Tuesday, May 27

Bike riding for babies

Okay, so I just read this article on riding bikes with your baby. I am kinda concerned. They don't even make helmets that size for a reason. Erin's head circumference is 16.5 inches and they really don't come smaller than 18 in. I don't know if we should continue to ride with her. Keri, does Corgan wear a helmet? Where did you get it? We do have a bike trailer that has NEVER tipped while riding with us. Maybe we should just keep her in there until she is big enough to wear a helmet.

4 comments:

Keri Donald said...

This is the helmet that Corgan has: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JINKVE

He has a big noggin and it just barely fits him tightly (meaning he's on the small end of it, not that his head is too big). That said, he does NOT like to wear it. As soon as it goes on his head he screams. For that reason, I leave him at home when I can. Sometimes he does okay, but not always.

I did a bit of research on riding with him just now, and think that some of the things that I read are going overboard. Yes, you definitely want to be EXTRA EXTRA careful, but you have to take your own situations into account. If you looked, I bet you could find an alarmist case against leaving your house with a child under 1. Nothing is ever completely safe, but you do what you can. One of the things that I read was that if your baby falls asleep in the carrier you have to stop riding immediately and wait for them to wake up. My carrier has a reclining option just for that reason. Also, I have a hard time believing that the 8oz helmet is that much of a strain on his neck. I always ride with him in the back seat because it has a place for him to rest his head too, whereas the front mounted seat does not.

The same alarmist article says of front mounted carriers: "The front mounted ones let you look at the child while riding, and let you fall on the child when you crash." I don't think it would be possible to fall on "the child" in the front unless I was flipping over the front wheel... and even then I'd probably fall out of the seat first. No more chance of falling on the child in the front than in the back.

The many outrageous statements that I read make me not take the alarmist article seriously. Yes, I definitely want to keep my children as safe as possible (I even wear a helmet myself so that if something were to happen I would still be okay too and able to assist them), but I believe that I can do that by being responsible during the said "dangerous" activity.

Keri Donald said...

One more thing...

I DEFINITELY would NOT ride with the kids if they didn't have fitting helmets. Florida law actually requires that any children under 16 have a helmet on, but I would do it anyway.

Keri Donald said...

Me again... :)

Read this article: http://www.ibike.org/education/infant.htm.

It definitely seems to be more realistic. It says that the strength of the child's neck and how long he/she has been holding up his/her head on his/her own determine when he/she is ready to ride on the bike.

Angelle said...

Yeah,, I agree with the holding the head up thing. I think Erin has been holding up her head FOREVER. She is probably pretty strong. But I won't be able to get her a helmet until she is at least 48 cm and she is only 43 now. So I guess we will stick with the bike trailer.