CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff

baby helmets

(24 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by SRD
  • Latest reply from chdot
  • This topic is closed

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  1. SRD
    Moderator

    Wee baby is celebrating being almost 6 months old by going for his first bike ride (if you don't count New Year's Day expedition by sling).

    Any recommends for helmets to fit small heads?

    Specialized Small Fry Toddler Helmet . Says 47 cm 'up to 3 years'.

    TSG Nipper Mini Helmet 48 cm

    Met Elfo Kids Helmet 46 cm

    Posted 13 years ago #
  2. Kim
    Member

    Why do you want to damage his neck? We weren't evolved to wear helmets, but are evolved to survive the fall from a tree (we are a species of primate). Parental gilt is an easy sales pitch, it not about protecting your child, it is about easy profit.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  3. alibali
    Member

    We weren't evolved to wear helmets
    Some of us have.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  4. recombodna
    Member

    With all due respect Kim I find these comments offensive. SRD wants protect her babys head. Parental guilt doesn't come into it. Kids helmets do prevent injury. If you can't provide a helpful sugestion to her question the polite thing to do would be to say nothing at all.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  5. Kim
    Member

    Why the need for abuse? Recombodna we are all the same species, you make comments like that if someone had a different skin colour?

    I mealy point out that once upon a time when cycling was a normal part of childhood no one wore a helmet and yet we are all still here.

    Allball say some have evolved to wear helmets, well can you show any evidence of selection pressure for helmet wearing? Yes it is a choice, but is a purely rational one? I find the use of fear to sell very disturbing, and playing on people feel just for profit.

    How long before all parents are told they have to put helmets on toddlers because learning to walk is dangerous?

    I find playing of the fear of parents for profit offensive and rather sad. Every parent wants the best for their children, but that don't make ripping them off right.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  6. recombodna
    Member

    Ok Kim have it your way. I find your suggestion of racism more offensive than your helmet comment and a little confusing so I'm bowing out of this thread now ok.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  7. wingpig
    Member

    (We stopped evolving to survive the occasional fall out of a tree three million years ago, since which time our skulls have been weakening to reduce the weight penalty of our growing crania.)

    I'd ignore the specs and just go for whatever doesn't interfere with a comfortable seating-position in the selected child-seat and whose straps don't look liable to irritate your child's chin (and which don't leave a chewable end too near the mouth and whose buckles are properly childproof). I noticed in the EBC sale leaflet that the Specialized said it had a truncated/non-projecting rear to aid use with a child seat but my one-year-old was still a wee bit less than 47cm. I think. Whichever looks the most comfortable when you find a shop to test them in as no two babies' heads are remotely the same shape.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  8. crowriver
    Member

    Maybe too big for your wee one, but try the Apex Junior Helmet (XS size, 48-52cm).

    Fine for my daughter, though perhaps getting small now she's two. Also had a larger size of the same brand for my son when he was younger, fitted him until five years. They have a 'flat' back for using with higher backed child seats. Also a push on/off flashing LED light incorporated into rear tightening dial: nice touch for the price.

    A snip from Amazon...

    Posted 13 years ago #
  9. SRD
    Moderator

    Thanks for the advice. Think we will try the two that EBC has, since they're close to hand and if fitting doesn't seem quite right, look further afield. Wingpig - good point about straps.

    Crowriver - thanks very much for adding to my trawl - pleasantly surprised that there are that number of models suitable for babies. Helped, of course, that he has a big head - just about at 46cm! Hopefully we'll find something to fit.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  10. alibali
    Member

    Hope you find something you both like and that you both enjoy the ride!

    Posted 13 years ago #
  11. gembo
    Member

    check it out

    [+] Embed the video | Video DownloadGet the Video Plugin

    evolution revolution

    Posted 13 years ago #
  12. wee folding bike
    Member

    Ummm... so what were you searching for when you found that?

    Posted 13 years ago #
  13. PS
    Member

    Never mind wearing helmets, we weren't evolved to ride bikes judging by the way my legs feel after today's ride...

    Obviously that's not going to stop me doing it, though. ;)

    Posted 13 years ago #
  14. gembo
    Member

    wee folds - I was looking for PG Tips Chimps riding bikes

    Posted 13 years ago #
  15. wee folding bike
    Member

    Ahhh, I only ask because a friend got onto the internet for the first time in the late '90s and the first thing he found was a picture of a German Shepherd Dog befriending a lady. He never explained how he happened across that image.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  16. DaveC
    Member

    I googled 'Todder head protection' after I saw a video recently about Thudguards, helmets for toddlers in the house. Google gave me these:

    http://www.ambyhammock.co.uk/babysafetyhats.html
    http://www.softtop4toddlers.com/
    http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/fall-down-with-less-drama-in-the-thudguard-helmet

    Posted 13 years ago #
  17. Morningsider
    Member

    Dave C - that's mad! Morningsider junior has whacked his bonce of lots of things in the house (all due to good old toddler enthusiasm - nothing too serious), as a result he is now more careful. If he was wearing a whcking great helmet he might never have learnt this very useful life lesson.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  18. Dave
    Member

    Well, the only difference between thudguard and bike helmets is our perception of risk - we're sold on the idea that cycling is more dangerous. In fact, promoting thudguard makes a lot more sense because the absolute number of kids with head injuries, including serious injuries and deaths on foot is much higher (due to the increased exposure, of course).

    I understand that there are moves afoot to check whether a thudguard was worn whenever a child is taken to see a healthcare professional with any form of head injury (and presumably to observe that their lives were definitely saved by the thudguard if so? ;-)

    And why not? You can bet that every parent whose child has suffered a serious head injury wishes they'd been responsible enough to buy and use a thudguard.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  19. SRD
    Moderator

    I think you would find it easier to convince people to question helmet use if you avoided telling us how stupid we all are.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  20. Y'know what, if a parent wants to put a helmet on their child... It's their choice, and I'm personally not going to question their parenting skills, nor accuse them of giving in to the 'man' for doing so.

    Choice choice choice choice choice. Make sure it's informed, but different people can have different takes on the same information.

    There are much, much bigger issues. Stop cyclists getting hit by cars and trucks, then have the helmet argument. It's ancillary, pointless, divisive, distracting, and pandering. Someone's on a bike, I personally don't give a toss what they're wearing. If a 6'6" burly guy rides by in a pink tutu, My Little Pony crop top and a tiara it'll still be his bike I'm looking at.

    If you really want to criticise parents for giving in to pressures of 'danger perception' then divert your attention to SUV driving yummy mummies who are turnign their kids into miserable fat blobs with no concept of the outside world. Work back down the chain to what might actually be creating the culture of fear, rather than attacking the final symptom of it (a parent wanting their child to ride with a helmet). It's the old prevention/cure debate.

    Helmets are merely a symptom, so get rid of the cause, and then see what happens.

    (apologies, helmet debates make me grumpy - but by god we don't half tie ourselves in knots and do cycling a disservice at times).

    Posted 13 years ago #
  21. And yes, as SRD says, "You do realise you're being stupid" is not necessarily a strong starting point for convincing people of a different point of view.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  22. wee folding bike
    Member

    It is their choice to pick a plastic hat but their choice also impinges on the rest of us.

    Posted 13 years ago #
  23. Morningsider
    Member

    Very well said SRD and Anth. I was going to respond to comments above with a lenghty post on risk, cycling and young children. However, I just can't summon the enthusiasm for it.

    I will say that being a parent who encourages cycling and the carrying of small children on bikes is a thankless task - I have been told by random passers by that using a bike child seat is child abuse and questioned by all and sundry about the safety of such an arrangement.

    Now I am being told by some cycling enthusiasts that I am of questionable intelligence and have sold out to "the man".

    Way to go guys!

    Posted 13 years ago #
  24. chdot
    Admin

    Am closing this thread.

    First time for months.

    It's gone beyond 'informational' on our 'favourite' contentious subject.

    Posted 13 years ago #

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