Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

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:

TerraNotSoFirma · 24/03/2012 08:06

Are your friends parents? I would be pissed off if I was looking forward to some very rare child free time and a friend brought their baby along.

WoTmania · 24/03/2012 08:10

ooh, and of course if your baby is in a sling most of the time it'll be really easy.

pictish · 24/03/2012 08:58

Terra - would you?!

How very off of you really....when I have child free time (not often) but other people have their littlies, I don't mind them at ALL....it's just great not having to chase around looking after your own kids. In fact, a festival is a prime example of that!
I have been to festivals without ANY of my kids before, whereas other friends had to bring theirs...and I minded not one tiny jot.

jamdonut · 24/03/2012 09:22

I haven't read all of this thread.
I went to Leeds Festival last year (for the first time ever),on a day ticket. It rained. Persistantly. The grass became a vast ocean of liquid mud.

Now, whilst me and DH totally enjoyed it ,ourselves, I could not imagine having small children in that environment....and there were some...I was shocked to see some of them dressed in summer clothes and sandals and up to their armpits in mud! It was quite cold even though it was August.
I had a a boy of about 10 standing near me,who had a plastic cape over him and he stood and shivered (quite alarmingly) most of the way through. Dad seemed to be dressed better for the weather, and at least had boots on, his son had sandals on.
Others, (they must have been about 7-9 ) were collecting huge stacks of beer "glasses" to get the money back on them !

Now your festival may be more family friendly. And if the weather is great, then there probably won't be a problem. But just ask yourself what it will be like,camping with a baby in prolonged downpours.

CheshireDing · 24/03/2012 09:53

Not unreasonable at all, glad of this thread so I could gauge other peoples opinions too.

We have been trying to get tickets for V or Electric Picnic, our DD will be 10 months by the time V is on. I couldn't get any tickets on the day so am just going to check the week before now.

When we go it will be DH and I though, not sure it would work as well with drunken friends (if they don't have the experience of babies)

YouBrokeMySmoulder · 24/03/2012 10:00

The answer is it depends on the festival and your friends - would I go to Rewind with lots of other childfree people? No.

Would I take the dc to Beautiful Days/Shambala/WOMAD with other families? Of course.

Some festivals we take the dc to and some we don't. Especially if we were going with drinkers - that would personally be a nightmare and really unenjoyable.

YouBrokeMySmoulder · 24/03/2012 10:02

Basically if the festival is all about the music so Reading/V/Rewind/Leeds/T in the Park/Hop Farm then they are not that great for younger kids. Anywhere that other people have to modify their behaviour around your children is unfair.

NowThenWreck · 24/03/2012 10:29

I can't imagine anything I would like less than being solely responsible for a baby at a festival.
But then I don't like festivals much! Something like Green Man maybe but not one of the bigger ones.

Its not "camping" is it? It's more like living in a shanty town, in a sea of mud, surrounded by loud, drunk, off their faces people and drug dealers, with toilets that are an actual health hazard.

It's a nice idea, to be really laid back and chilled-Hey! Just stick the baby in a sling, shove some earlplugs on her, and have fun

In reality, she may wanting to crawl everywhere, screaming at 5 am and waking your friends up.
I would worry about sunburn, how I am going to go to the toilet etc when my friends are hammered, what I am going to do with myself at 6 am when the baby wakes up and all my friends are sleeping til 11...

moosemama · 24/03/2012 11:13

Had a thought last night when looking at the line up for the festival we are going to.

Our festival requires a ticket for every person that goes - including babies. Babies are free - but you still have to have a ticket for them, so its worth checking this out beforehand if you do decide to go.

NowThenWreck, again it depends on the festival - your description couldn't be further removed from my experience.

If the weather is dire and the site too muddy, you always have the option to pack up and leave. You don't have to stay for the whole weekend if its impractical or you are miserable.

I don't think I'd do it on my own without dh though. Can't imagine it being as much fun or as easy without him around.

TerraNotSoFirma · 24/03/2012 11:22

Pictish
Yes I really would, I don't think it's 'off' at all.
As many have said, A family friendly festival would be totally different but Rewind wasn't like that when I there.

maddening · 24/03/2012 11:24

I have only been to the big festivals and would not take my son to them.

The family friendly ones - yes I definitely would but the larger ones no - nowthenwreck has it right on the camping ime Maybe get your oh to stay in a bnb nearby so you can sleep there at night, do a morning feed, meet dh to do a midday feed and then dinner time to do evening feed - not much fun for dh but am sure he can have a nice time with dd

TubbyDuffs · 24/03/2012 11:33

Sorry if I've missed something OP, but have you actually told your friends you will be bringing your baby?

Original poster

sunnysunchild · 24/03/2012 12:42

tubby - It has been suggested by me
and my friends ... Most of my friends are parents... But really its just an option at the moment.

Maybe Il have stopped breastfeeding by then anyway.

OP posts:

Scuttlebutter · 24/03/2012 14:00

I'm another one who's looking at this from the perspective of your friends. Like it or not, the presence of a baby does create a different vibe. Will you be expecting them to be staying sober and sensible for when you need to go to the loo? I would definitely feel constrained - the presence of a child puts me into "sensible aunty" mode and that doesn't sit well with "hedonist festival goer" mode.

LoopyLoopsIsTentativelyBack · 24/03/2012 14:06

I took my littlest DD at 8 weeks.

It was fine. Older DD's first festival was 1 year. Both were fine. Now older one is a toddler she absolutely loves them. I'd want my DH there though, so you can tag team.

TerraNotSoFirma · 24/03/2012 14:13

Scuttlebutter put it much better than I did.

5madthings · 24/03/2012 14:16

we have taken ours, we went to cornburry, which is very family friendly and it was great, ds4 was a toddler made lots of friends with randoms in tents near us, i was slightly embarrassed as he kept being fed by them all, they must have thought we never fed him! all the kids loved it and everyone was lovely, there were loads of other families and specific family camping but we didnt use that.

we are hoping to go again this year.

FebreezeYourJeans · 24/03/2012 15:30

I have taken my young children to festivals before but as a family and sometimes with other families. I wouldn't go with child-free friends with a baby. I'm guessing they wont want to be in 'family camping' and no one in the main camping will take kindly to being woken at the crack of dawn by a baby. This isn't a new born in a sling scenario, it's an on-the-move baby.

There is only 1 stage at Rewind so it gets very congested, there isn't really a sitting on the grass at the back with a crawling baby option.

I would definitely advise leaving the baby, or getting a hotel in Henley and day tickets to meet your friends there?

cheesesarnie · 25/03/2012 19:15

take the baby youll have a great time.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Swipe left for the next trending thread