Our first was in a trailer from 8 months – think the manufacturer said from 1yr as a guide? We didn’t think the standard seat gave him enough support especially when asleep, so bought a burley baby seat which was much better.

What is the obsession with people on her to get ‘babies’ on bikes FFS

Er, because people want to get out for rides with their partner but have no suitable childcare available?

Anyway, for the OP, I think that is a bit early – holding your head up whilst sat in a chair is one thing, being tossed about on a bike (even on smooth tarmac) is another thing. If the seat reclines well then it’d be ok, but it’s the head flopping forward I’d worry about.

We took our kids out in a trailer at that age but it had a really reclined sling in it which supported the head completely. And the trailer had rudimentary suspension (Chariot Cougar)

The trailer and all its gubbins will be sold in the not too distant future, incidentally…

If you’ve ever been out with a trailer, you’d be amazed at how careful drivers are around you, and how much room they give you.

Yeah they do if they see you. I find it rather strange that there are pages of people complaining about how drivers are crap and don’t look, but on a baby trailer thread suddenly everyone’s a great driver that is really careful and courteous. Lolz, quite frankly!

My eldest on his first ride, aged 13 months:

Apart from anything else, at that age they can appreciate a little what’s going on. The question “do you want to go for a bike ride?” had him grabbing his helmet and running to the door.

Yes, he could have gone on younger, but it would be no different to going in the car or pushchair.

Now he’s 5, the general excitment about cycling has continued.

🙂

Time to get his 1 year old brother on the bike now…

Again – cheers for the constructive, informative and non-swivel eyed replies folks. All greatly appreciated.

The Americans go all swivel eyed over this too..
“
We get many inquires from parents with babies aged about 6 weeks to 14 months about when it is safe to put a helmet on the child and take them for a bike ride. The question often reaches us as an inquiry on where to find an extremely small helmet.

Nobody we have met in the injury prevention field recommends taking an infant of less than 12 months in a bicycle child seat, trailer, sidecar or any other carrier. Nobody. And we do not either.
New York state law prohibits it. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission thinks it is dangerous to take a child under one year on a bicycle, and here is their rationale: Maurice Keenan, MD, from the American Academy of Pediatrics [21], requested that a minimum age of 1 year be reflected on the label for helmets intended for children under age 5. This would better convey the message that infants (children under age 1) should not be passengers on a bicycle under any circumstance.
The Commission agrees with the commenter that children under 1 year of age should not be on bicycles. Children are just learning to sit unsupported at about 9 months of age. Until this age, infants have not developed sufficient bone mass and muscle tone to enable them to sit unsupported with their backs straight. Pediatricians advise against having infants sitting in a slumped or curled position for prolonged periods. This position may even be exacerbated by the added weight of a bicycle helmet on the infant’s head. Because pediatricians recommend against having children under age 1 as passengers on bicycles, the Commission does not want the certification label to imply that children under age 1 can ride safely.

Source: 16 CFR Part 1203 Safety Standard for Bicycle Helmets; Final Rule, page 11726

That explains why you will not find a child helmet on the market sized for a tiny tot. You certainly do not want to ride with a bare-headed child, and in some places it is illegal. In fact, several states have laws against taking children under one year of age on a bicycle, even with a helmet.

Parents love their babies and love their bicycles, so it is natural to want to put the two together. That thought occurs to every bicycling parent, generally before the child is born. We see online postings by some parents who put their children in baby seats of one design or another and take them along on trailers starting as young as five weeks. Others use a baby backpack. At slightly older ages, people use front or rear-mounted child seats. A few (mostly in the UK) use sidecars. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

A disclaimer: our purpose here is to highlight the risks. We are hearing more now about undiagnosed brain injuries, with symptoms too subtle for doctors to detect in a clinical setting, but very real to families. And that comes to mind whenever someone asks us about babies and biking. We worry about your six-week-old entering the first grade six years from now with a small but detectable mental handicap. That is alarmist; this is an alarmist page!

For an official US Government view, we have excerpts from the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s age-related guidelines for ride-on toys.”

Well you could check out the professional advice about shaking small babies around. As a responsible parent who puts your children first you have done that haven’t you?

And it’d say that shaken baby syndrome is primarily caused by people shaking the baby in anger. And that:

shaken baby syndrome does not result from gentle bouncing, playful swinging or tossing the child in the air, or jogging with the child.

So if it’s okay to jog while holding a kid, chuck em in the air, or go for a rocky country walk with them in, or put them in a car being driven down a bumpy road, then it’s probably safe enough for quite young kids to go in a bike trailer too (especially one like mine where the manufacturer recommends it as being safe for babies from 12 weeks), and it’s hard to know whether playful swinging and jogging with a kid are going to be more or less bumpy than a bike seat, so the expert advice is essentially useless.

You can find a million things on the internet saying everything from that it is perfectly fine, to that if you put a kid at below pre-school age on a bike, or in a bike trailer, you are a sadistic child abuser and are risking their health, but that isn’t really expert advice.

Yay! It’s like tj never went away!

Yeah they do if they see you. I find it rather strange that there are pages of people complaining about how drivers are crap and don’t look, but on a baby trailer thread suddenly everyone’s a great driver that is really careful and courteous. Lolz, quite frankly!

That was kind of my point about how when you go out with a trailer, it appears that people actually do look, but don’t bother to do anything about you when you’re biking normally. Unless it’s the fact that the trailer is massive in comparison to a bike that makes people spot it.

So if it’s okay to jog while holding a kid, chuck em in the air, or go for a rocky country walk with them in, or put them in a car being driven down a bumpy road, then it’s probably safe enough for quite young kids to go in a bike trailer too

No, not really – our kids in the trailer, even with the suspsension and baby sling, took more punishment than we ever gaven them jogging or playing with them.

I still deemed it ok, but I went reeeeeallly slowly on anything with bumps – it’s surprising how rough fire-roads suddenly turn out to be when you’re watching a baby get chucked about.

it’s just backward nations like the netherlands that allow it then? and they don’t even let people have guns!

Pook not sure if you have seen pics of the Netherlands but unlike Scotland it is fairly flat . they also have a massive cycle friendly infrastructure and lots of smooth cycle roads . Also a massive pro cycling attitude that impacts on non cyclists behaviour.

If you had asked what way of carrying a child of 7 months on smooth cycle paths in a flat country I guess you would have got different answers.

I misread your original question as asking advise about a cycle seat to take a 7 month old on a Scottish trail centre green route . To which a number of people believe the sensible response is don’t.

I base my negative view on having used a high end seat with my somewhat sturdy son from 12 months, my partners research into the pros and cons and some regrettable knowledge of how easily babies can sustain injuries.

for what it’s worth we have the rear mounted Hymax it unweights the front end a bit and effects cornering . It has a degree of inherent suspension so is comfortable for the kid who so far never looks bored . he hates having his feet strapped in so kicks me in the bum. The cross bar mount looks like better handling but odder pedalling .

Even those sellers who advocate their child seats can be used from a young age suggest not going out for longer than the child can sit unaided.

Oh aye and TJ was a massive fan of taking your kid on a bike from birth.

I misread your original question as asking advise about a cycle seat to take a 7 month old on a Scottish trail centre green route

Easy mistake to make

Josephine has been on mine and the wife’s bikes in a rear carrier mounted seat since she was about 12 months. She loves it and it is a great thing to do with her. Great fun being out as a family and hearing her talk away. That said, I live in cycle-friendly DK and I don’t do anything rougher than gravel tracks. Bumping down a kerb is enough to get her saying ‘ow’. Stick some slicks on, buy a seat and helmet and ride the smooth stuff and it’ll be cool. Do the proper stuff when the little one is down for a nap.

Anyone know the difference between the Weeride Safe and the Weeride Kangaroo?

Cheers Neilco. I’m going to try him on a carrier if i can get hold of one and will run him round on some smooth stuff to see how he takes to it.

Kijk naar deze man met zijn gekke europese volledig stijve roekeloosheid! Bel de baby politie!

(bedankt voor de foto TJ)

Aracer – wij beide kunnen een stand hebben genomen en gekregen een beetje koppig. Ik weet dat uw commentaar zijn uitsluitend bedoeld voor het welzijn van mijn zoon, maar geloof me, ik zal nooit zijn gezondheid te riskeren. Als hij ooit keek ongemakkelijk of werd te veel beweegt in de stoel – groene trail of biljarttafel – heb ik natuurlijk stoppen. Laten we vrienden eh?

If your little un can sit up unaided, easily flip themselves over on the floor and crawl, can stand up on their feet holding onto furniture then I’d say let them ride in a bike seat. Some babies can do this at 7 months, some can’t until a year old. Your baby will love it…

I went with a bobike as they mount further forward on the stem

http://www.tredz.co.uk/.bobike-Mini-Exclusive-Front-Childseat_59346.htm

Hi Chris,

I can lend you a trailer if you like. Just bungie strap a car seat into it and you’re all set. You’ll need to pick it up from Manchester mind you or I can give it to Hora to pass on to you if you want.

Iain

Ooh that could work. Would you mind giving it to hora? I’ll be seeing him soon

http://travellingtwo.com/resources/baby-bike-tour-age

The test wasn’t intentional, TooTall, and as Madame did it why would she kick me in the plums? The baby seat offers excellent protection in a crash was the point I was trying to make.

When he was 7 I dropped the kiddiback tandem on wet cobbles in Paris. We both hopped off and carried on running. Kids have great reflexes.

Somebody else asked about not seeing the baby’s head in the pic. As I said babies fall asleep almost immediately in a seat, so once asleep we adjusted the straps, added padding and reclined him to stop his head moving around.

I reckon the reclining is key.

Laten we vrienden eh?

ja 😀

No worries.

I’ll see if I can get him to pick it up. Some additional encouragement from you might help 🙂

Sorry Chris, looks like you’ll need to pick it up from Manchester if you want it.

My son’s gone to Nursery 3 days a week and other odd weekend rides since he was 8/9 months old, he’s reclined and well strapped in, in a Croozer trailer with a baby head support.
he was sitting well holding his head and pulling himself up to sitting and standing.

yep take it easy and the roads\tracks do bounce ’em about way more than you or I notice on a bike.

he’s a year old now as of last week and he loves being in his buggy and sleeps quite comfortably a lot of the time.

your the parents you know your little one and I’m sure you’d do nothing you weren’t comfortable was ok

7 month old Cloudnine jnr had her first ride out.. and absolutely loved it. Plenty of arm flapping and squeals of approval. I could tell how much her head moved as her helmet would gently tap against the back of the seat if there was a bump. Absolutely nothing to worry about. Can see how a dropper post would be very useful though.
Oh.. and if you are looking for a tiny helmet…

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/uvex-kid-1-helmet-2013/rp-prod86343

Fastens up snugly on her head and is exceptionally light.

My 1-year old got his first trip out on saturday:

DSC_0903 by ir_bandito, on Flickr

His rather-too-serious brother (and his mum who was holding the camera) came too:

DSC_0910 by ir_bandito, on Flickr

’twas a cold wind, hence the fleecie onesie.

He loved it, Rode 3 miles to a pub for lunch, and then back. Didn’t stop jabbering on the entire way and frequently looked up at me to smile and steal a kiss when I could. 🙂

I’ve learnt by mistakes. Non-SPD shoes and dropper post make it a lot easier to start/stop on the mtb as you can’t straddle the top-tube.

Pook one thing to consider- how are you going to support his neck?/head?

For that reason I’d say no.