Double Strollers??

[mommybritt]

Hi all,
I'm so glad this forum exists! My MIL is desperate to buy us a double stroller for our babies but I'm not sure that we'll use one. Has anyone found them useful??

With dd, we never used a stroller, she was a total sling baby and then she just walked everywhere when she got old enough. If we were just having one new baby, I wouldn't even consider a stroller, I'd just sling the new babe but with two...I don't know. I know it's possible to wear two but is it possible to wear two and keep up with a 3 year old? I just can't figure out the logistics

Any help would be appreciated!

[amnesiac]

I had one & used it A LOT. Without it I would have had a very difficult time-- with both the boys plus all our junk plus if I was going out to actually buy something. And when they get bigger it becomes harder to wear both at the same time. I imagine Lex might have a hard time as she posted in the other thread that her 6 mo old boys are about 20 pounds each!

Even if you don't think you'd use it I suppose it wouldn't hurt to let her get one just to warm her insides!

[Amandzia]

I didn't know I'd use one, but my parents got us a side by side model and I don't know what I'd do without it! It's especially great now that the girls are 2 and quite heavy. I used to do the backpack and sling thing but some days the stroller for grocery shopping. My stroller has huge understorage space and I can do pretty big grocery shopping using it instead of a cart. The girls like looking around and I enjoy them not running around or sitting in a possibly dirty cart. It's nice for long walks too. We also have a tiny single stroller we use sometimes for one and the other rides on me. I can't balance with wearing both babies very well anymore.
Front/back strollers are easier to get through doorways, (we got one at a garage sale), but whoever sits in back tends to poke at the one in front which causes a lot of crying. Most places accomodate wheelchairs so a side by side stroller will fit.
I'm sure other parents have different experiences, but that's mine.

[charmarty]

I would vote get the stroller.
We didnt use ours alot,but let me tell you there were times I was very thankful we had one!
I would never be without my slings though!Happened once where I forgot them and had no stroller.Boy was I sorry!
I didnt have slings when my two were newborn (found out about them when babies were 1 year old)
Good luck!

[mom3]

If you think you can get her to spring for it, look into the Peg Perego Duette model. It isn't cheap but I think it's the best double stroller out there. You can turn the seats so that they face each other and the babies can play, plus it has a large basket. You can really load it down without it tipping over too. I seem to use it a lot for packages in one seat and a child in the other. Since my boys are 16 mos now I don't wear both of them at the same time very much and I like the fact that they can face me or the direction we are going.

[gcopeley]

Even though I wore my 1st child all the time now that my twins are 9 months old I do use a stroller quite often. I would say you should choose depending on your lifestyle and what is important to you. I have both a back to back stroller that worked great for when they were little and in adverse weather conditions. I still use it when I need to go shopping and go to the library. Even if you choose to carry them most of the time it can get to be a bit much when you have to carry anything else. What I really wouldn't be without though is my side by side double jogger. It allows you to go many places that I would wear my son to (the beach, wooded trails, fields). They really are amazing and my almost 4 yr year fit very comfortabley in it so I can wear a babe and go for a long walk with all 3 children. They are very expnsive but so worth the money!

[gcopeley]

Even though I wore my 1st child all the time now that my twins are 9 months old I do use a stroller quite often. I would say you should choose depending on your lifestyle and what is important to you. I have a back to back stroller that worked great for when they were little and in adverse weather conditions. I still use it when I need to go shopping and go to the library. Even if you choose to carry them most of the time it can get to be a bit much when you have to carry anything else. What I really wouldn't be without though is my side by side double jogger. It allows you to go many places that I would wear my son to (the beach, wooded trails, fields). They really are amazing and my almost 4 yr year fit very comfortabley in it so I can wear a babe and go for a long fast walk with all 3 children. They are very expnsive but so worth the money!

[Dodo]

Mama of a singleton budding in to say...

Since you're a stroller newbie living in Ottawa, be sure to choose a model with big, sturdy, snow-worthy wheels. A double jogging stroller might be your only all-season option.

Dodo, whose stroller and its wimpy wheels have to be retired as soon it snows

[lexbeach]

At first I thought I wouldn't need a twin stroller. . .

Now we have FIVE of them. :LOL

Two are jogging strollers, one for dp's height (she's short), one for my height (I'm tall).
One is the Maclaren side-by-side umbrella style
One is an old model of the graco duoglider (front to back)
One is the Inglesina Duette (seats can face front, back, each other, or go side-by-sde).

All of these strollers were gifts, or we probably wouldn't have any .
We use the joggers for jogging or rollerblading or going up the mountain.
Everything else we use the Inglesina for. It is FABULOUS. The seats FULLY recline (as in lie flat), and I love how the babies can face each other. It has big all-terrain wheels. It fits into stores surprisingly well (much better than the maclaren anyway).

I didn't use any stroller until my babies were almost 5 months old. At first I double-slung them because I wanted to. Then I tried to put them in a stroller when they were about 2 months old, and they hated it. It was very hard to have them not like the stroller, especially once they were really too big to be double-slung (which happened very fast, maybe around 3 months). I would wear one in a baby bjorn, and one in the baby backpack (even though they say not to use the backpacks until your babies are six months old, my guys did great in it at 3 months). But I felt like I was going crazy. It was such a relief to have them finally enjoy the stroller at five months.

It's funny, because before my babies were born I was so determined to just carry them as much as possible, and try not to change the way I parented them just because they were twins. Well, I'm glad I carried them so much, but I really wish I had put them in a stroller sooner. I know some babies are born not liking strollers, but I think there's a chance my guys would have liked them sooner if I tried to put them in one sooner. I became a much happier mama once my babies would go in a stroller, and I was really mobile.

Congrats on your two little beans!

Lex

ETA: I am able to double-sling my babies now, though (even though they are 20 pounds each ). I just couldn't do it for a couple of months while they were too big for the cradle-hold, and too small for the hip-carry. I don't double-sling them often, but probably once every couple of days for a half hour or so while doing errands.

[Cakes]

I use a Graco side by side and take it everywhere. I load and unload it from my van all day long. It weighs about 13 lbs. I would not be caught without it. I use it to go grocery shopping, playground, pick up my older daughter from school........... My twins have no problems looking out at the world next to each other. It has a basket underneath and I use the shade thingees to hold sippy cups and snacks. It is the same width as a wheel chair so it fits thru 99% of the doorways here in CA. We've had a variity of strollers and I always go back to my Graco side by side. Check out strollers.com for a good deal and great selection.
Happy hunting.
Juliannne

PS my babies are 2yo and I've used the stroller
since they were about 6 months

[mommybritt]

Thanks for all the replies! My MIL sent us the money last week so we decided to go for it and bought a Peg Perego Duette I'm still hoping to sling them as much as possible, especially in the first 3-6 months but I can see the need for a stroller. I'm finding it's hard to think about changing any aspect of my parenting style -even just a bit - just because it's twins