Riley will be 21 months when DS is born and I am strongly considering NOT getting a double stroller. Here's why.
Yesterday at the mall, she was in the stroller for all of 20 mins of our 4 hour trip. She just walked next to me or slightly in front of me the whole time and the stoller carried all our packages. Everytime I put her in the stoller, she would fuss and wiggle out...I'm hoping that if I ever take both out, I will be able to just wear the younger and Riley will be in the stroller..is that crazy of me to think I can get away with out a double??
Re: Am I crazy for thinking this will work??
Based on my experience at 17 months apart - not crazy at all.
We got a used double and used it maybe 5 times tops.
I wore the baby and used the single a LOT in the early days but like yours my oldest would rather walk.
We did end up getting plenty of use out of our sit and stand later on down the road so the toddler could rest/ride when he wanted to.
My vote is start out wearing + single for the toddler and if distances become large (zoo, festivals, etc) once the baby's too big to carry comfortably for long days maybe consider a sit and stand at that point.
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
Mine will be 22/23 months apart and this was my thought at first too, but DS has gotten very willful over the last few months. We rarely use the stroller when we take him out, but he'll lay down in the middle of the mall, kicking and screaming and refusing to move or break away from holding my hand and take off. And he's really fast.
I also realized that I love to take walks around the neighborhood and there's no way I'm doing that wearing one of them. Our neighborhood has a lot of hills and when it's nice out I frequently go for an hour+.
I ended up getting a city mini double and DS will sit in it whether he likes it or not. I won't be able to handle both kids on my own (I'm a SAHM, so most of my time with the kids will be on my own) if he's not in the stroller and fighting me. It's hard enough to deal with it now when I'm pregnant.
It just takes a quick trip to BRU or a couple clicks online to get one. Just decide after the fact if you think you will use one - that's what we did.
My DS (2.5) is a runner. He refuses to stay next to us so it's really a safety issue for us. Over the winter I take them to the mall play area a lot...we go in, play and burn off some energy and then I plop them in the stroller with water and snacks and we can walk around for quite a while.