In anticipation for biking with an infant - I wanted to share a few thoughts.
There has been a lot of talk on G&B about biking while pregnant lately, and so far everybody has been playing nice. There are occasional comments from others, about us pregnant ladies being careful and not overexerting ourselves when we're not feeling up to the task, but otherwise, biking while pregnant seems like business as usual to those of us who do it.
I would like to add that it would appear that naysayers should be mindful that most of us pregnant ladies don't seem to seek strenuous physical activity when we're not feeling well. It doesn't seem logical to need to be reminded not to... you know... do something that makes you hurt or feel ill.
This brings me to my gripe with biking with infants. We cycling moms seem to put on a smiley face and sort of avoid the topic because it brings forth all these opinions and possible judgment. But, the fact remains that most of the moms I know, even the ones who cycle, just sort of accept that you can't easily bike with an infant. We go on walks (oftentimes just to walk, not as transportation) or we wait until there is somebody else around so we can run away for a quick ride before we have to be back and nurse the infant. Doesn't sound easy and liberating, huh? Well, if you're used to biking almost everywhere - it isn't!
I'm not talking about cycling with a 1 yr old (which seems to be the general recommendation from trailer manufacturers and helmet companies). I'm talking about infants. I've seen it done in other countries before, where putting a baby in a front mounted basket is no big thing, but riding around with an infant isn't really a socially accepted activity here in North America.
Alright, so I understand that an infant is certainly not strong enough to sit upright and their necks are really wobbly. I'm not advocating for anybody to go out there and shake their baby through the power of pot holes and off-road racing. However, securing your baby's car seat in some sort of towing device, on a familiar residential route with little traffic, shouldn't be the end of the world. Obviously there are many variables to consider, such as the condition of the pavement, how fast you're riding, the experience of the rider, etc. I just think it feels rather limiting as a cyclist to be restricted from one of the ways I get around. The only reason I survive is because I live so very close to the train, and will have twice had the luxury of giving birth in time for summer. This all makes being a transit-oriented pedestrian much friendlier.
I've seen some cycling mamas and papas out there who are back on the bike with their infants as soon as possible, but it's still the sort of thing that appears to be for "alternative" people. My point is simply this: It doesn't seem very fair that a new parent's mobility is limited to such an extent when you use cycling as transportation. If we follow the logic laid out to us by helmet companies and child-cargo manufacturers, then, if you cycle and you happen to have a baby... you're not allowed to bike again for about a year.
This line of reasoning doesn't just strike me as odd. It makes me angry!
It seems to support the notion that having a baby is somehow an illness of sorts, or a burden. I am happy to make accommodations for a little one in the family. I don't think that has to mean we can't even go see mama's friend for lunch or get some groceries sans car. Having a baby shouldn't have to mean having a sedentary lifestyle, even if it's temporary.
So I don't have some sort of ultimate solution here. I'm not saying helmets have to be made for babies that are 4 weeks old. I'm not saying that all new moms should get back in the saddle and pedal around 100% of the time. I'm just saying I wish there were more options and more tolerance for those of us who don't like to think of having a baby as automatically having a ball and chain to one's car.
21 comments:
this is a great post, I've often wondered whether people get fired up about this issue, a lot of people in Oz just seem to accept it, but I wouldn't want to! :P
John Allen's excellent bike blog had an article about this recently:
http://john-s-allen.com/blog/?p=4032
I recently saw a cool bike here in Germany that with a special rack over the front wheel, but low down. It had a child car seat strapped to it. (photo at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3179713334746.153077.1323045537&type=1&l=0d0efb7bb4)
So this is definitely a market that is getting attention. It might take a few more years of general cycle awareness before good solutions become widely accepted, though.
Absolutely agree!
However, there is a solution.
Bakfiets!
Mount your car seat in the bottom of the cargo box with the infant facing you and voila!, you suddenly have a very comfortable and very safe place for your little peanut to ride in. You see this all the time in Europe and to my mind is a great option for getting back to a normal lifestyle sooner.
The most affordable bakfiets start around $2500 which seems like a lot of money until you start factoring in the cost of vehicle ownership. Or compare a bakfiets to a kid trailer, some of which are over $1000!
And there is nothing more addorable on the roads than a mom cycling with her kids!
Biking with babies just makes people uncomfortable in the US. I think it's because of our hypersensitivity about babies. There are so many things to debate (formula v. breast; daycare v. stay at home; bpa free, etc etc). So, the idea of biking freaks people out because the baby isn't strapped into a "protective car".
We walk more than bike now that I'm pregnant and a little clumsy, and even we are getting the "when will you break down and get a car?" routine. The thought of us just pushing a stroller and/or biking makes people uneasy. We are car-free and happy, yet no one believes us. The latest battle is how we will get the baby home from the hospital....the hospital that is LITERALLY 2 blocks away. We have a stroller (with bassinet) and we plan to walk like most of our friends did.
I think you're right. It takes the industry (bike makers in this case) to change the mindset of what is normal. But, U.S. consumers have to be more accepting of each others way of life and start looking at alternative modes of transportation more. Until then, I'm a little worried about the judgement we will face when we start biking with baby (we've already gotten some from certain people for having a bike trailer on our registry!).
Great blog. It gets interesting as your child grows up. Especially, taking them to school. Most parents will drive their kids to school. A few parents discovered cargo bikes or electrified cargo bikes for taking their kids to school. I am one of them because I just couldn't stand the stop and go traffic to drop off my son in front of the school. And I wanted to get my morning bike ride at the same time. For several years, we glide on by everybody stuck in their cars and onto the school gate with VIP parking near the bicycle racks within the school grounds.
I don't have a baby. But my husband and I probably will within a year or two. I just started biking for transportation in Seattle last year (got tired of the bus, driving makes no sense for my commute) and every time we think about / talk about kids I fear giving up the bike.
Why can't we just do this? http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/58250000/jpg/_58250886_pram1920s_getty.jpg
I hear you! Biking with an infant is a perfectly safe and reasonable way of getting around. I would also argue that, depending on your bike set up, its a smoother ride than some jogger strollers I've seen, and certainly not as jarring as being strapped to your parent in a sling or other type of carrier as they carry the groceries! Maybe thats just me. :)
My husband and I have hashed this out plenty with both of our kids and used sources like Totcycle and your blog (thanks btw!) for ideas on how to get around. We even wrote to the NYT ethicist to see if we were being unethical to our kids by schlepping them around on a bike! (this was after some comments made by fellow moms to me on risking my kids safety,etc) Turns out the ethicist is an avid cyclist and biked with his kids all over NYC, so his response (a little biased?!) was completely in our favor. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/magazine/12FOB-Ethicist-t.html
I really liked his counter points on the risks of NOT biking your kids around, i.e what it teaches them, and the health and environmental impacts.
This is a very frustrating issue and I fully support a more open conversation on it. Good topic!
I totally agree! Thanks for this great post, it's great to know that others are out there grappling with these same issues. I am 4 1/2 months pregnant and live in Washington D.C. which has become a great bike-friendly place and it's one of our main forms of transport. One of the first things that my husband and I looked into after finding out that I was pregnant was a bakfiet bike. We had specifically planned on getting a bike that would accomodate an infant carrier so that we could bike when our baby was little. However, due to comments from our family and friends I had started thinking that biking with a baby under 1 would make us bad parents that strapping a baby into a car was somehow a safer option. Then last weekend, we saw a couple who had thier little one in an infant carrier biking around town in a bakfiet and it made me realize that it was possible to incorporate a baby into our biking lifestyle.
"I wish there were more options and more tolerance for those of us who don't like to think of having a baby as automatically having a ball and chain to one's car."
Amen to that! I bet it's really hard to do your thang when others scrutinize. But my two cents is that haters are always going to hate.
Some North Americans can be really closed-minded to biking/walking, but I've been around the world too and see that our cities/communities have been really backwards about more sustainable transportation, unfortunately! I take off my hat to your outreach and spreading the good message that biking should not be centered around fear.
Your comment about jostling newborns a bit while riding reminds me of when I went for a walk with my friend's 7-week old twins. They especially loved it when I pushed the stroller over bumpy sidewalks!! My friend said they'll cry if the ride is too smooth :P
Pssh, people forget that our world didn't always have cars, and that we had to transport our children by foot/on our backs/in bumpy wagons. They're pretty resilient! I mean, look at Dexter now :)
Sending support from CA!
I got your back. I love that the selling point for the Sorte was that there was a hook up for a carseat. It ALMOST made me want to have another to try it out. But THAT would be crazy. Not the biking- just having a third kid in our family!
Go girl. I wish I had had you as a mama to inspire me when I was a new mom. Lord knows my husband and bike shop owner friend pretty much talked me out of biking with kids. ( they shut down the co pilot seat ASAP and bike owner friend gave me a trailer which for me was useless- as trailer for me back then meant bike trail and I had no way to get to a trail... so it went unused....)
xo
and I hate the be careful- don't do that comments.
while being pregnant or otherwise. At 39 I think I know how to live my life.
Have you seen the Popscylce? Obviously the set up isn't for biking with an infant, but this post brought it to mind. Maybe next summer? :)
http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2009/05/popscycle.html
Thanks for the series about biking while pregnant. Yeah biking mamas!
Thanks for the post. I wouldn't mind a few pointers about cycling with an infant! I'm expecting a baby this summer and I am really curious about how to make it work. Is that a car seat in the Madson above? How do you strap it in? I would appreciate any practical advice. Thanks.
You rock Miss Sarah. Did you get all that anger off your chest? Feel better now? And remember, you are the Momma and only you know what's best for your pregnancy and the early months of your child's life. The rest of them can stick it in their ear!
Now I feel better too.
PS. I'm so excited for you that number two is on it's way.
I cycled all through my pregnancy including the day I gave birth. As I didn't have any health complications I was back on my bike after a week to run short errands and at 6 weeks I put my daughter on a Dutch bike that converts into a pram called the Taga (www.tagabikes.com.au).
She sits in a Maxi Cosi baby capsule, doesn't need a helmet (no one makes them that small anyway) and loves the bike - calmly watching the world go by or having a snooze. Buying the bike instead of a car has been the best decision for our family - we have saved money on fuel, registration, parking etc, I have been able to exercise regularly while doing everyday errands like grocery shopping and I can get further than if I was on public transport. Plus I don't think my sanity would have survived a year without cycling!
We get a lot of curious looks as the concept of cycling with an infant is still unusual in Australia - but we wouldn't have it any other way.
Hope you find a transport solution that works for you!
Joyce
In Vienna, Austria I've seen bikes that are basically baby carriages, only with a pedaling contraptions attached behind. Baby-specific cargo bikes. Women certainly carry infants in those things, just as they would in a regular baby carriage. The baby is lying down and they are simply riding with it as opposed to walking.
I live in Seattle (not entirely bike friendly, yet) and expecting my first child in June. When we found out baby is coming, I immediately started thinking about how I was going to continue riding, throughout and after. My answer? A pregnancy-friendly bike. My midwife said, "Don't give up on your riding, it's good exercise for both you and baby. If you're getting a new bike, just make sure it has room for a growing belly." LOL My husband didn't even question it. "You want a bike you'll be comfortable putting our kid on? - Sure, whatever." So next week I'm (finally, been wanting one for years!) getting a Workcycles Oma. I thought I'd get one of those silly "Baby On Board" signs and hang it from the saddle loops. Just for laughs of course ; )
I figure, people always judge. I don't have to let that stop me from doing what I love.
Heyyyyyyyyy piano teacher; i can't quite make out the plate # on that honda. WOW!!! u used a lot of vowels today!
Unfortunately, everything you said is right on the money. Figuring out how to bike with my little guy has felt like such an uphill battle, and I feel like I'm missing a major part of my life.
We weren't ready to invest in a cargo bike, especially without being able to test drive various models, so we went with a [Chariot] trailer with the baby supporter insert. We waited until just shy of 6 months for his inaugural ride.
So far, that's been it, because our bike storage is in the basement, and we have to mostly disassemble the trailer in order to get it down there. Getting everything set up to ride while juggling a baby is just too much of a hassle. A garage is on the top of our list of features for a new apartment/house rental.
Great post... In Toronto a helmet is not mandatory for infants or children riding in a cargo bike or on any child seat on a bicycle... With that said i'd still get an earful from parents if they saw my kids without one...
Just wanted to note that while cargo bikes seem to be relatively common in Holland and Denmark, they are definitely not so here in Germany. The traditional way of riding with kids has always been the strapped-on chld seat, mounted either on front or in back (or both). Child trailers are becoming extremely popular as well here, and you can buy special padded inserts to hold a baby from age 3 months to 12. There doesn't seem to be agreement on riding with children younger than that. I think the popularity of trailers is that they can be used for longer excursions than just a few km for errands. You see parents with them out in the countryside all the time. Trail-a-bikes are big too. But in the 7 months I've lived here, I've not seen a single cargo bike that could be or was used to carry kids. Just so people realize that using one is not 'European', it's mostly Dutch.
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