Curing the Clown Car Habit and Babies

[whatgirlsdo]

I'm new here, so pardon me if this topic has already been discussed (and please link me to that info).

How did people handle the whole transportation part of life when your child(ren) were babies? Expert advice says that biking is dangerous for children under age 1, so how did you get around safely and without becoming a car clown?

Thanks in advance!

[Mumintheburbs]

I found babies under 1 the easiest. Just popped them in the pram and walked everywhere. We were a 1car family for 18 months when my eldest was born.
Then I suddenly had three kids in under 4 years and I use the car A LOT. But in my defence most of my life takes place in bike able distance, so once I get all the girls riding safely we will be driving far less again.
I think you just need to do what you are comfortable with.

[BPA]

When the kids were babies, we took the bus.

[Mrs WW]

Walk everywhere, take the bus or train for longer trips, sooo much more convenient than packing the baby and seat in and out of the car and lugging them, diaper bags around etc. We put the baby in the bike seat at 9 months (as adviced where I live) and they have both loved it! If you have a bike trailer you can get a baby hammock for it and bike from day one. Some backfiets you can attach the car seat to on a safe way and again ride from day one.

We were informed by doctors and childrens nurses that car seats (the baby kind) are bad for the babys back development and should only be used when absolutely necessary. Those prams that are just bases that you snap a car seat on make me cringe, I cant stop thinking about the horrible postures the kids will have...

So, get out and walk wherever and whenever you can, good for you and for the baby too! Get fresh air every day, exercise and most babies sleep so well outdoors when in a pram so you can combine sleeping and errands in agreat way.

Good luck!

[Hedge_87]

Wait a minute!!! I thought you needed a giant ford excursion with armor plating and a huge 400 hp motor. Im reporting you all to child protective services!

[thepokercab]

We have two kids-  age 4 and age 1 and currently don't have a vehicle.  For the older child, either myself or the DW will ride bikes with her to school.  For the 1 year old we just have him in our stroller.  For trips to the store we just walk with the stroller, which can carry our groceries, plus i'll have on a back pack.  Same thing with trips to the library or the park. We'll also take buses, and there is a free neighborhood circulator that you can catch every hour that goes places. 

For out of town trips, or trips that aren't convenient for a bus, we'll generally rent a car either for a day, or weekend. Enterprise has had a great deal for weekends the last few months-$9.99 a day for a compact car.  One thing we've learned going carless is that we can definitely make a smaller car work (we don't need the armor plated SUV) so when we do go shopping for a car we know that we can go for something smaller sized and affordable. 

I would also agree that its much easier when the child is smaller.  Now that our daughter is 4 she's got more friends, so more parents want to do play dates, birth day parties, etc.  Our daughter wanted to go to the zoo the other day... things like that.  Not everything ends up being on a bus route.   

I've also been able to pretty much exclusively work from home (and DW is SAHM) so that helps a lot.  Although, it looks like i'm going to have to start working across town a couple of days a week, and with Kindergarten approaching, it looks like we're going to have to break down and buy some sort of vehicle.  But i've enjoyed our car free existence!  It's great not having to worry about maintenance, insurance, etc.. 

[whatgirlsdo]

Thanks for the information! I hadn't heard of the infant hammocks for trailers although it sounds like they shouldn't be used while biking.  We never purchased an infant bucket seat for her; we use convertible car seats.  Eventually, I think it would be awesome to get a Bakfiets, but we shall see what happens when #2 comes along...

[RootofGood]

Just popped them in the pram and walked everywhere.

+1, except we call it a stroller over here.  We walk all over the place.  Probably 80% of my trips are on foot.  Transit wouldn't be that bad with the kids, but everything is walkable except the Aldi's or superwalmart, so we tend to walk. 

I posted a thread a few months ago about biking with youngish kids, and no one really seemed to bike with multiple young kids when it involved major roads. 

Our daily driver for hauling our 3 kids is a 14 year old honda civic.  We drove it today for a library-grocery store trip.  3 miles total.  Part of the trip involves going through a huge urban interchange and merging over 3 lanes into 50 mph traffic.  I felt sorry for the guy walking along the side of the road (in the grass, because why would there be sidewalks there?  :) ).  We had $100 worth of groceries, so not exactly something we could carry easily anyway (champagne bottles aren't light weight, you know).

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

Yeah, walking or car is your only option at first. If conditions are not favorable for a stroller--bumpy sidewalk, crowded farmer's market, etc.--a good baby carrier is worth its weight in gold. I have a Boba 3G because I'm too short for an Ergo; a nice thing about the Boba is that you do not need an infant insert for a newborn. Another advantage of using a carrier is that you can carry an umbrella to protect both of you if it rains! Try to find as many things as possible in walking distance (playground, pediatrician, etc.) to your house. And if you have a second child, you can put the toddler in the stroller and carry baby in a carrier to avoid having to push around a double stroller. (I have one and when I need it, it's great, but it's a beast with limited cargo space.)

Despite your best efforts, you'll still drive more during those years, and that's okay. It's just how it is.

[RootofGood]

Yeah, walking or car is your only option at first. If conditions are not favorable for a stroller--bumpy sidewalk, crowded farmer's market, etc.--a good baby carrier is worth its weight in gold. I have a Boba 3G because I'm too short for an Ergo; a nice thing about the Boba is that you do not need an infant insert for a newborn. Another advantage of using a carrier is that you can carry an umbrella to protect both of you if it rains! Try to find as many things as possible in walking distance (playground, pediatrician, etc.) to your house. And if you have a second child, you can put the toddler in the stroller and carry baby in a carrier to avoid having to push around a double stroller. (I have one and when I need it, it's great, but it's a beast with limited cargo space.)

Despite your best efforts, you'll still drive more during those years, and that's okay. It's just how it is.

We have a 22 month old and I let him walk with me as much as possible.  He can do a mile or 1.5 miles pretty easy now with a quick break in the middle of the walk. 

[loki]

I'm new here, so pardon me if this topic has already been discussed (and please link me to that info).

How did people handle the whole transportation part of life when your child(ren) were babies? Expert advice says that biking is dangerous for children under age 1, so how did you get around safely and without becoming a car clown?

We keep our child home as much as possible and drive her in the car (center rear, rear facing) when we need to take her out. It's hard to go wrong if you start with the mindset of keeping your baby at home by default.

[bogart]

It's hard to go wrong if you start with the mindset of keeping your baby at home by default.

YMMV, but for me this statement is true only to the extent that I place no value on my sanity.