Camping while pregnant....

[mrswishywashy]

I'm currently nine weeks pregnant and my partner and I camped for two nights over Easter weekend. We decided to try out a air mattress, it was mostly comfortable however we did get condensation the second night. I also was frozen - slept in full clothing including fleece, good sleeping bag, plus three fleeced blankets and a hat. I'm wondering if the air in the mattress made it colder.

We plan to do a month of camping in August when hopefully I'll be seven months pregnant. What sleeping mattress or bed will be the most comfortable? We only have a two man tent but likely will try and get something larger. I'm worried about sleepless, uncomfortable nights and would love some guidance from others who have camped while pregnant.

Make sure you don't have too far to go to get to the toilet!

Lol, I'm trying to convince my partner we need a loo in the tent awning. Already up twice a night so will keep in mind closeness to loo.

I camped throughout both pregnancies and found air beds were fine, but we do always put a layer of cheap foam mats underneath them to insulate from the cold ground.

Never go to bed in clothes that you've worn that day - they can often be a bit damp which makes you cold. I'm prone to be cold at night, a fleece sleeping bag liner has made a massive difference.

Hmmm, thanks, maybe we need more layering under the air bed.

I had pj type clothes on, thermal leggings are very comfy althiugh my legs aren't made for legging type trousers. Maybe it was just a bit grim as I am still so tired and feel a bit ill at times, possibly it might get easier in a few months? My worry is getting stuck on the air mattress and not been able to roll off and up.

I'm planning it for august as well, I'm about as far gone as you. Am thinking about a single camp bed instead of our double thermaredt as I might not be able to get up. And yes to a loo bucket.

Otherwise I'm not too worried, tent is easy to put up.

Accessibility to a loo bucket is going to be the main priority for you by that stage, for those tiny wees at five minutely intervals (or was that just me)?

As to a bed, a self inflating mattress, although more comfortable for many, is unlikely to be your friend by that stage as getting up from the ground may be a struggle. You can get double height airbeds which might be a good idea if you have room in your tent. Otherwise, a regular fairly thick one should be ok.

Getting a larger tent would probably be a good investment as, if you plan to camp as a family in future, you will need a bigger one anyway. Certainly, I really struggled getting in and out of our small two-man one when I was pregnant. Try to get one which is fairly easy to put up though, as by that stage you really won't need the hassle or stress of trying to negotiate heavy steel poles and complicated instructions.

Oh and forget "trying to persuade" your partner about anything loo-related! He gets no say in this at all - I would have the bucket as close to your side of the bed as you can bear. Use "poo powder" or cat litter to absorb the liquid if you are worried about spills.

Oh and finally (this really is my last post - sorry). I wouldn't worry too much about how cold you were at Easter. We camped last week too and we had an electric heater on all night in the bedroom pod with us and I was still cold. That was with a silver blanket thing under the airbed, a sleeping bag under the sheet, a thick duvet, a fleece throw, full thermals, and three jumpers including a hoodie with the hood up. I have never been anything like that cold camping in August even if the weather isn't that great.

Although I would still wear thermals probably in August, but I have no discernible metabolism at all.

It was fine - but I couldn't crawl (injured knee) or crouch (bump in the way) which made moving around inside the tent v ungainly!

I camped in the heatwave at 36 weeks last summer. It was great! We took a bucket loo (which DH emptier for me every morning like a true gent!).

We slept on a double air bed as normal and for my many loo breaks in the night I would roll off it sideways on to old fours at get up that way. I went to sleep with a hot water bottle as it did still get cold but was fine every night (I also insisted on duvets not sleeping bags!).

I would request a pitch with some midday shade.

Always put a foam mat or similar under as extra insulation - I can remember being told as a Guide to have as much under as over and ideally more! We always use either foam mats or the self inflating mats under our airbeds

Also, a double sleeping bag will be warmer as you gain heat from the person you're sharing with (I may have learnt this in a joint Guide/Scout camp too )

If you are getting a new tent, aim to get one you can stand up in, especially if you are likely to camp with DC. It makes life so much easier, we have always worked on a tent being 1 smaller than you need - so 2man for 1 person, 3man for 2 and so on.

Finally, I camped at 7 months pregnant with dc3. We had double airbeds/sleeping bag set up and I couldn't get out without disturbing Dh so he nobly carried the torch for me on nighttime toilet trips...

I just used a Thermarest at 6/7 months and was fine.

I used a double duvet and wrapped myself up in it - was surprisingly comfortable at 7 months pg.