How to transport two 10 month olds in and out of car for short trips?

Hi,
They don't walk yet but are getting too big for their infant car seats. So we need to get the bigger carseats. I can't help but wonder, how am I going to get them in and out of the car when I take them and pick them up for daycare? Or anywhere? I'm not strong enough to carry the both of them.

What do you do??

Thanks in advance.

maksbabies

 

Here's what I did for daycare (after much deliberation):

Get a cheap single umbrella stroller (~$15 at Target) and keep it in the car. When I arrive, set up stroller on the sidewalk. Get the baby from the street side, carry her around, and buckle her into the stroller. Then get the other one out and carry her on my hip while pushing stroller with one hand.

Obviously this only works if there are no stairs. If there are stairs, you can use a Bjorn or other front carrier:

Get first baby out and buckle into Bjorn. Lean carefully into car, get second baby out, and carry her on hip.

I did it both ways, depending on whether I'd forgotten to put either the stroller or the Bjorn in the car that morning, but I preferred the stroller. We didn't use the Bjorn much normally, so it always felt awkward to me.

For other places (the library, the mall, people's houses, etc.) I would use a double umbrella stroller. It was easier than carrying one and pushing the single stroller with one hand, plus it offered extra storage space.

Good luck -- you will figure it out!

 

You might also ask if there is someone at the daycare that you can call and have them meet you at the car. My provider comes out and helps me carry one of the boys in. She also helps me load them into the car. Now when I have to run into the store right now I just put them in the double stroller, I'm going to get a more lightweight one now though that they are out of their infant car seats. I can still carry both at the same time, but it's not easy and getting harder. When I leave for work and my daughters aren't there to help me carry them out my MIL sits with one while I load the other in the car, run up and get the other and load him. I'm getting a workout, but so far that is the best that I can do.

 

GREAT question!! I can't wait to read the answers, as I'm considering preschool for my oldest and the preschool I'd like to have him attend has a very awkward entrance. It's a pretty good hike to the classroom and completely out of sight from the parking lot so I have no choice but to drag those blasted car seats out of the van. This is going to sound awful, but (especially in the winter) 2 hrs of preschool hardly seems worth it for all of the prep, hauling in, hauling out involved. I feel so lazy saying that.

This is a really interesting thought. Thanks for the idea! It's definitely worth asking about.

Eve

 

I do this now - drag the seats out when I take my 4yr old to preschool. I've gotten pretty 'talented' at carrying them on one arm so i can open doors etc. The other thing tho, many of the mums will carry one seat in for me when I go - there is always another mum arriving at the same time, and being small town we tend to know each other. They have also volunteered to help carry the duo in when they are out of the buckets.

So - is there someone else who drops their children off at the same time - someone with a toddler who only needs a hand to be held? Could you arrange that as a 2nd hand if the Bjorn/stroller suggestion doesn't work? I know that our local daycare can't spare the staff to come out to the cars to help - they are maxed with their children/provider ratio.

 

Good question, ugh the things that we have to figure out! I was going to say the umbrella stroller too. Everyone else had such great ideas. Or maybe one of those plastic wagons that way they can both either sit or (if its safer) lay down. Hopefully there's no stairs or at least wheelchair access. Good luck, let us know what you decide and what works!! It will be interesting for all of us! (Oh and man I still knock their darn little heads together when I try to carry them at the same time I feel soo bad so I never do it haha!)

 

That's why I am a big fan of double umbrella strollers! I can't carry my two and they don't listen well enough to not be carried in parking lots and such at this point so if we go on any kind of errand they are in the double umbrella that is really easy to fold and unfold and simple to get them in and out of. I am lucky that my daycare is a home one and it is a driveway we are navigating in that situation rather than a parking lot or a hike!

 

Preschool is a bit of a hike for us across the parking lot so I use a double umbrella stroller - jeep wrangler.

 

oooh i have done this!!!!

 

haha, I was wondering about this for the gym! My boys just switched to convertible carseats and I have the same dilemma!

 

I wish this post would have been posted about 6 months ago LOL! We have 11 month old twins and a 2-1/2 year old toddler and live in Minnesota so lots of snow right now and COLD!!! What we did when it was nice outside (i.e. no snow) was we used our double Peg Perego click-in infant seat and would click the car seats in first then get our toddler out and either hold her hand or carry her on one hip to the front door. Once we were in, we were fine. Welllll, now that we have snow and the babies are WAY heavier and the stoller isn't great in snow, we have had to compromise. Luckily, the infant room is in the front, not sure if that is a license thing or just by design, but we call ahead of time when we are about 30 seconds to 1 minute ahead and the infant teachers meet us at the emergency door, which is right where the room is in. We park right in front of the door and bring one car seat to the door, go back to the car (5 feet away) and get the other seat and then get our toddler and bring her through the front door to the toddler room. We do the reverse during pickup (get pack up the twins in the carseats then get our toddler in the car first then go out front and get carseat one and then carseat two from the "side door". We LOVE our daycare center. If it weren't for them helping us out, our pickups and dropoffs would be stressful.

 

I put one in a sling and carry the other on my hip. Or I just bring in the double stroller.

 

I use my semi of a double stroller for longer trips. For short ones I bjorn one and put the other in a $15 umbrella stroller I got from Target...as PP mentioned. It feels so crappy to push but I am not spending more money on a nice double umbrella when I already have another tandema and a BOB. Jeez...we should all be in the stroller business.