Camping with a baby - easy. Camping with a toddler - help!

[mybabywakesupsinging]

Last year we took the 2 boys and baby dd camping many times - took advantage of mat leave. DD has been camping 6 or 7 times, no problem. Everyone seemed to think taking a baby camping was "brave" but actually dd slept perfectly well on a SIM next to me (lots of fresh air) and being breastfed (no kit) and immobile was very little trouble to anyone.
This year I think she will be a nightmare. She is running/tripping everywhere, climbing up/onto everything she can find and is generally an honourary bonkers boy (two older brothers have had a malign influence) with no sense of self preservation whatsoever. The only ray of light is that she seems to understand "hot" (possibly due to high maternal tea consumption), and will therefore keep away from the Trangia. Probably.
Any words of experience welcomed.

I'm sure you know all the usual tricks of keeping them up late, running them round etc.

We took dd camping last year at 18 months and dicovered two things. 1 she could climb out of her travel cot and 2. she could undo zips.

So, always do bedroom zips up to the top, not the bottom. And let them fall asleep in the buggy then transfer to bed worked for us.

So true.
I only managed one camping weekend when DD was crawling and it was so awful I left (with DD) and went to a B&B instead. Having 2 older kids with you is useful though! Extra pairs of hands and eyes!

ds2 was 2 in November and I think this year is going to be harder than last tbh.

Last year we had our tent and our friends tent in a kind of L shape then we barricaded the other bit with windbreaks. Not ideal but it retrained him well enough and he sat and played.

This year I think he will want to be off with his older siblings and the barricaded area won't appease him.

I may tie a lunge rope to his reins

Can you get one of those corkscrew pegs that you get for dogs?

My advice is this. Get a caravan.

(that was crap advice but it works well!) ds2 is 17mo and a bugger for escaping/climbing/pulling stuff over etc.

If not walking, a sewn in ground sheet is a must, of not sewn in, it provides an easy access door for the crawling baby/toddler.

Balloons or beach ball in a bedroom with mesh zipped up can provide soft play entertainment out of harms way.

A thing for hanging ironing, like a coat stand, is great if you can fit it in. Hang stuff out of reach this way.

A small folding chair with cup holder is quite useful, if it sinks down a bit in the middle, it holds an active child a little longer.

oh it will be fine

do the zips up so they end up at the top

tie some coloured ribbons over guy ropes so she doesn't trip

and be thankful you are not doing potty training at the same time

Oh god yes, one of our doors on the tent doesn't close up all of the way, it has a little flap at the bottom that dd kept trying to escape through.

DS2 was 18 months ish last year when we went camping and we took his playpen with us! Am a bit about this year as he is too big for the travel cot but will no way stay in a bed...............

Funnily enough it was a camping trip that actually helped us crack potty training MerylStrop - DD's first poo in the potty was in a tent!
She is 5 now and loves camping much more than I do and has been asking since Christmas when are we going again.

None of this is terribly reassuring...although not entirely unexpected! and sadly ds2 remains incontinent so we have been effectively potty training for about a million three years now.
I think chains of some kind for dd may be the answer. Perhaps I could peg her out using spare delta pegs and the clothes line, in an area previously cleared of Things That are Unwise to Eat.

If she still fits in a travel cot, these make excellent temporary containment facilities.

The IKEA Antilop highchair was our saviour - the legs come off dead easily and the seat bit is not much bigger than a normal folding portable "seat that needs a chair to be strapped onto" thingy.

Take the tray and a couple of sucker toy things. Trying to feed a crawling toddler at ground level is tricky at best, dangerous at worst (camp stoves etc stay hot for a long time) you can also use as another temporary containment facility whilst erecting tent etc.

If all else fails, leave toddler strapped in car while you put tent up. Basically, they WILL choose the moment when you're trying to stop the entire structure blowing into the next field to make a run for nearest body of water / attempt to drink meths / crawl between peg and mallet.

Small blow up paddling pool = hours of fun plus useful for hosing mud off bathing at the end of particularly adventurous face plants in muddy ditches manouvres.

If too big for travel cot, one of those air mattresses with sides will help minimize rolling-off-mat-onto-cold-groundsheet issues.

Positives - you should still find she'll sleep okay (might be a bit later in the evenings) and she'll have a blast even if your nerves are shredded...

This year I'm going to be attempting camping with toddler AND newborn, now that should be REALLY interesting!

Good luck

I'm pretty sure she could climb out of a travel cot. I am trying to persude DH that we do, indeed, have room for dd's antilop in order to save my sanity . She sleeps in between me and DH on our (thin) SIM - he's the tent heater - so is the cosiest person in the night.
I think your right Grumpla and she will have to spend a few minutes bored in her buggy while the tent goes up. It will be worth it for the enormous amount of fun she is likely to have all the rest of the time.
Good luck with the newborn/toddler/camping plan. Last year I spent the evenings wandering round feeding dd whilst playing football/cricket with the boys (they were too small then to kick or throw hard)...it was fine...