Right the SO is pregnant so being a bit premature here but as i will be the stay at home parent and refuse to be a 2 car family hence am looking for a decent child/baby trailer, not sure how young a child/ baby you can put in one etc,so any advice is appreciated

That is very much a cultural answer. My nephew was taken on a bike at 6 wks in a papoose, from 5 months on a front mounted baby seat and from 18 months on a rear seat. Quite the norm in holland.

If the child is in a decent car type seat that supports the head and a trailer with a roll cage I see no reason why not straight away.

You will be told by folk on here that not until they are a year old though – so they are strong enough to sit up and their neck can support the weight of a helmet.

If you would have them in a car seat why not the same seat in a trailer?

good point, do trailers have mounting points for child seats?

Pretty much what Tandem J said, Chariot which are very expensive market a baby sling which they say can be used from three months. However they are so expensive now, a car seat in a cheaper brand is probably a better solution.

We have had a spokey joe [£80] trailer for 4 years, we have had it round lots of forest roads with no problems. The helmet issue was one that concerned us, as both children couldn't wear them, as the helmet pressed against the rear of the trailer forcing their heads forward. So we decided that they shouldn't wear a helmet in the trailer. Both children used the trailer from about 4 months using a car seat.

ivnickkate, how do you attach the child seat, do you just use the pre fitted seatbelts etc?

Yes, we used the pre-fitted seatbelts to hold the rear-facing car seat.

We did a lot of research into trailers and went for a burley encore trailer. It's light (10kg), can take 2 kids in case we have another one, has lots of storage behind the seats and is totally waterproof. The design is brilliant and you can get an extra wheel to turn it into a buggy (albeit a pretty wide one). It's not cheap (£350) but the quality makes it worth the money especially if it's gonna be your transport plus they hold their value well for selling on.

Our little one has been in it since 4 months, supported by an assortment of cushions and rolled up blankets although you could fit a car seat into it.

Took my youngest down the freeride area at GT in one of those baby slings from chariot at 4 weeks old. He is fine and dandy.

I opted for a hard based model, the car seat thingy strapped straight in with one extra bungy added by me to secure it. The hard base one just seemed safer all round, and brilliant for loading up with shopping too.

Linky

Goan – Member

Took my youngest down the freeride area at GT in one of those baby slings from chariot at 4 weeks old. He is fine and dandy.

why would you even contemplate that? assuming you are not making it up that (IMO) is a fookin stupid thing to do

cheers guys

Why would I even contemplate that? Because the blue freeride area is a nice smooth trail with no significant obstacles. And the Chariot trailer has suspension and me and the wife had thought it through and decided it was safe enough.

Just because it's called freeride, doesn't make it gnarly.

if you had mentioned the "blue" bit then i (and others probably) would not have thought bad of you – not a deliberate attempt to mislead and will wave of course.

What trails are there in GT freeride area? Black, Red and Blue,

Am I so much of a cock that I'd risk the health of my children? No,

Which trail am I liable to use in the freeride area when towing a trailer with kids in? Blue.

Seems to me that you are just being a dufus and looking for the worst in eveything.

Goan – did you ride the wooden chute?

No, I cut across before it. Didn't quite fancy giving the kids whiplash when they came off the bottom of it.

My yongest has been going in a trailer since she was about 2 months old using her car seat. She is no just coming up to her 3rd birthday and I still use it to take her to nursary 2 times a week. I did try a helmet on her but like above it pushed her head forward and ended up over her eyes. I came tot he conclusion that has there is a roll cage (which i have tied once, opps) that she wont hit her head in there.
We have an adventrue trailer i also have the extra rain cover (which is just like a buggy one) for it as while the cover is showerproof it will let the water through espically when touched.

so in reality..

Goan – Member

Took my youngest near the freeride area at GT in one of those baby slings from chariot at 4 weeks old. He is fine and dandy.

You Mentalist Glupton!

😆

I took my daughter for a spin round the estate when she was 6 weeks old – in a papous – she slept all the way through it…we have a Burley Solo trailer now and it's excellent (although the required circlip to fit the hitch to the QR that it snapped off is a royal PITA and still not refitted!) – only fits one child though and I don't think it would be ideal for a child seat…but we were lucky as our daughter had very good head support very early on (from day 1 as the hospital staff watched her doing stuff with her head that an older baby wasn't doing (older by 4 weeks)) so we figured that from about 5 months would be problem free – it was a year after that we finally got the trailer…really good and worth the money…only issue will be if we have another as it will only take 1 child!

GW – Yaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

All of my three children have been transported about using our Chariot trailer. They are expensive but are the best IMO. They are also multi purpose if you buy all the extras. Ours can be used as a three wheel jogging pram as well and there is also the option of fitting skis to the trailer if you want to take the children onto the piste in winter.

I started transporting them after only a few weeks in the trailer. I used a standard Chico car child seat and tied it in using the straps in the trailer. The car seat does a good job of supporting the head/neck area. But just remember that the centre of gravity is still quite high on most trailers and it doesn't take much to tip one over over uneven ground which I found out with my youngest a few years ago. Luckily she was well protected in the child seat and she seemed to actually enjoy being upside down!

We use an EBC trailer, youngest went in from about 4months using car seat/infant carrier which I secured using ratchet straps. Then progressed to both kids using it, although eldest is now getting too tall. Not used helmets as decided it was safer without. Eldest now being upgraded to a trailer-bike…

Chariot here as well. We've had our son in it from 5 months using the baby sling and he loves it. I now use it 3 days a week for the nursery run and we use it at weekends on extended rides.

Chariot are expensive but if you'll use it regularly they are worth it and they hold their value really well.

One other thing to say is that their customer service is very good. I needed an adapted arm 'socket' for my new frame and Chariot in the US adapted one for me foc!!!