Hello!

I have baby number 2 arriving in 4 months. My daughter is just over one, I’m interested in opinions on tandem prams! Side by side or top and bottom? Which is better? My husband works away so my kids come everywhere with me and I do run everyday so I use the pram a lot.


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  • number 1 and 2 are 17 months apart… we had a front and back to fit easier in shops


  • I’m in a similar situation with age gap (I’m not a runner though) what did you decide?


  • maybe the side by side one will prevent you from going to certain places because it’s wider.


  • Having had twins, I spent a lot of time considering this question. I dislike the top bottom stroller eg. Phil & Ted, Steelcraft, as they don’t allow for the child in the bottom seat to look at anything but the seat in from or a side view… not much fun for that child. Very limited room for storage in the bottom tray and limited by what you can hang off the pram if there is a second clid in the bottom seat.

    The side by side can be cumbersome to manoeuvre and if you want to take just one of the children out with you, you still have a big pram with a spare seat. The children can reach each other which can be a problem if one is sleeping etc. The stroller is large and may not fit in many car boots.

    The ABC and other tandem strollers have a long wheel base than make is very difficult to manoeuvre easily. They are large when folded and will not fit in many car boots. You will have a spare seat when only taking one child.
    The City Select, allows for various combinations of seating arrangements With the child at the back sitting higher than the one in the front. It can be used with a basinet and seat or two seats – seats can be facing out or towards you. When there is only one child you can take off the second seat and use it as a single stroller.

    The I Candy is a second option however it seats the child at the back below the from child thus limiting the back child’s ability to look around. It is also much heavier than the city select.


  • Actually I very rarely have any problems with my side by side pram when it comes to fitting in shop aisles etc, I can’t remember what the name of it is but it’s made by Love’N’Care. We chose it because it was the only one we found where we can take each seat out and turn it around to have our babies face us which was what we wanted, plus the seats recline right back which we didn’t find with the other ones……


  • I have a top and bottom and it’s great. They’re easier to get around than the side by side ones as they’re not quite as bulky. My 1st daughter was almost 2 when my 2nd was born and she loves it.


  • I had a Phil & Ted’s sport for the exact same reason :) Easy to manoeuvre, easy with 2 kids, and great for running/walking.


  • valco sounds worth checking out


  • I have a side by side and a front and back. Both have pros and cons. I can’t go through some doors/checkouts with the side by side but it manouvers easily and the toddler loves being next to his sister. the back and front was bulky, front heavy, difficult to turn and limited in some spaces, but more storage. I use the side by side more often than not.


  • Side-by-side ones are no good in a lot of shops. You simply can’t fit between some of the fixtures and you are not going to leave your little ones where you can’t hand onto their stroller.They also are too wide on some narrow footpaths
    Some people go on using double “one behind the other” strollers when the elder child has outgrown it. The bottom side is ideal for nappy bag and other items you want to stash below. Some single strollers have “shelves” below but if you’re not very accurate in packing it items will fall out, even just a small nappy bag.
    Reagrdless I would not buy one that you have to blow the tyres up on. If you get a puncture it will cost you $20.00 or more to get it repaired You can be walking along a footpath and “pick up” a grass seed that you didn’t notice, or another example a nail or similar that had been put in a rubbish bin but fell back out when the bin was being emptied or when walking past a building site. We got one in a tyre walking across a Shopping Centre Carpark.


  • Girlfriend’s daughter had two kids 12 months apart, and she quickly got rid of the side-by-side pram someone loaned her, as it was too hard to manoever around. She loves the “top & bottom” one that she bought, but I don’t know what brand it was.


  • I had a single infa pram. .. loved it. Turn fir a Phil and teds… tyres need pumping all the time steering is heavy. But it has 2 ways of seeing the second seat so is convenient and is small in the boot. But still miss using my first one just couldn’t find a jump seat for it


  • Valco do a really good double pram, just remember don’t go wide as y won’t be able to get into a lot of shops


  • Side by side will be a bit hard in some shops. I notice they seem to have trouble in aisles and seem to block the way of people trying to get past due to their width.


  • i think side to side might get a bit annoying due to the width and will get harder to get threw places


  • I had a 2 year old when my twins were born and I originally bought a side by side pram (and a skateboard for older son to ride on), it was an ok pram nothing special around $200 it was good but it wasn’t great it didn’t fit in some registers or isles at shops and it was quite big and bulky to get in and out of the car. Eventually after a year or so I can’t remember how long now but we got the other kind with one on top and one on the bottom (keep in mind a tandem pram is different to the one on top one on bottom pram! It’s more like a tandem bike) it was a strider plus 4 wheeler. It was much nicer to handle I could get everywhere, the boys didn’t care that the vision was different in the bottom seat, they would take turns in the seats, and even the now 3 year old could sit in it if I carried one (if he sat in the sbs pram it was heavy on one side and hard to push). If you running I’d suggest the top/bottom kind of pram – your hands would be in a better position, there is the option of three wheels etc. the seats recline enough for babies and I used it reclined while I had toddler in there. A friend who would be like you used here all the time for excercise and in general she had a phil and teds and she loved hers two she used it for all 3 of her kids too, with kids similar aged to my 3yo and newborn. Hopefully I’ve given you some ideas to help you decide atleast.


  • I would suggest mclauren brand side by side pram my friend has one and their fantastic easy to use and not to heavy.


  • I would think side by side pram as I really don’t like the look of the other ones and often think what if one needs to be laid back than how much room does the other one have and also I prefer side by side as then they can both look around as well as looking forward and see every thing


  • My two were a year apart too. I found they behaved better in the side by side. Plus a side by side will suit better as they get older.


  • try mothers brand! all the best!


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