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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To take baby to a music festival with camping?

94 replies

sunnysunchild · 21/03/2012 16:53

Just throwing this out there...

My friends have planned a summer boozy weekend in july at the Rewind festival (cheesy 80s music). I was all enthusiastic about it without thinking it through, and they got me a ticket. My baby will be about 7m old by then. Problem is I don't want to leave her at home with daddy. Shes exclusively Breast fed, and has had no bottles or formula at all. I havent even expressed yet. I can't imagine leaving her and pumping all weekend, and to be honest I dont want to either. Ib don't want to introduce bottles just for one weekend, So iabu to take her with me? We'd have our own tent, so i wouldnt disturb my plastered friends. Is this feasable? All I can hear is my mum's voice in my head telling me what a bad mum I am for considering taking her!
What do you think?

OP posts:
Sposh · 21/03/2012 17:01

Lots of people take babies to festivals, is the festival fairly family friendly?

You might want to get her some of these

rhinobaby · 21/03/2012 17:11

Suggest daddy comes too - no problem having a baby at a festival (I have been with 3 month old and toddler) but won't be much fun for you if all your friends are child free and drinking. Get a baby back pack and you baby will have a great time on your back dancing away. You can also get away with putting them to bed in pushchair and going out late, which is less easy the older they get. Agree get ear defenders for baby then you don't have to worry about hearing damage.

Annpan88 · 21/03/2012 17:11

I'm taking 1 year old DS to one this year. try it. if you are having an awful time/finding it really difficult you can go home. Thats what I'm doing, going to see if I like it then if its too much I know I've got the option of going home

RosieBooBoo · 21/03/2012 17:12

As someone who loves going to festivals and i think your being a bit bonkers niave to think you'll have a stress free, fun-filled time with a 7mo, especially as your going with friends who want a boozy weekend..
I'd leave baby with dad or get day ticket instead.

VivaLeBeaver · 21/03/2012 17:12

YANBU, its easier to take a baby to a festival than a toddler/small child.

Just check to see if you need an actual ticket for her. Even if its free for small kids you normally need a physical ticket - I guess they have a capacity limit and need to know how many people are coming.

Tryharder · 21/03/2012 17:13

If it's a choice of not going or going with her, then I would indeed take her although I wouldn't go if it's pissing down with rain or cold. If she's a fairly easygoing baby then I am sure there wiill be no problems. But make sure you drive yourself down so you can always leave early if it doesn't go well. And invest in a decent sling.

takingiteasy · 21/03/2012 17:13

YABVU, Rewind sounds crap, poor baby.

Smithson6 · 21/03/2012 17:18

I take mine. Its fine and there is always someone up in the morning from last night to talk to, which is better than being on your own at home.

@ Rosiebooboo. Not naive at all. I have taken mine from 3 months and had a ball and I have managed in some pretty gruesome weather too. And I ebf all of mine.

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 21/03/2012 17:23

I'm with your Mum. Can't think of a worse place for a small baby. Dancing with a baby in a back pack.... really!

LAlady · 21/03/2012 17:24

Rewind is very popular and lots of my friends are going (we live about 15 mins away) they all dress up etc - but at Rewind they don't take their children. We have a similar event in our village which is lots of 80s acts but is really geared up for children with associated activities. My two are nearly 12 and 9 and we will happily take them but smaller children would be hard going despite the activities on offer. It's a very long day.

KnittingNovice · 21/03/2012 17:24

We took dd at 6 months old to this with ds who was 2 and a bit. She was also a bottle refuser and it was lovely, she fed when she wanted, I got lots of comments too. Last year was harder with an 18mo old 3 and a bit ( and I was 4 weeks post cancer surgery) but it is fab. Children love it, gets you talking loads. This year they'll be 2.6 and 4 and we wouldn't contemplate not taking hem.
Agree about ear defenders, we have got some for his year as the last two years we have stayed far enough away that you can have a conversation. This yer we intend to go a lot louder

madwomanintheattic · 21/03/2012 17:25

Loads of people take babies to festivals.

But you need to think the 'boozy, fun filled' aspect through. Will you be content to watch your friends get steadily leathered whilst you sonerly and singularly fret about whether you should try to get her down for a sleep (whilst the fun and noise continues around you?) I find being sober when everyone else is out of it entertaining for about twenty minutes, and then really wearing.

(lol at 'I wouldn't disturb my plastered friends' - er, no. But the the thousands of other people might disturb you and baby... Including the plastered friends, who if they are childless and free agents, might still think they are capable of being the best aunties on the world whilst three sheets to the wind)

Personally, I find camping with babies a bit of a chore. I've done it several times (and taken a baby and toddler camping on my own, too) the kids themselves are no bother (except they turn black instantly and eat dirt) but I find the nights and the early mornings really hard going. You can't stop the sun from coming up, and so they wake at the crack of dawn, and are loud and noisy, and if you are surrounded by sleeping and hungover mates, (or indeed anyone on a bog standard campsite) the effort required to try and keep small children quiet is excruciating. And especially if they take exception to the different sleeping circumstances and so wake several times in the night to wail as well. Even the best sleepers....

I dunno. Loads of people do it, and get on really well. But I don't know if I'm that child centred. I kind of like the odd weekend off to be selfish.

Maybe try a family festival first and see how it goes?

TheCountessOlenska · 21/03/2012 18:00

Hmmm - I'm trying it with a 2 year old this year and going with Annpann88's view that we can always go home early if it's hideous. I'm fretting about it a lot bit but you have to at least try and do things with children or you'd never go anywhere for 10 years! (IMO)

UphillBothWays · 21/03/2012 18:04

How about hiring a campervan/caravan? I don't know if there is a campervan area at the festival but it would be better to have your own bathroom etc.

MadameChinLegs · 21/03/2012 18:08

If your friends are planning a boozy party, will they want a baby in their midst?

goingtoofast · 21/03/2012 18:13

I would take kids to a festival but always stay on the family campsite. We went to a festival last year and had to walk through the general campsite to get to the arena, I would have have tayed there with kids - the family one was far more civilised!

moosemama · 21/03/2012 18:22

I've done it several times now with dd and she loves festivals more than I do! She has always been pretty laid back in terms of where she sleeps etc though and once she's asleep very little will wake her.

When she was the same age as your baby I had her in a snuggly snowsuit and ear defenders in a moby wrap sling on my front under my big coat and kept to the back of the crowd and she slept through the whole evenings line-up without waking once. We bought her a really good quality three season sleeping bag and she slept in there snug as a bug. Good job really as it got down to -3 overnight one night! Shock

That said, we do have a vw camper, which means we are warmer and more comfortable than we would be in a tent and it means we have somewhere warm and dry to retreat to when/if it rains. It also means we can take shedloads of bedding and blankets with us and we have the awning for her to run around in, even if the weather is bad.

We took her again last year at the age of two and this time she slept through the evening line-up snuggled up in a sheepskin lined foot-muff in her all-terrain pushchair - actually she was one of several 'parked' along the outer edge of the tent with mums and dads taking it in turns to dance or guard the pushchair. Grin

We're going again in May this year and she is already talking non-stop about it. She'll be just under three and a half and I'm thinking it will be harder now than it was when she was tiny. We are still taking the pushchair, as she is small for her age and we can use it for her to sleep in for the evenings again. Next year we may have to invest in one of those little pull along wagons, as there's no way she'll agree to get in a pushchair by then, whereas despite not really using anymore, she's still quite fond of it at the moment.

I would agree with others that have said you need to consider if you're going to feel left out while all your friends are getting boozed up and in the party spirit. We are old duffers more sedate these days, as are our friends, so its not much of an issue for us, as we just go to enjoy the atmosphere and music rather than seeing it as a huge party, iyswim. We tend to meander back to the camp site before the music stops, have a quiet drink/chat with our mates and nosh down whatever curry/stew one of us has brought along from home or have a bb1, rather than staying up and partying through the night.

Another thing to consider is, if there will be anyone to leave your dd with when you need the loo - seems like a small thing, but if all your friends have been drinking, will there be anyone you can trust to leave her with while you negotiate the dreaded portaloos?

I don't know anything about Rewind though, so can't advise about that specific festival. The one we go to is very family friendly. There are almost as many children as there are adults and lots of baby and family friendly facilities.

MuslinSuit · 21/03/2012 18:26

Yes to festival, no to camping. Just not safe or hygienic for a baby. You need somewhere warm and secure at night, or to retreat to in the day. Do the festival but book decent accommodation for nights.

MotherMucca · 21/03/2012 18:27

at "dancing with a baby on your back... Really!" I do hope tongue was in cheek there!

OP go, dance with your baby on your back and have a great time Grin

ifancyashandy · 21/03/2012 18:31

Arf at camping in a tent not being safe or hygienic for a baby!

Tell that to the Innuits (other nomadic tribes are available!)

Mama1980 · 21/03/2012 18:35

I took my ds at 8months and I ebf- he's now 4 and loves them more than I do! But I did request a tent in the family/designated quieter area. He is not a big sleeper but when he does sleep it will be anywhere so no issues there. Go and have a great time Smile

DialsMavis · 21/03/2012 19:05

Will your friends not mind you having your baby with you? Really? I love all my friends children nearly as much as I love my own, but I would be seriously pissed off if I had to spend a weekend at a festival designed for adults with any of them. That might be because I am so rarely without my own, I like to really let my hair down Wink

MuslinSuit · 22/03/2012 11:35

Ifancy - camping at a festival IMO is not safe or hygienic for a baby. Loving the romantic notions, but festival campsites (much as I love them) are notoriously disgusting by halfway through the festivities, with faeces, booze and ash everywhere. Washing facilities will be sketchy at best, and being surrounded by drunk careless people with a tiny baby would fill my heart with dread. I'm not particularly raucous but still end up with injuries every time I indulge at a festival - the whole point is to live like there's no tomorrow, no consequences. You won't be able to get drunk and will resent not being able to join in the fun, and your friends will be baffled that you'd bring your child along.

Sorry OP, I'm clearly in the minority but I think it would be very selfish to take your baby. Think Hideous Kinky.

VivaLeBeaver · 22/03/2012 11:59

Well I think most people would let a baby crawl about in faeces, ash, etc. The inside of the tent would be fine, nothing wrong with a pack of wet wipes and some hand gel for washing for a weekend. When out of the tent carry the baby about if ground doesn't look clean.

I've never seen faeces or vomit on the ground at festivals. Though I accept there probably is spilt beer and possibly urine in places. But again, baby wipes after being out and about and before eating.

festivalwidow · 22/03/2012 12:00

I took my 4mo DD to a festival - she was EBF at the time as well. She loved it. We braved the weekend last year when she was just over a year old and again, we had a great time.

Things to think about though:

  • You'll need to bring a lot more stuff than you would if it was just you and your OH. Nappies, wipes, hand steriliser, travel cot, toys, bin bags, changes of clothes, sunscreen, hats.... plus everything you would bring for yourself. The logistics of this put me off doing the weekend thing until DD was over a year old (but there's a long walk between the car park and the festival site at the ones we go to)
  • How heavy/ light a sleeper is your LO? Does this mean bringing even more stuff?
  • What happens if it rains? Does this mean bringing even more stuff?

You get the idea.
I had some friends who went to Rewind with their 5mo last year, they went for the day and had a lovely time IIRC.