[blparent] Stroller Fail!

[Steve Jacobson]

Allison,

Check the wheels on your stroller.  On some of these strollers, each wheel
has a lock that keeps the wheel from swiveling left to right.  If all four
wheels are allowed to swivel, this will cause the exact behavior that you
are observing.  You would not want to lock all four wheels because turning
would then become very difficult.  I found that when pulling the stroller,
it worked best to lock the wheels that are on the end of the stroller away
from the handle.  When pushing the stroller, locking the wheels nearest the
handle works best.  However, you might want to experiment to see which works
best for you.

On the strollers I have seen, the lock is sort of a slide just above the
wheel that cam be moved up and down.  The slide will only lock the wheel
when the wheel is turned so that the wheel is parallel to the stroller, in
other words, oriented as they need to be when you are traveling in a
straight line.  

I am almost certain this is the problem you are having, so if you do not
find any kind of lock, check the instructions in case it is done in a way
that is not obvious.

In some ways, though, I might be a little hesitant to wheel a baby that
young around in a stroller.  My kids arrived when they were older, though,
so I am not a good judge of this.  I only know that when kids are very
young, you don't always know what they are doing in a stroller.  If they can
be restrained in a way that you feel is safe, this might be an issue.
However, to have their head at at a bad angle when you hit a bump in the
sidewalk might not be so great for a baby whose neck strength is not
completely developed.  However, I'm an old dad whose kids are grown, and
some of the more current parents here might have better advice.

Best regards,

Steve
 
-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Allison via
BlParent
Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2016 10:27 PM
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List' <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Allison <allison82 at cox.net>
Subject: [blparent] Stroller Fail!



Hi Everybody,

My daughter, Allyssa, is 9 weeks old now. I love my baby. It turns out that
I also love getting out of my house sometimes. I had a lot of great plans
for this when I was pregnant, plans about how I could successfully get out
in the world with my child, and I can now safely say that almost none of
them have worked out. LOL.

I tried a bunch of strollers at a local store before my daughter, Allyssa,
was born. I bought a Graco Click Connect in the end because it seemed like
the best balance of usability and affordability that I could find at the
time. It has a stroller with a car seat that clicks right into and out of
it. I tested it at the store with my cane and verified that I could in fact
pull it behind me. I also tried it on the sidewalk in front of my house when
I brought it home. Great, right? Yeah, only great because it did not yet
have a baby in it. I tried it with said baby in it last weekend and it was
less than successful. The stroller now wobbles and wavers when I try to pull
it behind me. It is only slightly less awful when I pull it next to me, but
when it's next to me, I worry that my cane arc isn't wide enough to safely
cover me and baby both because the stroller takes up a lot of space.
Moreover, the stroller was nearly impossible to manage when encountering
anything other than a 100% flat surface, and turning or changing directions
was something like trying to heard cats. As a result, I've mostly been
wearing Allyssa in a front carrier when I'm out. I like this option a lot
because she's safe, my hands are free, and Allyssa likes it, but I'm worried
that my body won't allow me to wear her as she grows heavier. Pretty much
every carrier I've tried pulls on my neck or shoulders at least a little.
Sooner or later, I will probably want to travel with her in a stroller. And
so far, the stroller has been a bit of a fail as it zigs and zags all over
the place. I could buy a new one, but buying multiple strollers will get
expensive quickly. Does anyone have any solutions for this stroller
craziness? Does it get better somehow? Will I become that blind mom who
never leaves the house alone with her kids? Please please tell me that is
not my future. If I start to think that it is, I may be tempted to drown
myself in my breast milk. So please share some words of wisdom! 

Thanks,
Allison



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