby while using a stroller for Georgie. My carrier is a front and back carrier that works up to 26 pounds.
-I figure in a year or so, Georgie will be more cooperative about walking where we need to go and will rarely use the stroller except for long walks. At this point, we’ve considered getting him one of the backpacks with a harness, so that we can keep him from running off, but he can still walk around and explore some. He’s a real runner and loves to take off and I’d be wary of having him someplace crowded and with lots of stairs like the mall without something to keep him reined in. Especially when I won’t be able to leave the infant behind to chase him.
-Our car is definitely big enough to carry the two strollers easily (a Suburban) and if this would work, we wouldn’t need to buy anything except the backpack harness when the time comes.

Any thoughts?
Thank you.

Dorothy

Georgie 8/22/05
Steph 4/23/94
EDD (A Girl!!) 7/31/07

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-18-2007
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 2:36pm

Congratulations on your new baby girl!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2004
Fri, 04-06-2007 - 6:57pm

I can only tell you what worked for me. We have a double stroller. My kids are 3 yrs apart, and I found the double stroller indispensable. My son was also at what I thought was the tail end of his willingness to be in the stroller, but I found that once my daughter was born, and was in the stroller, my son wanted to be in it also. As my daughter became more interactive, they both were more willing to sit in the stroller as long as they were together. I also found it helpful in terms of safety because it was really hard for me to keep an eye on both kids in the parking lot or in crowded areas. I end up doing a lot without my DH (like going to the mall or the park) because he works a lot, so I rarely have another set of hands to help me. Even when I go out on playdates, etc., the other moms are dealing with their 2 children and can't help me. So, it's just a lot easier to pack both kids into the stroller and transport them to and from the car, not to mention how much cargo can fit at the bottom of the stroller (diaper bag, winter jackets, all your purchases). My youngest is almost 2, and we have used our double stroller continuously since she was born. My 5yo still sits in it, and probably will until he's too big for it.

shirley

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2006
Sat, 04-07-2007 - 8:21am

I am in almost the same position as you.



 

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2004
Sat, 04-07-2007 - 8:32am

Thank you everyone for replying. I'm still not sure whether we'll need one or not. Georgie won't sit for long in the stroller someplace like a doctors office already. If we're constantly moving he's okay, but if we stop for more than a few minutes, he's trying to climb out, so I don't tend to use it in these situations too much. His peds office is very toddler friendly so not a problem and my ob/gyn visits should cut down a lot since I won't be getting pregnant anymore, so I think the doctors visits would only come up once or twice a year (except well baby visits).

I suppose I can always wait and see what happens once the new baby is here and buy one then if needed. I won't be able to drive for a few weeks (c-section), so I'll always have help if I'm out but I can still judge how the situation would run if I were alone.

Thank you,
Dorothy

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