Wheeling with Infants/toddlers

[Pike2350]

Referring to my Making Adult Friends thread.....many here go with your family. Ehat age did you start taking your young kids?

I have a 15 month old and while I think she's gone, my wife is worried, not so much about the wheeling, but the restlessness, naps, feeding,etc of a toddler.

His old were your kids and how do you handle toddlers/infants

That's one thing that is making going with my family difficult at the moment

 

[jeeper]

At 4 months my twins were in the jeep for Easter weekend.
All my kids did really good up until about age 5, then they started to get bored while off-roading.

 

[dutchman]

At 4 months my twins were in the jeep for Easter weekend.
All my kids did really good up until about age 5, then they started to get bored while off-roading.

The "I'm bored..." has become more frequent as my daughter has gotten older.

 

[Kevin B.]

We took my youngest in the rig on camping/wheeling trips at four months. We supported his head and neck with a rolled up blanket and took it easy and he did fine.

You gotta change the expectations. There's definitely more stops for feeding and changing, and you want a big tent and comfy chairs so Mom has some where she feels good while taking care of the little one. And you're going to do everything else. But it's still fun, and I think it's great to get the kiddos out early and get them used to enjoying outdoors.

 

[N-Smooth]

We took my son on his first wheeling trip up Hanging Tree when he was 18 mos. It was probably like 6 hours in the Jeep and the only time he cried is when I took him out for the waterfall obstacle. He wanted to stay in the Jeep.

Kids fall asleep a TON during wheeling. I swear keeping their heads up is the biggest struggle lol. We've tied hoodies around the back of the seat across foreheads and that works pretty well. We also used travel pillows to go around their necks for the same purpose. It worked okay.

Now at 6 y/o he's my favorite wheeling buddy. I've taken him to EJS the last two years and he talks about it all year long.

 

[Hickey]

I wish I had video of @SoopaHick in the back seat of my first Jeep at 3 years old. His head was lolling back and forth as I drove out of the creek bottom of Cliffhanger trail on the way out. He was fast asleep while the Jeep bounced and bounced.

The first time he drove was at 4 years old at Little Moab. At 6 years old he was driving part of Rattlesnake.

 

[Medsker]

Both my daughters started around four years old. We had some really cool car seats that had five point harnesses. I'm sure all car seats do now. My one daughter started getting more frightened as she got older and quit going with us and my other fell in love with it and drove the first time at eight. She still loves going to Moab with or without me.

 

[Jinx]

All my kids started super young. Many of you have been with us on winter on the rocks/Winter 4x4 Jamboree trails with them.

Keeping their heads steady is key, when they are little. We also used to carry Wood Spring clamps(Big Clothes Pins to make sure we could keep them shaded with a blanket.

Honestly, unless you are doing something completely nuts, we preferred to keep them in the rigs for obstacles. They are safer inside where you know where they are and strapped in vs. out on the rocks where they can get squished...

We have video of my wife driving rocker knocker with my 2 year old daughter riding shotgun...

@pkrfctr is the same, his little ones have been out there with us...

 

[pkrfctr]

All my kids started super young. Many of you have been with us on winter on the rocks/Winter 4x4 Jamboree trails with them.

Keeping their heads steady is key, when they are little. We also used to carry Wood Spring clamps(Big Clothes Pins to make sure we could keep them shaded with a blanket.

Honestly, unless you are doing something completely nuts, we preferred to keep them in the rigs for obstacles. They are safer inside where you know where they are and strapped in vs. out on the rocks where they can get squished...

We have video of my wife driving rocker knocker with my 2 year old daughter riding shotgun...

@pkrfctr is the same, his little ones have been out there with us...

Yup mine have been going since they were 6 months old. I spend an absolute fortune on carseats because no Dr is going to believe shaky baby came from the jeep ride. I've flopped with my 2 yr old in the jeep which sucked but she was perfectly fine. Normally if there's a 50/50 chance of flop/roll my wife gets the kids out. This one time was a fluke. Keeping their heads secure is the only hard part. Their heads flop forward when they fall asleep once they are forward facing.

 

[pkrfctr]

Just noticed xj nate said the same thing about tiring their heads back when they fall asleep. A rolled towel works well, so do neckties across their for heads. My wife won't let me but duct tape would be perfect!

 

[kmboren]

All my kids have wheeled since young. 6 months or so usually. They Still love it and my 12 year old daughter loves it more now that she gets some seat time. My boys are like dogs. They get out and run around and come back for food and water. Then I call there names and tell them to get in the jeep. They are 10 and 7.

 

[Jinx]

All my kids have wheeled since young. 6 months or so usually. They Still love it and my 12 year old daughter loves it more now that she gets some seat time. My boys are like dogs. They get out and run around and come back for food and water. Then I call there names and tell them to get in the jeep. They are 10 and 7.

I love the comments about your boys!

We call it “easy out, easy in”.

You don’t fight me about getting in, I will let you get out every chance I get.

 

[Unimog]

Same with my 4 boys. We wheeled from a young age and they learned that they could get out when we stopped and go as far as they wanted as long as they could see and hear me to come running back when we started rolling. We also did a lot of destinations that they enjoyed (water, dinosaur tracks, caves, etc)