[blparent] Stroller Fail!

Thu Mar 17 23:04:21 UTC 2016

I would have been nervous with my tiny baby in a stroller, before her neck 
strength was good.  I used an umbrella stroller when I was walking by myself 
for short distances because of its light weight and easy maneuverability 
pulling it behind me, but I wouldn't have trusted it with a very young baby. 
I didn't travel much alone when my baby was in her early infancy because the 
weather was still cold and I had to recover from a C-section, so she had 
gained sufficient neck strength by the time we ventured out into the big 
wide world.  When she was very tiny and I needed to go out, I asked a friend 
to go with me and help me carry the baby.  I had made grand plans before my 
daughter was born about how I would use a baby carrier and put the diaper 
bag over my right shoulder with my purse, leaving my left arm free for my 
guide dog, but the soreness from my C-section and the ice left from the 
March weather proved to be too much for me, and neither of the baby carriers 
I had bought worked well for me once the baby arrived.  And guess what? 
Nobody cared.  I felt like I had failed the independence test at first, but 
then I realized the only person conducting the test was me.  So to heck with 
it.  I got out, I got my errands done, I felt better, Nanna got to see the 
baby, that was all that mattered.  Later on I learned to pull a stroller, 
but learning to ask for help was one of the best things I ever did for 
myself as a new mom.

Jo Elizabeth

"The Bright Side of Darkness"
is my newly published novel,
available in Kindle, audio, and paperback formats at Amazon.com.
-----Original Message----- 
From: Judy Jones via BlParent
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 2:42 PM
To: Blind Parents Mailing List
Cc: Judy Jones
Subject: Re: [blparent] Stroller Fail!

We didn't even start with our girls in the stroller until they were probably 
closer to a year old, plus we used our packs most of the time.  Their 
preference, wanting to be close.

Judy

-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Star Gazer 
via BlParent
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 2:24 PM
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
Cc: Star Gazer
Subject: Re: [blparent] Stroller Fail!

Hi Steve. That's why the carseats that snap on top of the stroller are so 
popular, if it is safe for a car, it's safe for a baby at walking speed. All 
this being said, I was anxious about having my girls in the stroller when 
they were tiny. I have no idea why.

-----Original Message-----
From: BlParent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Steve 
Jacobson via BlParent
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2016 3:53 PM
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List' <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Steve Jacobson <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Stroller Fail!

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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