Camping with a 9 month old

[MumWithCamera]

Ok so we have booked 4 nights camping (tent, Nevada M to whoever is interested) in Cornwall with DS (9 mo) and DD (4).

I've never camped with a little one before, so desperately need tips! Have just read a few threads on here from people who have done camping with similar aged children and I'm now terrified this will be a disaster!!

Should say I'm a very experienced camper - pre-kids, not worried about mud and dirt and stuff... only behaviour really famous last words...

Specifically what should I put him in at night, a grobag with lots of clothes underneath? (We have a littlelife arc2 travel cot to contain him and I guess that provides some warmth in itself). DS is a good sleeper (sleeps through until 7am usually) but I appreciate that he will be an earlier riser whilst camping. I was wondering whether I could put my gro-blackout-blind over the top of the kids sleeping compartment to block out lots of the light for longer? maybe that's mad...

What do I need for DS during the day - a full body splashsuit? He's not crawling but will presumably be sitting on the floor to play with toys. And might need to dash to the car in the rain but I wouldn't really want any time out in the rain unless abs necessary!

Does anyone know of a highchair that works for camping? What do you normally use?

We have estate car and roofbox but I suspect that with the size of the tent and stuff we won't have tons of room for the trusted Ikea highchair even if the legs do come off easily enough..

EEK!

Hi, we have a nomad travel cot which looks pretty similar to the one you have, I often drape a towel or fleece blanket on the top to keep some warmth in and some light out.

We take a normal grobag and selection of layers, vests, normal sleepsuits, fleecy sleepsuits. I always put a sheet on the mattress too as it feels cold to touch.

We've never taken a high chair before but ds2 (14m) just wont eat if he's sat on the ground unlike ds1, so we have just bought a concord lima to take this time, folds sort of flat ish so am hoping it will go in ok! we have a large hatchback and roof box.

The main thing we find tricky is keeping them quiet in the mornings I'm afraid, I don't really think there is much you can do to stop it, I just always hope we are pitched near other families!

We take a full waterproof suit for ds2 and just let him roam about and then it doesn't matter how mucky he gets

We took DD camping at 6 months. I lined her 'room' of the tent with some old blankets and some of those foam floor puzzle pieces to insulate the floor. We took the travel cot, lined that with a fleecy blanket (tucked in very securely), dressed her in a babygro and vest and she slept in a grobag.

Didn't bother trying to block out light but we did pitch up near other families with young children.

At that age DD used to sleep in an Arc 2 with a vest, babygro and fleecy onesie (Primark do good ones or we had a lovely one with a hood from Trespass - these look similarish: www.muddypuddles.com/baby/baby-clothes/all-in-ones/baby_fleece_all_in_one_green_star.htm) as well as an IKEA sheepskin to lie on for extra insulation. I would add blankets acording to the temperature. She was always toasty.

The IKEA Antilop is a trusty camping staple but if you really don't have room, at 9 months we used to bring a child's camping chair and use the bag round the back of the chair to hold her in (obviously don't just leave her by herself if you do that). It worked pretty well.

Definitely take a waterproof suit for him so he can crawl about all over the place without any problems. Wellies are hard to get for that age though which is a shame when camping but these might be an alternative: www.muddypuddles.com/baby/baby-footwear-and-accessories/snowboots/thermal_booties_colbalt_blue.htm.

Thanks all, fantastic help!

Will consider taking the ANTILOP highchair maybe that's the best idea. after all it's so cheap I could give it to a charity shop on the way home if I can't fit it back in the car!! But I suspect like you say elastic that
mine won't eat sitting on the floor either.

Just been on the muddypuddles website frozen and bought lots of stuff, lucky they have a sale on! Fleece sleepsuits seem to be the way forward and they have a nice star print one as it happens.

Also in IKEA vein, will be bringing plenty of cheapo fleece blankets that seems to be the answer and they are only a pound or two each so can't go wrong.

Full waterproof suit ordered for both kids too. DD always complains if it's raining so I think there will be a big headache for me, but perhaps if she is waterproofed head to foot then she will get over her princess syndrome grin

Still thinking this might be a disaster though!! yikes. Have been considering booking into one of those luxury family hotels on the way back to save my sanity.... but that seems a bit wrong after going camping somehow!

We are just back from our first ever camping trip and we took our 7 month DS with us and had a fabulous time!

At night he was in a travel cot and clothing wise he wore a vest, sleep suit and was in a sleeping bag with a fleece blanket on top. He slept all night and was toasty warm. In hindsight I would have taken a cardigan and mittens for him too.

In the tent we put down a foil backed camping blanket and on top of that had his change area and playmate so he had somewhere that was all his to play. If we had space in the car I would have packed some kind of seat for him too.

During the day we had two sets of clothes just incase and had an all in one waterproof suit for rainy days. Also took the sling instead of a buggy so saved space that way too.

If you are prepared you will have a fabulous time, our DS really enjoyed himself as did our ten year old DD.