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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to feel uncomfortable taking a baby camping in a tent?

77 replies

strawberrypip · 21/07/2020 20:34

hello,

partner really wants to go away with a group of friends for a few nights in the next couple of months (obviously staying in separate places and meeting outside at the beach etc. when there) our baby will be 8 months old around the time he is thinking.

a getaway is great, however as can be expected at such short notice a lot of places are booked or fairly expensive. so conversation has turned towards getting tents and camping. I feel really uncomfortable at the idea of this with a young baby.

firstly, because the temperature changes in this country and how quick it can suddenly get cold. secondly, I will have no access to electricity, so no hot water to make up her food and no way to charge phone in case of an emergency. thirdly, I just dont like the idea of sleeping outside with my baby just doesnt feel very protected. so on the basis of all this it would not be very relaxing for me at all or my baby I don't think.

my partner has now got the hump with me and says I'm ruining the plans.

i dont want to be a spoil sport but I dont like camping anyway let alone with an 8 month old to worry about too.

what do you think?

OP posts:

ChiaraRimini · 21/07/2020 21:31

Lots of caravans available for the summer holidays still-why not do this instead? Friends can book a tent pitch on the same site.
I have done tent camping with a baby and it worked out fine, but it does take a lot more time to get all the kit, pack it into the car, pitch the tent and then reverse the process. That's without thinking about heating bottles/dealing with crying in the night.

Iseethesilverlining · 21/07/2020 21:38

My parents took me camping when I was a crawling 8-month old. It was so stressful they didn’t go on holiday for another three years! It rained, there was nowhere to put things up out of reach, it was apparently just awful!

I took mine but not until they were 3, it was great fun then!

SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing · 21/07/2020 21:55

I've been camping for 40 years and I wouldn't do this. Some people are happy camping with babies and that's fine, but I went with an 18mo and that was fucking hard work.

The nights will be surprisingly cold mid Sept as well, it's quite bizarre how freezing it can be. Yes, you can dress in layers, but it's just so much agro.

A big nice tent is £300—400 . Surely you can get a couple of nights in a nearby hotel instead.

SomeHalfHumanCreatureThing · 21/07/2020 21:57

I did camping with a 2 & 8 yo btw. I know what I'm doing, and can put up a 6 man tent on my own, and I know all tricks for comfortable camping. I wouldn't take a baby.

CottonSock · 21/07/2020 21:59

Book a caravan/ hotel etc, anything but a tent. It will cost a fortune for a start, if you have no kit

Fruitbowlflowers · 21/07/2020 22:01

I’d be surprised if he can even find a pitch, a lot of campsites are fully booked.
Tbh buy the time you have bought kit etc it would be cheaper to stay in a b&b next to a campsite and then you can head back to b&b at bedtime. We’ve camped before and friends who hate camping have done this.

LouiseTrees · 21/07/2020 22:03

@strawberrypip

I have told him I wouldn't enjoy it and he is asking why lol. I've said my reasons and hes said we will buy a "nice big posh tent" surely the price cant be all that different from renting a caravan!

Yep rent a caravan or glamp

rogerthatoverout · 21/07/2020 22:03

Depending on how big your tent is, we put a travel cot up in one of the chambers and he had the best sleep (having been a serial night waker).

ThatsHowWeRowl · 21/07/2020 22:05

We have done it, DS was about 5 months the first time we went, and it was fine. However, he was sleeping through and we were already seasoned campers, and also we weren't just going as a replacement for a proper hotel. And between him and DD over the years we have had an occasional 'up all night' scenario where they didn't sleep very well!

The chances are overall it will be fine, and the more chilled you are the more chilled they will be. We used cartons of ready made milk for bottles, you can use a stove for heating up food, baby sleeping bag and then another one on top if it's needed, we kept him up with us in a buggy with blankets until we all went to bed. It's a tricky one - it's definitely totally doable, but it's just whether you want to do it!

Couchbettato · 21/07/2020 22:05

YANBU, but camping with a baby is possible.

For the cold, layers. Vest, socks, sleepsuit.

For the access to hot water, EHU. You can also get a fan heater to warm your tent if you're worried it might drop cold.

Having access to an open field is great for pre-tots. Take a pop up pool, some balls, toys etc. It's a nice soft place for pre-walkers to learn to walk too, and if the weather stays nice it can be really stress free just watching your LO play outside.

However you're not being unreasonable if the thought of this would stress you out because it does require a lot of planning, and camping isn't every ones cup of tea.

ThatsHowWeRowl · 21/07/2020 22:06

Yes actually a lot of the time our kids have slept better in the tent than at home!

Beamur · 21/07/2020 22:10

I wouldn't if it's your first time camping.
We took DD when she was 4 months old and we all had a lovely time. Took her again when she was crawling and it was hell on wheels.

maxdash · 21/07/2020 22:12

If you don't like camping then taking a baby isn't going to make you like it any more. Personally I love camping and have taken ours from being tiny and don't find it any harder. We don't usually have EHU.

They are older now but we've gone for at least a weeks camping every year now for 6 years, just bought a new tent and camped in the garden on Friday!

BogRollBOGOF · 21/07/2020 22:17

DS2 was 3 months on a week long Guiding camp which admittedly is quite glampingy. Plus DS1 (2) in tow, and I was QM responsible for catering involving 5 different food alkergies... Baby was fine, although being EBFed helped a lot, and he wasn't a cryer if there was milk nearby.

You would want a comfortable set up, not minimalism. I did tend to co-sleep on the ground with infants between for the body heat.

MrsAJ27 · 21/07/2020 22:18

No way...baby or not, I am not sleeping in a tent!

Thelnebriati · 21/07/2020 22:19

my partner has now got the hump with me and says I'm ruining the plans.

Interesting thats the first place he went to, instead of working out how to make you feel like camping would be manageable, or considering a B&B.

HotPenguin · 21/07/2020 22:31

I like camping, but I wouldn't do this. Main issues for me would be lack of washing facilities when dealing with nappies, the risk of the baby screaming all night and waking other people, the likelihood of baby waking v early due to sunlight and also I would be stressing out about the baby either overheating or being too cold. I've had some really shit, miserable, sleep deprived holidays in well equipped cottages, no fucking way am I doing it in a tent. Oh and by the way I actually enjoy camping, just not with under 4s.

LizB62A · 21/07/2020 22:31

I'm with you OP - if you don't want to go camping, just don't go

Your other half can go on his own, then you get to have a few days away on your own later on, wherever you want to go !

doadeer · 21/07/2020 22:32

No way would I want to do this! I know some people love camping but it's my nightmare with a baby!

Ironmanrocks · 21/07/2020 22:33

I haven't read all of the posts - but I took mine camping at about 9/10 months. Milk - I used the ready made cartons at night to save my sanity. Fed him up on pouches/ambrosia creamed rice to fill him and have a longer night. Took a travel cot bed - he slept in the next compartment in a fleecy sleep suit and a sleeping bag thing that poppers over his shoulders. Checked his core temp as we went to bed to make sure he was OK and took an extra blanket in case he woke in the night. It was honestly fine. Be careful if he is crawling around the stove/pots etc. That was my only stress really.

supersonicginandtonic · 21/07/2020 22:33

My baby was 6 weeks old when she first camped.
Boil a kettle on a gas stove. Cold water steriliser.
Pay for an electric hook up or charge it in the car.
Book a campsite with a family bathroom.
To sleep put them either in with you or a travel cot, fleece onesie over a baby grow and sleeping bag. Take extra blankets in case it's cold.
I've managed a festival with a tiny, bottle fed baby in the past.

supersonicginandtonic · 21/07/2020 22:38

If you don't want to camp look on air bnb plenty of things left. I've spent all evening browsing in there for breaks all over the country in August.

Serin · 21/07/2020 22:48

Spend a bit more and get a caravan.

Iverunoutofnames · 21/07/2020 22:49

If you don’t enjoy camping, adding a baby isn’t going to make it more enjoyable.
And if you don’t enjoy camping please don’t let your DH spend hundreds buying new equipment. I doubt a new tent will make that much difference.
I loved camping in my early 20s, you couldn’t pay me to go now!

AntiHop · 21/07/2020 22:58

Camping with a baby or toddler sounds like hell.

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