Babies and bike trailers

[intellectsucks]

I’m looking at buying a bicycle trailer for my 7 month old twins but some of the info I’m reading says that these trailers aren’t suitable for children under 1 year.  Is the manufacturer being overly cautious to limit liability or are babies under 1 year unsafe in them?
Also, we’re going on a vacation in Ocean City NJ in a couple of weeks and plan on riding on the boardwalk.  Would a trailer bounce too much for small babies on a boardwalk?

[schmerna]

I used the bike trailers around 5-6 months when my babies were sitting up well.  They loved it.  We mostly rode on paved roads and flat gravel paths.  Have fun!

[contra80]

Put mine in at around 7 months.  Once they develop good head control I think its fine. 

[chemistk]

I'm pretty certain it's a manufacturer CYA statement to restrict it to kids >1 year.

I would probably have put my son in one at 7 months, as he was walking at 9 so head control was super, but it's something I'd approach very cautiously.

While kids that age can support their own just fine, you have to remember that they're also going to be wearing a helmet that weighs a considerable %of their body weight at that age. All the jostling in a trailer with the extra weight might be too much for a kid that age. Also remember that they might be fine at first, but after a while they could get fatigued and start bobbling.

[GuitarStv]

The head control thing is the issue.  I rode with my son in a bike trailer at 7 months, but I did try to minimize bumpy paths.  FWIW, I did not put a helmet on my son at that time . . . holding up his own head and a heavy helmet would have been too much for him.  At about ten months he was fine to ride in the trailer with a helmet.