BEC
A bike seat??
I want to start riding my bike with my daughter...she is 9.5 months...is she old enough? Or is should I wait? What age is ok?
Answer
At an absolute bare minimum the child has to be able to wear a bike helmet, which means their neck must be strong enough to support the weight. That happens at about 1 year of age and parents are advised to discuss it with their pediatrician -though I do not actually believe that pediatricians or family doctors have *any* training in this.
In some places (NY for example) it is the law that no child under age 1 be attached to a bike in any way.
http://www.bhsi.org/little1s.htm
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 infantâs 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 messages on the Internet indicating that some parents do 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.
At an absolute bare minimum the child has to be able to wear a bike helmet, which means their neck must be strong enough to support the weight. That happens at about 1 year of age and parents are advised to discuss it with their pediatrician -though I do not actually believe that pediatricians or family doctors have *any* training in this.
In some places (NY for example) it is the law that no child under age 1 be attached to a bike in any way.
http://www.bhsi.org/little1s.htm
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 infantâs 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 messages on the Internet indicating that some parents do 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.
At which age did you start to carry baby on your back?
LGM
My little daughter is three months, two weeks old. She can hold up her head pretty well, but can't sit yet, of course. I have an ergo-baby carrier and a sling. However, both seemed to be laid out to carry a baby her age in front, rather than on the back. At which age would it be safe for baby to be carried on my back?
Answer
I used a sling with my son, using different positions at different ages, according to what was comfortable at the time. I eventually bought a different backpack carrier when he really seemed to outgrow the sling. In our case, he was about a year old when I finally started using the backpack regularly. He was small for his age though, so that made front carrying possible for longer than most!
It depends on your carrier, but some front carriers and most back carriers recommend the baby be around 6 months old for the sake of spinal development. Slings tend to be better for young babies because they hold the babies in more natural positions. Young babies prefer to be curled up with their entire body supported, rather than stretched out or in a position with their legs dangling. Back carriers are generally better for older babies who are stable sitting on their own.
I used a sling with my son, using different positions at different ages, according to what was comfortable at the time. I eventually bought a different backpack carrier when he really seemed to outgrow the sling. In our case, he was about a year old when I finally started using the backpack regularly. He was small for his age though, so that made front carrying possible for longer than most!
It depends on your carrier, but some front carriers and most back carriers recommend the baby be around 6 months old for the sake of spinal development. Slings tend to be better for young babies because they hold the babies in more natural positions. Young babies prefer to be curled up with their entire body supported, rather than stretched out or in a position with their legs dangling. Back carriers are generally better for older babies who are stable sitting on their own.
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