Thread: four wheel drive baby

When Little Scouse was younger, he was in a convertible seat/capsule & that was used in our P38 & RR Classic. His first trip would have been at around 7 weeks old.
He's been along on a few, actually lots of 4x4 trips but obviously nothing that I would consider extreme although I have managed to get myself stuck (as usual).

At around 1yr, the capsule was turned around into the forward/sitting position so he can now see the trouble we head to .

The only problems have been him getting covered in dust & head movement when he was very little. There are a few different types of head padding available for capsules though so one of those fixed the 2nd problem.

He's just turned 2 now & still likes going on trips. It was actually easier when he was a baby though as he can get into more strife these days .

I have a 20month old boy. We didnt take him on any trips that involved head movement, either from vehicle swaying or corrugations/rough terrain. It is recommended that children under 12months are not exposed to this kind of activity, so we took precautions and waitied until he was over 1yr.

I know its something you dont wanna hear, but at the end of the day would you take the risk?

Originally Posted by stooge

I have a 20month old boy. We didnt take him on any trips that involved head movement, either from vehicle swaying or corrugations/rough terrain. It is recommended that children under 12months are not exposed to this kind of activity, so we took precautions and waitied until he was over 1yr.

I know its something you dont wanna hear, but at the end of the day would you take the risk?

Bollocks Stooge. We did the Gibb River Road at its worst, with friends who had a 6 week old baby. She's 9 now. Nothing happened to her at all, sept maybe she's a little slow and her teeth haven't come through yet

We have a 3 week old in a convertible car seat like Scouse described.
However I wouldn't want to take him on a 4wd type trip for quite a while.
Normal camping sure but wouldn't do any real off road stuff.
The seat is in my wife's Corolla so he hasn't even been in the Landy yet.

You wouldn't get far anyway. It is all 'feed, change nappy, settle, sleep, repeat' every few hours.
Never mind all the crap you need to take with you when you go anywhere.

Seriously you won't have the time or inclination to go away on a trip like that for a while anyway.

form about 5 months old we were back on the road, a convertible seat/capsule is brilliant, but stops are often. at 18 months he was in a kiddy seat, loves the land-rover because he can see so much more.
personally i wouldn't be to keen until baby can hold there own head, then i would say no problem, but just keep away from the really hard tracks.

All of our kids have been 4wding and camping from a very young age, my (now) 21yo daughter was away with us for 5 weeks, when she was 6 months old, crossing the Simpson.

If you take reasonable care and use a bit of sense then I can't see there being any problems.

As for

You wouldn't get far anyway. It is all 'feed, change nappy, settle, sleep, repeat' every few hours.
Never mind all the crap you need to take with you when you go anywhere.

all it means is that you travel a bit slower, stop more often and take your time to smell the roses. If you want to travel with bub - put your mind to it and away you go.


Martyn

Originally Posted by Bushie

All of our kids have been 4wding and camping from a very young age, my (now) 21yo daughter was away with us for 5 weeks, when she was 6 months old, crossing the Simpson.

If you take reasonable care and use a bit of sense then I can't see there being any problems.

As for
all it means is that you travel a bit slower, stop more often and take your time to smell the roses. If you want to travel with bub - put your mind to it and away you go.


Martyn

Touring is different to 4wding in my mind. Even if you need 4wd for the touring. I'm picturing 4wd parks and state forests etc.

JFDI.

Both my kids were offroad by 4 weeks. A baby wants food, sleep and comfort. Where it gets it, it doesn't care, could be in its bed at home or in a carseat. Both mine just slept through some pretty rutted tracks, rocked them to sleep.

Start them young and fewer dramas later on, if you leave big trips till they're 5 it's too late.

If a baby is going to have a bad day, typically they have a bad day wherever they are whatever they're doing.

Be prepared to stop for a b/feed, nappy change and it'll be all good. Make sure the people you are travelling with understand that.

Your life does not need to entirely turn upside down because of the arrival of a baby. You can still take the kid out into the bush, just needs a little more time and equipment. You can still go out to a restaraunt. You can still do things. But if all the kid knows is being quietly at home for the first several months of its life, that's a problem when you want to do something different.

Enjoy your kid and your life and your wife, there's no need to choose just the one.