Hello,

We have a 4 month old son and recently purchased a bike trailer. The trailer has a hammock seat so can take small babies and he sits in it in almost the same position he would in a car seat.

My question is: Should he be wearing a helmet?

My first throught is no as he can only control his own head – I can imagine the extra weight of a helmet causing him neck/back strain. It’s up to me or my wife to ride appropriately so that he isn’t going to be rattled around.

What have you done? What do you think?
Thanks!

We didn’t use one in our trailer for our daughter, but then she only started riding in it from about 1.

My feeling was that we were mainly just pootling and the trailer provided a fairly effective rollcage if the worst happened. Plus she wouldn’t have been able to sit properly with the helmet on as the back would be against the back of the seat and force her forwards.

Regardless of helmet, 4 months old seems too young to expect them to fully support their own head while being jostled about – so I’d only go with that if the seat/hammock provides adequate head/neck support.

It’s up to me or my wife to ride appropriately so that he isn’t going to be rattled around.

Yep

You have got to be doing something seriously wrong if your child needs a helmet in a trailer.

I’m in exactly the same quandry. I’d even considered removing the seat & welding in some isofix points so I can use his proper baby seat for the next few months. But then the sensible part of the brain kicked in with a “just wait, a couple of months…”

When ours were in the ‘baby’ seat in our chariot we did not use a helmet. But as they got bigger and were sitting up they did have a helmet on.

As above we only did gentle rides when they were young – gravel / forest roads.

My 2 never wore helmets in the trailer (& to be honest they don’t wear them on their bikes either). In the trailer, as Graham said, the helmets pushed their heads forward and made it uncomfortable for them to sit for any length of time.

When I used a burley ,a helmet pushed their heads forward, make sure they were strapped in secure I used a car seat until my daughter was older 1yr before she sat in the seat properly!
Rolled the trailer several times lots of giggles from daughter!

DSC00136 by Richard Munro, on Flickr

DSC00155 by Richard Munro, on Flickr

Used to put helmets on my two when we went on the road, not sure if they would have been any use if we were tail ended by the E2 bus but it didn’t seem to do them any harm. Hardly did any exclusively off road rides so this meant they almost always had their helmets on in the trailer.

Started putting our first in a Burley at 8 months, but with the baby specific seat insert and harness to give more body and head support particularly when asleep. Was not ready for a helmet until 1 plus but if I recall the trailer seat had a gap for the rear of the helmet to fit not that we used it much.

I waited till he was up and walking and wanted to go in it himself.
Had to patiently use it as a giant off road pushchair with him in his car seat until then.
Do not use helmet though unless he has his balance bike in the back and is on and off it for a rest in the trailer.
I could not stand seeing tiny kids in trailers with their heads jarring at every pothole.

I did put helmets on mine in the trailer so they’d get used to wearing helmets when having anything to do with bikes.

We both commute with our 3 year old in a burley trailer. Always strap his helmet on. Never really thought about not doing so if I’m honest. It’s perfectly comfortable for him anyway, so will probably just carry on doingit.

We didn’t when they were babies in the hammock. Just wouldn’t fit, plus they don’t make helmets small enough. We just took extreme care.

We did when they graduated to the upright seat though. Yes, the buggy has a rollcage but it’s only very light alu, and there is still plenty of opportunity for intrusions into the passenger space by rocks, tree stumps etc even in a low speed roll.

Btw we are selling our Cougar 2 if anyone is looking for one…

Btw we are selling our Cougar 2 if anyone is looking for one…

As it happens, I am. Could you email me with some details?