When to use toddler reins?

[lace&pearls]

Just wondering, is there an age restriction on reins? My daughter is 13 months (is that too young?) and has been walking since 10 months, she's VERY strong willed and wants to walk everywhere at the moment lol, She complains about being in her buggy but if I let her walk around she won't hold my hand and just storms off ahead, if I pick her up she kicks off! it's beginning to make going out an unenjoyable experience!

I like the look of the back pack reins (ladybirds etc) does anyone know if they are any good? xx

 

[sherylb]

I don't see any age restrictions on what I am looking at online. Right now I can still keep my toddler in the cart but if she insists on getting out she will probably get a harness to prevent her running off.

 

[Duejan2012]

i use it for my son. He too started walking a week before he turned 9 months and now omg he just loves walking everyhwere. I have one of those backpack things with a monkey on the back and it works great with him. At first he kinda got mad because i was still holding him back and he would kinda fall from trying to pull but now its a great way to let him walk and keep him with me without me having to run after him lol oh hes 14 months

 

[londonangel]

Ours has some reins. 13 months is generally fine for them to be on reins. We don't use Eleanor's very often but we do put them on her if we're near the road and she's not walking sensibly. We got them a couple of months ago as she kept trying to run off into the road. Eleanor has a ladybird backpack with a rein bit but it doesn't really work for us as she's not keen on the backpack. She has some Tommee Tippee reins that we got for a fiver and although she wasn't keen the first time, she was perfectly happy to wear them after that as she realised she still had pretty much just as much freedom - we don't yank on them or anything like that - just if she tries to walk into the road we can hold them to stop her! We tried a wrist one on her months ago and she hated it and screamed 'til we took it off - she likes having her hands free!

 

[londonangel]

Hang on, sorry, they're Lindem reins, not Tommee Tippee ones (I have such a bad memory!).

 

[fannyadams]

We've used a backpack with reins since 12 months.
My lo loves her backpack so much she wears it all day and doesn't seem to notice I'm holding her with it unless she has a tantrum in which case I pick her up anyway.
Give them a go-my lo would definately run in the road or in people's gardens if I didn't control her!

 

[darkangel1981]

we have backpack reins and normal ones. Both are good.

my LB def needs them for his safety if we are near roads etc.

 

[lace&pearls]

ah thanks everyone! I will definitely get some then I'm hoping this will be a compromise with DD so she can walk while we're out! x

 

[babyjan]

Been wondering this too as he'd love to walk around everywhere outside but doesn't like my hand

 

[bubbles123]

I've used the back pack type reins since he was about 18 months but I don't see why yin couldn't use them on a younger toddler. I like the ones with a handle on the back too as this is really useful to grab to keep them close when you are waiting to cross the road etc. My son still wears them now at 3, I just only hold them when we get near a road.

 

[ronnie1234]

I use the back pack ones on LO

 

[Rachel_C]

We have a backpack one from when my first was little as we lived near a busy road then. Where the 'lead' bit clips on is only plastic so if I ever had to pull hard in an emergency, I would replace them as I am not sure how much force they would take and I'd rather be safe than sorry. They were only cheap ones though as I have always insisted that LO holds hands or is carried/goes in the buggy. We just use reins as backup.

 

[Racheldigger]

We used regular reins as soon as Rowan started walking (15 months, in her case) and found them particularly useful while she wasn't steady on her feet, as you could break her fall with them. She loved them, and jumped up and down with excitement shouting "Reins, reins!" as soon as she saw them, because it meant she was going out! We went on using them till she grew out of them, and then went on to a wrist strap for a while, but from about three we could trust her to walk with us and hold hands as required.

 

[m4nc3r]

I used the backpack style reins with Zane when he was 13 months, but he played up like hell on them... he would just "fall over" cause he didn't like being pulled around, and thought it was funny cause he couldn't hit the floor (obv I wasnt gonna let my 1yr old smack his face on concrete lol)
So I bought him a wrist strap, and taught him to hold my hand... it worked Perfectly!! I highly recommend them over reins, you can still get a good 1-2 metre length on them, they don't pull the child back by the neck and when you need to you can reel it in to take their hand instead.

We ditched ours after 14 months cause with those it literally only took him a couple of weeks to learn to stay close to me, or in most cases he would just hold hands.
Even now, he's well past 2 and he still doesn't walk further than 3 feet away from me without moaning that he wants to hold hands lol unless i tell him to go to the bin or something he can see...