Camping with a mobile 9mo - any tips?

[PrettyCandles]

Planning a week or 10 days in France this summer. Ds2 will be 9m and he's already crawling and pulling himself up. But not sleeping. Should be fun. I do this for the children. I outgrew camping a long time ago. Anyway, it was all different when I were a lass.

(This is turning into a rant...more of a muttering grumble, really.)

Back to the point: any tips of surviving a camping holiday with a mobile 9mo? Also have 6yo and 4yo camping veterans.

expect him to get dirty, don't stress when he does. a quiick wash before bed should sort it out. a one piece waterproof overall might be handy for wet days.

That pretty much sums it up for the other two as well LOL!

we did it with 9mo twins and survived, much to the amusement of our fellow campers! big rug/picnic blanket to spread on ground outside so he can have a defined area, lots of patience (i.e. don't expect to actually achieve much!) and fine wine should do it! Where in France are you going?

We took a booster seat with a tray and discovered we could peg it to the ground with tent pegs, which made meals v easy.

inamf, were your twins mobile? I doubt a rug on the ground would contain ds2 - we're considering bringing a playpen!

We're going to Jablines - very nice campsite, between Paris and Eurodisney. We visited Paris several times when we last camped there...not expecting to get much culture this time .

He'll be into everything if he's anything like mine. In the food cupboards, the sharp knives .... you have to plan your storage very carefully. Have hanging baskets for sharp stuff and things you don't want him to get and a good strong box with a lid he can't open to keep all the food in.

Bring loads of wipes. A washing line to rig up and loads of pegs.

I've seen people make a "garden fence" with wind breaks or stakes and that orange plastic mesh used on road works to keep a mobile child close to the tent .

bungee rope?

The year one of mine was very mobile dh made a sort of playpen from shortish fencing. We stuck cushions in it and toys and it had a large fishing umbrella over the top. In fact, half the time it would be full of older ones too, very cosy!!

I really recommend having somewhere to put them for short periods when you can't watch them, when you're cooking etc. Even a travel cot would help to put them in for brief periods

in fact, that fence thing could be lifted and moved around which was very usefull. We got a few 'cage' comments but from people who didn't have a baby!

I just booked it. I need my head examining - last year we went camping when I was 6.5m pg, and this year we're going with a 9mo non-sleeping Columbus. If he repeats last night's performance (11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am) then we're not going to be very popular!

Whrer would you put the baby to 'sleep'?

MrsCarrot - amazing people are rude enough to make comments like that, isn't it! It's not like you're putting the baby on a lead and tying it to a stake to go round and round (my Dad did this once with me I'm told.)

Put him in a winter Grobag to sleep in, should limit his mobility slightly at night, as well as keep im warm.

I'm wondering, do I put himto sleep in the children's pod (or will they roll over him), or in our pod (or will he be too close to me and want to feed all night), or in the 'living room' (or will I worry that he's too alone)? On the floor with mats etc, or in a travel cot? Or in the playpen? And which would be better to take, a conventional travelcot/playpen, or the Babydan?

Oh yes, and why on earth am I doing this anyway?

Put him in your pod with a smelly man between you to block out your yummy mummy pheromones.
Youngest I've camped with was a 13m old and I walked her to sleep in the pushchair and transferred her to her own pod, lying with her if she woke, until she dozed off again. Another reason why noisy old lilos are no use!