[conniebonnie]

i was blabbing about how silly my mother was for saying i couldnt bike with my new babe and thenmy midwife agreed with her.
apparently im supposed to wait until the babe is a year old....
ug. this never occured to me.
we bike. EVERYWHERE. pretty much, unless its more than a half hour away. we bought our house based on its location and being able to bike everywhere.
but we are due to have a LO next month ( you know, right when it gets warm again and biking is really really nice) and suddenly its dawning on me that we cant bike with the lo- is this totally true?
couldnt i put the baby in a sling and bike with it like that?
do i really have to drive everywhere for a whole year?
couldnt i put the baby in its car seat and put its car seat in the trailer? (im really grasping straws here. )
it just seems to me like there should be another option. i mean, right now my option is i walk three miles to take the babe to the doctors.
sounds doable but probably not like something i would actually do. you know?

thoughts?
i know.

:

 

[birdie22]

I would definitely not ride while wearing the baby in a sling, at any age. Your best shot would be some kind of trailer solution, but I don't know what.

ETA: I just re-read and I see that you do have the option of driving. Honestly, I would either walk or drive until LO is old enough to bike safely.

 

[JillyD]

I wouldn't do the sling thing either - but perhaps a chariot trailer with the infant sling? That might be a good option.

 

[Malva]

You're not supposed to use a Chariot as a bike trailer with the infant sling.

It's only to be used as a stroller.

I'll be walking this summer too instead of biking while dh and the other kids will be biking as usual.

Can't take a baby in a trailer until they are big and strong enough to be able to wear a helmet comfortably while holding their head up.

 

[Materfamilias]

Nope. You really can't. Doesn't that suck? I really, really am dying to get back on the bike but I know I am going to wait until DD is at least a year, and maybe even until the horrible summer heat here has abated (like, when she's 14 months old), to put her in the trailer. It is hard to wait, though!

On having the baby in a carrier, I wouldn't -- what would happen if you fall?

 

[dollyanna]

Yep - dangerous. Really, walking isn't so bad though

It just takes longer. Invest in some good carriers & a nice stroller.

 

[pixiekisses]

Nope, you can't. The sling doesn't work because if you fall you might crush the baby, it could kill the babe. And besides, a little baby with a helmet? I don't think a baby can be comfortable in a helmet in any way. (That goes for the car seat in the trailer as well.)
So, walking, driving, taxi with a car seat or public transportation it is then.

 

[harmonyhobbit]

I tiny baby would be jostled all over the place on a bike. That kind of bouncing could cause shaken baby syndrome. We walk everywhere. It's not so bad, even here where it's super hot, humid and wet. If you have access to public transportation or a car, you're doing great!

 

[AppleBlossomBaby]

we bike alot too. and when dd was 6 months old we put her in a baby jogger bike trailor and she LOVES it. we used blakets-pillows to prop he rup if she fell asleep. but we also had a toddler in there with her-double trailor. we still use it almost daily and she is almost a year. i would not recommend it unless your baby is able to sit up on their own and has enough head control for bumps and such.

we also have a kangaroo bike seat for my baby and 3 year old...i think they both prefer the trailor. as do i.... especiall for longer trips when they often fall asleep.

 

[honeybee]

Cars have shocks. Bike trailers don't. All that jouncing would rattle baby's head around in her brain, even in a car seat if you could find a way to anchor the seat to the trailer. We always wait for a year. It does suck.

 

[vbactivist]

You could put the carseat in the trailer - my friend has done that with all 4 of her (very bright ) kids. What do people do with their babies in places that biking is the norm.. I think people are too over protective in the US. I probably wouldn't wear the baby in a sling, but I would strap the carseat in a bike trailer - and I would not worry about the helmet.

 

[Super~Single~Mama]

I'd be worried about the carseat being safely anchored in a trailer. I'm unfamiliar with bike trailers so I don't know if theres a way to do it. The difference between the trailer and the car though is that the carseat is anchored firmly and safely in the car - and has been proven to be relatively safe. Maybe you could research the safety of a carseat used in bike trailers? (there probably aren't any studies done though)

 

[demottm]

We put the bucket carseat in the bike trailer without the base and use the seatbelt to fasten it in just like a car. We did this with my first and are currently doing it with my second. It is fine.

 

[vbactivist]

http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/riding-with-baby.html

 

[tracymom1]

We waited until my son was about 7 months old and could really hold himself upright well. We bought a Co-Pilot seat for the bikes and really love it.

The sling thing sounds dangerous to me. I don't know about the carseat thing though. I think the bumps might be a little too much for a newbie to take and I would worry about how to properly secure it to the trailer. And I don't think a helmet would fit a tiny baby.

 

[haurelia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malva You're not supposed to use a Chariot as a bike trailer with the infant sling. It's only to be used as a stroller. I'll be walking this summer too instead of biking while dh and the other kids will be biking as usual. Can't take a baby in a trailer until they are big and strong enough to be able to wear a helmet comfortably while holding their head up.

Same here...we use the infant sling in our Chariot for jogging and walking, but not for biking. We're waiting until LO can sit in the seat and wear a helmet. We wouldn't bike w/out helmets, so why would we take our LO for a bike ride w/out one? JMO.
Do you have the kind of bike trailer that is also a stroller/jogger? That could be do-able for a 3 mile jaunt (if you have lots of time to get there).

 

[galincognito]

i'm with you mama! i posted recently about it in family safety: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ghlight=biking
i definitely wouldn't go the sling/pouch/carrier route; way too risky. but maybe something could be rigged up in a trailer; the carseat idea doesn't sound too horrid but still not something i'm willing to risk due to bouncing/shaking and no helmet (just my opinion).
we are stuck with no family bike rides this year

.

 

[pastrygirl]

This is a link I found when I was researching it -- my husband was hoping to use a trailer at some point, but I changed my mind after reading this. (Of course now that my son is old enough, my husband doesn't have any time!)

http://www.helmets.org/little1s.htm

 

[mckittre]

OK, so maybe I'm stupid for not getting this, but why would a sling/wrap/carrier be such a bad idea?

It seems like an adult biking at a sedate pace on normal roads has a very low risk of just falling off (as long as you don't bike when it's icy or something). It's been many years since I fell off a bike, but I remember that landing on knees and wrists is what tends to happen - not on chest or back where a baby would be secured. And I would think that the worry of jostling the baby too much would be lessened if the baby was actually strapped on - you naturally use your legs arms and body when biking as shocks to reduce the jostling to your own head. Wouldn't the baby receive some of that benefit?

In a trailer, the baby would get all the jostling the road has to offer. And on a bike, the thing I'd worry most about is a tangle with a car. I'd worry more about a car hitting a trailer (low to the ground, sticking out behind the bike, maybe less visible to a car passing from behind).

I haven't tried either one of these methods, and am not sure whether either one is safe. But I don't get why the trailer would automatically be better than carrying the baby on your body.

 

[pixiekisses]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pastrygirl This is a link I found when I was researching it -- my husband was hoping to use a trailer at some point, but I changed my mind after reading this. (Of course now that my son is old enough, my husband doesn't have any time!) http://www.helmets.org/little1s.htm

That's a great page! Thanks.