Anyone been hiking whilst carrying a baby?

[Innat]

We're planning on walking the west highland way in june with some friends. our dd will be 10 months by then so we'll have to carry her.

am guessing we'll get one of those backpack style carriers. anyone have experience of using these? think we will be walking up to 20 miles a day.

we will be using a van to carry our luggage from one place to next so will have to carry baby and day pack. would plan to swap dd with dh every hour or so and friends might do a shift but wouldn't want to ask them iykwim.

is this lunacy or an exciting challenge?!?

Go for it.

I have a karrimor one that I used for DS, with a sunshade and a raincover thing

It was great, very comfortable.

I'm actually thinking of selling it....!

I took DS walking at 10 months - but I don't think he would have happily stayed in the carrier over 20 miles a day. They get a bit fidgety and uncomfortable, I think. Also he pulled my hair, fiddled with my hat etc and generally drove me mad. It might work with lots of breaks - at 10 months he will be crawling and loathe to be stuffed in a carrier for long periods. ime! Have a back-up plan which involves shorter walks for the baby-carer on some days?

I did a lot of hiking i nthe Alps when dd was 4 and 5 months. All day walks rather than one long route. We had a backpac carrier and it was fine. Make sure you get a rain cover and also a sun shade would be good.

i went walking in the lakes with DS when he was around 8 months. some advice relating to my experience

a) get a carrier with protection against wind and rain, most are too exposed

b) very likely your lo will (and/or want to )be moving around. 8 hours a day confined to a backpack even with lovely views and people to talk to may not be her leisure activity of choice. I would perhaps aim only to walk for half the day and spend the other half just being on the hill tops practicing walking/crawling

aside - beacuse of a+b I ended up carrying a screaming baby in my arms up and down a moutain. not pleasent and a bit dangerous

c) at the end of each day you will be knackered. Try to organise a place to stay where you get a bath. Then you and dc can have a bath together at the end of the day. DC can go to bed and then you can have well earned pints.

d) breastfeeding even in a howling gale is possible

e) plan ahead a bit for meals so you don't get stressed by it

GOOD LUCK- it may be fun

I had Highlands hiking holiday round Fort William with DD1 (about 14 months old) and was 5 months pregnant with DD2 [true lunacy emoticon].

DD1 was in backpack carrier with dh and friends, and it was all great fun, and it didn't rain, though obviously very tiring and we weren't doing 20 miles a day. Are you camping, or getting proper beds and soothing hot baths for the night?

I don't know about the highlands way terrain - is it clear paths, or are there scrambles involved? I quite fancy another trip up there I shall go and google it now.

Thanks for all your advice.

We are planning on staying in B&Bs so will aim for bath each night!

I think 20 miles is the maximum we will walk - the route is about 100 miles (i think) and we have a week to do it. but i think some sections have a long stretch between accommodation.

I think most sections are paths and tracks so not too bad. We may well decide only to do part of the route - i think the last bit (to fort william) is very hilly.

i will do some training with her in a back carrier. At what age can you put a baby in one of these?

Did some short walks with dd (12 mths) in a Karrimor back carrier in the peak district recently - she was fine for 2-3 hrs (with a short stop for lunch when we got her out) but I don't think she would have been happy for much longer. She really didn't like strong winds in her face - we ended up giving up on walking on the windiest day.

you can put a child in a back carrier once they can sit up without support (so anywhere from 5-7 months I suppose).
you always have the option of travelling some of the distance in the van with dc if it looks like she can only cope with a few hours at a time

It's all really easy tracks and it never goes really really high (maybe 1500 feet at the highest point?

And the wildest bit is the Fort William end - the last 2 or 3 days. Before that, you are pretty close to bottle-out options all the time.

Might be worth checking out an Ergo carrier - baby is right against your back rather than held away from you, so you'd be better able to make sure they are comfortable with temperature etc. - sharing body heat. Also, you can carry a child on your front in an Ergo as well as on your back. I hve friends who swear by those; I preferred the BabyHawk/ToddlerHawk brand, but that might take a bit more getting used to.

And get yourselves prepared to sing a LOT of nursery rhymes...

I'm not sure I'd embark on quite that many miles a day, but it depends how placid the child is, really.

We had a Macpac, which was very comfy. DH carried DD in it from about 6m and I carried the rucksack. We used it for years. When DH took our DD1 out walking in the Dales at weekends by himself for a day he would always have a little mirror in his pocket so he could see if she was ok on his back in his "rear-view mirror".

You may well be better off with an Ergo baby carrier than a backpack type thing. They are cheaper, more versatile, and those I know who've tried both say Ergo is much comfier.

The advantage with Ergo is you can vary front and back carries (I still carry my heavy 2.2 year old in it on my front) and even hip carry, so baby gets some variety.

For weather protection, get a babywearing rain poncho, such as the Suse's Kinder rain poncho. It saves on packing because you put it over both of you, and takes up very little space (great if you're going up on the sleeper!)

If you're planning on doing lots of outdoors things, get a babywearing coat - cheapest is a Nori Vest, but the Suse's Kinder coat is de luxe. Baby gets far more shelter this way than a backpack with cover.

And can't recommend Babylegs highly enough - they keep the wind out of the bottom of trousers. Once babe can walk, you can tuck any overlong trouser legs into them, to stop them falling over.

If by any chance baby is walking by 10 months - some do - get some Rukka waterproof dungarees. They're lovely and the loops keep the wellies on.

Thanks for that mrsgboring. and emmaagain i assume you have done the WHW then!?!

Thanks for all the advice about the back carriers. Ergo sounds good. i will go and check some out and then start training straight away! We are plannign to do at least one weekend of walking before we embark on the WHW and several long walks when we can.

Point taken about the limiting factor being the number of hours ds will spend in the carrier. i do carry her in a sling fairly often but i realise things will change by June. I think we will definately have back-up plans and perhaps 1 or 2 days we will skip the walking and do a day trip elsewhere amd meet back up with our friends at that day's stop over point. Our friends are all quite excited and have already offered to do carrying shifts!

i have an ergo....its fab!
did a bit of hiking up a mountain in it before christmas....(i was carrying, my ds was in it!! hes quite a tiddler....only about 23lbs) but i found it great.....really comfy and nice and secure. it hs a hood you can pop over the babies head if they drop off to sleep to stop them from lolling around.
it will fit most people and is very easy to adjust.

my only tip would be to use it before hand...some babies who aren't used to being worn don't like being held so tightly.......its worth a try first.
visit www.slingmeet.co.uk and there may be a group in your area where you can try out some different carriers.
good luck....sounds fab!

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