I realise that at 8 weeks old, he's a bit too young to be taken on a bike.  However, I can't stop planning for when he can.  I'm making do for the time being with an hour's local ride once a week. Not much, but then again, I'm not sure my body is up to much more at the moment!

Does anyone have any advice on child seats, suitable for touring and light off road tracks?  I'm not convinced I want to use a trailer, but let me know if you've only had good experiences.

Hi Yvonne - I don't have any advice about bike seats but I have a 4 month old and would also be interested to hear if anyone has any suggestions.

Very well done for getting out for an hour a week. I had a c-section and my recovery has been a bit slow but I'm hoping to get a small ride in next weekend. Seriously need to re-discover my stomach muscles, but lumping baby around all day has done wonders for my previoulsy - feeble upper body strength.

What are your thoughts on the best way to combine baby n bike? Are trailers out?

I have used a child seat with both mine - only on quiet roads and tracks so no real off road. It was suitable from when they were sitting up well - probably 9-12 months until they are simply too heavy - maybe around 2 or 2 and a half. They do tend to fall asleep but you can ride ok - you do get prodded and poked a bit- my son pulls up my tshirt for example.

I can;t remember the brand (something like CoPilot limo) we have but it;s very good as it attaches to a blackburn pannier rack so we have a rack on both bikes so you can swap the seat to another bike halfway through a ride if you go out with the other half.

Only downsides are that on a small bike the child is literally right behind you - sometimes you feel like you have to sit a bit further forward than normal on the saddle and you have to take care when moving slowly and can;t stand up as its a bit tippy. Overall though they have worked well and let you get out for some cycling.

Only tried a trailer at centre parks - our son was 6months old (officially too young - I think they need to be 8 or 9 months) but wedged in next to his sister it was no problem. Trailers are good for 2 children but you have to watch the width of them and when I tried to pedal with one 3 yr old every incline had me at a standstill.

Good luck with getting back into it - in can be done - my youngest is now 18 months old and I'm getting some good offroad rides of 20 miles in - this time last year it was 30 mins on the road.

Had a very basic seat for ours which was fine when they were under two-ish, although you need to be guided by weight rather than age. But they do need to be able to support themselves sitting up very well. Also remember that they need to be wrapped up very warm as they are not moving about like you (fingers and toes particularly), and when they fall asleep it throws the balance

We moved onto a bright yellow Pashley trike with two rear facing seats on the back once the oldest was too big for a bike seat with a basket on the front (extra shopping was held by the kids on the back!) Great for riding round town, doing the school, playgroup/dancing run and daily shopping etc. I was fit as a butchers dog as it was a bit hilly and local celeb to boot - the kids used to wave at car drivers stuck behind us  and their friends would beg to have a ride on the back. We did the local carnival one year as Winnie the Pooh - husband was Christopher Robin riding the trike with Pooh and Piglet on the back surrounded by knitted bees......

Did that for about four years until they were really too big for it - the best £75 we ever spent and we sold it for the same amount when we'd finished with it.

Only had a couple of instances when one of the back wheels came off, mainly cos I was giving it too much welly up the hill and the drive cogs got mangled together

Have fun and enjoy it but beware what you put in your back pockets as it'll no doubt get eaten

Exellent! - this is great motivation to get back on my bike and by the time Isabel is old enough to come with me I should be(just about) fit enough to bring her along for a ride.

Might look into the seat option and thanks for the advise about things in back pockets. Some friend of ours had a trailer and a 2 year old. Mum left her bag in the trailer with the 2year old who proptly spent much of the journey emptying the contents of it along the way! . No harm done and I think she managed to reclaim most of her stuff.

Yvonne - did you ride much through your pregnancy? I have to admit I gave up after about 16 weeks. The traffic round here made me feel a little nervous and as it was mid winter I couldn't go fast enough to keep warm ( following advise to keep heart rate low while pregnant).

Liz: I rode for the first 4/5 months.  It was difficult giving up as I was commuting to work by bike and training some kids to do their Duke of Edinburgh Silver award expedition on bikes.  Last off road ride was to get my MTB leader qualification.

I've just been looking around the internet at seats and trailers and it looks as if there might be some trailers that are suitable before the kid can hold it's head up.  So I might change my mind afterall.  It's just that in a trailer the child is at the same height as car exhausts, and I also worry about how vulnerable the trailer is since it's wider than the bike and maybe motorists don't expect to have to mind out for trailers when overtaking a bike.

Ah yes - good point about the exhausts fumes, hadn't thought of that. I s'pose if they're on the bike with you its a bit easier to keep an eye on them.

Do you know any other mums that cycle? Now I'm feeling so much more recovered I'm keen to get cracking again and try and reclaim some fitness, although I've been doing 1.5 -2 hour walks in the afternoon with Isabel in her pram for the last month which I think has helped. 

Not that now i'm a mum I can only ride with other mums - far from it, but it would be useful to try and find some other mums that do sports and see how they got on getting back to fitness and juggling being a mum with making time for their sport.

I'm sure there's a lot of cycling Mum's on shecycles ? Anybody else?

It is difficult getting back into it - certainly for the first few months any time I had for myself it was either sleep or a bath - I wasn't interested in exercise! - and carrying an extra stone or two did put me off starting. Also as I knew I would probably have 2 children(which I do have now) it was hard to get fit knowing I would have to start again in a year or so. I have found it easier after the 2nd.

 It has taken me nearly a year to build up from 30 mins on the road to 2 hours all off road.The main problem I have now is finding the time as my husband also wants to go out running or cycling.

Luckily I do either 2.5 days or 3 days at work so the children do 3 days at nursery - on a good week I have an afternoon to myself and go for a couple of hours ride, other than that its weekends 8 in the morning (forsaking my lie in for the week) or when the youngest has his afternoon nap. So at the moment not too bad but I realise it will be a few years before I'm off for lots of weekends at Coed y Brenin - luckily I have the Chilterns on my doorstep so I can ride straight from the backdoor.

Anyone else got any juggling tips?

try a turbo trainer - I found you can use it when the little darlings have gone to bed in the evenings to get some fitness back, even 20 minutes can make a difference and gives you that buzz back (as long as you can stand the boredom!) - a second hand spinning bike is even better as these are also silent!

I' have also left the babe with hubbie and went for a run since this takes less time than a cycle for the same fitness gains so more efficient use of time.

bike trailer worked for us (but doesn't work with Blackburn pannier rack and disc brakes - so be warned if trying a limo taxi seat!)  but I only took her off road on forest tracks/cinder tracks etc. not on roads as I thought it was a bit scary for me and her on roads with cars.

I may be a bit mad(!), and it depends on what your pregnancy is like, but I cycled all the way through and also on the day she was due - 6 miles of easy trails with a BIG baggy MTB top on - she was however 11 days late!

Hi all, We used a trailer for the early months as did not want to miss out on any cycling if at all possible.  Son's first trip was in a Winchester trailer at 3 weeks old.  This had nylon type seats with 5 point harness.  It is designed that the seat could be partially inclined or upright.  For the early months I padded underneath the seat with pillows and re-jigged the straps so baby lay flat, also made holes in fleece type "sleeping" bag ( not sure they make these any more SIDS etc) so that the straps threaded through so baby was kept snug.

He went into seat at approx 7 months, but being a wet cool spring was in and out of trailer for the extra protection that gave, also went back into trailer for next couple of winters.

We found cars gave you a wide berth with the trailer and had no problems, honestly did not think of the exhaust thing.  But is it any worse than being alongside the exhaust and breathing in the fumes as they drift upwards.

The seat might be close in to you but they do get some protection from cold winds etc.  It was quite reassuring to feel his head against my back when he fell asleep, not sure about having tops lifted up/exposing flesh on a chilly day. 

Oh and we took the trailer and bike seat on all sorts of terrain but then hubby is a bit fanatical about some things.

I was fortunate to be able ride all through and like helsbels was pedalling the day I went into labour, had he not come that day we would have ben joining Cov CTC 2 days later for their ride!  Was back on the turbo 2 weeks later.  I had to go back to work full time so he had to go to nursery leaving me free to do a 20 mile round trip commute which soon had me fit again.  Obviously not so easy if you are at home and have baby 24/7, though it really isn't that hard to take them with you.  Only draw back with trailer was being able to cope with gates on sustrans type cycle routes, not easy on your own.  Am sure, had I been at home, I would have been off doing local shopping rips etc with baby in trailer.

Happy motherhood one and all