Any tips for camping with a 4 month old?

[Thistledew]

We are spending a weekend camping in August in the UK. DD will be 4 months old. DS will be just 4 years. Any tips?

We had a trial run in the garden last night. I put DD in a long sleeve vest and long sleeve sleep suit. She was in a grobag sleeping bag. She lay on the foam mattress from her cradle.

She went to sleep well and stirred at about 10.30pm and had a quick feed. She was feeling a bit cold at this point so I put a fleece blanket over her, tucked under her arms. She slept as usual to about 3am and had another feed. Her body was nicely warm but her hands were icy cold. After a little time chatting about how excited she was about camping she went back to sleep until nearly 6.30.

I realised that she probably could have done with a hat, but what could I do about her cold hands? I don't want to tuck her arms under the fleece blanket as she will push it up near her face. Any other suggestions for keeping them warm?

Also, is it ok for her just to sleep on the mattress? We don't have room in the tent to put a travel cot up. I was concerned about my duvet getting too close to her face, but think this will be less of an issue when we are using sleeping bags.

We used to get the baby grows with the fold over sleeves to keep little ones hands toasty at night.

Also have you seen the proper camping travel cots? We have limited space too but these fit perfectly and will help when baby is a little older and wriggling around.

We used to get the baby grows with the fold over sleeves to keep little ones hands toasty at night.

Also have you seen the proper camping travel cots? We have limited space too but these fit perfectly and will help when baby is a little older and wriggling around.

Thanks. I've ordered her a fleecy sleep suit in the next size up so hopefully that will cover her hands.

Would it be better to go for vest, cotton sleep suit, fleece sleep suit and grobag, or skip the cotton sleep suit and add a blanket?

I'm not sure what the benefit of the camping cot is? Our tent is not big- there was not much spare room with the four of us in there, particularly as DS seemed to take up at least ⅓ of the space, leaving ⅔ for the other three of us. How we had things arranged last night, DD was closest to the door so a proper cot would get in the way. The other walls of the tent all slope in so I can't see a cot fitting.

I would just use a best a fleece sleep suit then add/take blankets if needs be.

You said you were worried about things getting too close to her face, they're contained in the cot that's all.

We used that pop up travel cot for our 6 month old but only because he moved around a bit, if your little one sleeps still I can't see using the mattress being a problem. Did you have a blanket or something under the mattress? That should help with warmth. For hands I put a pair of thick baby socks over his hands and that seemed to keep him warm. He slept the best he ever had on that camping trip!