Camping with a baby

[AKMD]

Hi all, not sure if this is the right place but here goes...

DC1 is due in March and I am a bit of a camping freak and would like to go away somewhere not-too-far over the summer. Has anyone here ever camped with a small baby? Is it a nightmare or ok? And what did you take that turned out to be essential/not needed/wished you had?

Thanks!

I ahve 7 dc and we camp.

The last time the baby was 9 weeks old. It was so easy. I was bf so all i took was his carrycot for him to sleep in.

I topped and tailed him in the tent with boiled water (obv not boilingn on him!)

It was raining but still great fun.

Easy when they are little imho.

easier with a tiny tahn with an older baby or toddler ime

the one thing you can do to make it easier is exclusively breastfeed - nothing like trying to light the stove to warm a bottle at 3am...

it's also much easier if they;re still in a moses basket or carrycot than a travel cot as they are closer to your level in the night.

Apart from that it depends entirely on the temperament of the baby...

If the weather is mild it will be fine, but I went camping in the Aug bank holiday when DS was around a year old. It was extremely cold at night (around 4c) and he woke up and would not go back to sleep - he was wearing warm clothes (vest and baby glo and fleecy thing & 2 grobags but still cold) he screamed and screamed (woke up whole campsite), couldn't get him back to sleep. I guess it also depends on temperament of baby.

re: bottle - if you are bottle feeding you'd just fill up thermos flasks of boiling water before you went to bed, have the water all boiled and just add powder and sit in water from flask to heat up - or some babies will take ready made formula at room temp but easier if breastfeeding and might be a bit of a nightmare around weaning time (although I suppose you could just give them jars).

We went away in our caravan when DD was 3 months old and really enjoyed it but I remember being glad that we weren't in a tent.

Sorry - that was a bit abrupt. I meant to add that I prefer the caravan anyway - baby or no baby!

We found a sling very useful, also took our tummy tub because that was one of the only things that calmer her when she was colicky - I remember lugging it back over from the shower block!

I've got a lovely picture of her sitting in her bouncy chair outside the caravan but the bloody thing was the bane of the trip - always in the way and I think she only sat in it once!

yes, I must confess to preferring having running water for handwashing post-nappies etc

and check site facilities for eg family bathrooms, baby-washign sinks etc

Thanks everyone. How about activities - did you do what you would normally do camping or did you do special baby things? That sounds very silly but I am a first-timer and absolutely clueless about what babies can and cannot do! We would normally do lots of walking/kayaking but I definitely wouldn't take the baby on the water (I'm not so great at staying upright )

I take my 4 dd's camping right from when they were newborn, the babies I didn't bf I would warm a the bottle to boiling (can add milk powder when req) and then wrapping it in a towel and putting at the bottom of our sleeping bag to keep warm. Dd4 is bf which made it a lot easier. We enjoyed 5 weeks in France camping this summer and even took cloth nappies

oh and re activities, get a decent sling (not a Bjorn type, a wrap or a mei tai or something) and you can walk as much as you like - one parent kayaking at a time also viable.

but remember for the first 4m or so childcare is more or less a full time job so be prepared for it to be the same grind as at home (feeding, changing, rocking, grizzling, singing, napping etc) just with different scenery and no tv...

yy - I was trying to think of a way to say what MrsBadger said about it being a full time job! We did some walking with DD in her wrap but it was obviously punctuated with a fair few feeding and changing stops.

We went with friends and had a great time just taking it in turns to play frisbee / football etc. while a couple of people sat watching DD snooze on a blanket.

She seemed to sleep well at night after all the fresh air so that was a real bonus.

Caravan I would do. Tent no. You would be surprised how little you need. We all buy too much. and i mean just for normal being at home.
you need the same camping as you do at home. quite little actually. you will be fine.

We did a tent at nearly 6 months and to my surprise it was really easy! In fact DS slept better in the tent than he was doing at home... something about the fresh air perhaps?

Things that worked for us were taking a lightweight highchair (Ikea one that comes to bits), as he could sit in there and be safe while we did stuff like putting the tent up, and he loved watching all the goings-on from there - for a smaller baby I guess a bouncer would do the same. A waterproof picnic rug is also great to give them somewhere to roll around without getting wet and muddy. Also we did lots of walking with a sling or back carrier.

DH is now starting to make plans for how to camp with a baby and toddler, eek

14 week old in Cornwall - it was bloody hard work for me (bf'ing) dp had a fabulous time! However, tigga cub did sleep really well so I go more sleep.

I can highly recommend getting the best seats you can afford if you are bf'ing mind.

Don'tBotherWith15CornwallIt'sAverageTiggaxx

My daughter was 5 months old when we first took her camping, would have done it earlier, but waited until it wasn't that cold anymore.

She loves camping and it was surprisingly easy. She never sleeps through unless she's in a tent. We share a sleeping compartment with her and leave the side of her travel cot open so she can roll over and snuggle up to me. Littlelife Arc 2 is a fantastic travel cot for camping as its own tentshape means it fits better into a tent and gives imho also a bit of extra insulation. Plus, if you use the pegs you can then also use it as an outdoors playpen.

Waterproof picknick blanket is a must and we found it helpful that our tent has a fitted carpet .

Never bothered with high chair, but had her sitting in the car seat to watch when setting up the tent, highchair probably is a good idea though once she's outgrown the baby seat.

We've been doing a lot of walking with her and she loves going into the bacck carrier. We find the sling to be a bit more impractical, as both baby and carrying adult are more likely to overheat, and when carried in the front you can't see your feet properly. The back carrier (we've got a MacPac Possum is better, also because it has space for nappies, food, drink, waterproofs. I carried her up the Snowdon Ranger path in it when she was 9 months old and we both loved it.

I only recommended a sling for the OP because iirc they can't go in a backpack till 6mish when they can sit up well...

I would definitely invest in an Ergo if you like walking, they are great walking carriers - not as hot as a fabric sling, much better for baby and you than a Baby Bjorn type thing, much less bulky than a framed back carrier and go from newborn right up to 40lbs (4 or 5 years, by which point you will hopefully not be carrying them!) - on the front when they are tiny and on the back once they can sit up and want to look around.

If you co-sleep with the baby you will have your body heat to keep them warm and in the early months if you co-sleep regularly your body temperature will adapt to keep them at the perfect temperature. I would recommend though sleeping on 2 or more bed mats or if possible something raised slightly off the floor as the cold from the ground does come through and you will not want to use a sleeping bag if you are co-sleeping (blankets are much safer)

Thanks again! With the sling, why is a Bjorn-style one not good? Also, this may be a very silly question but could we do camping in a 2-man dome tent or will we need a bigger one?

bjorn-type slings thus where the baby is suspended by the crotch aren't as good for their hips and legs as an Ergo or Mei tai type that supports the lentgh of their thighs all the way to their knees - you can see the difference int he pics.
The frog-legged posture also means their weight is better distributed for the parent so are comfier to wear for longer.

re tent, I would go bigger if possible. The amount of stuff (clean clothes, anppies, blankets, bouncer etc) you end up taking, plus cot will equate to a whole extra person.

My sling is a Mei Tai (Babyhawk) and I still find it quite hot for walking. It's ideal for using on the campsite, though, e.g. when taking the child to do the washing up etc, or when out and about in town/. I once carried my daughter up to Cwm Idwal in the Mei Tai and found it really uncomfortable not being able to see my feet on uneven paths. It was alright for the relatively short walk, but I'd never do a whole mountain day with it.

Different carrying systems are great for different uses.
Apart from the Baby Bjorn -style stuff, which is crap whereever you use it.

Ohhh dear, ok, I will send my lovely, fleecy sling back and get a proper one. Thanks for the heads-up!

We camped with our 12 week old last summer and it was very straightforward she slept in her pram and was having a mixture of breast and bottle feeding. We only ever do cold water sterilising at home so simply took our usual plastic box and a few Milton tablets to sterilise. She's also never had a warmed bottle so we didn't need to worry about heating milk for her. We put boiling water in the bottles and let them cool, only adding the powder just before we fed her.

The one thing you will need to make sure of is that you wrap your baby up nice and warm at night. The friends we camped with had wrapped up their babies but they all woke at night due to being cold. Ours had a vest, babygro (sleepsuit), cardigan, snowsuit, hat and 2.5 tog Grobag in addition to being off the ground in a carrycot with the apron bit over the top of a blanket - she woke up with rosy cheeks!

We have very happy memories of our first camping trip with 6 week old dd. She woke up early one morning and wouldn't go back to sleep so dh took her for a walk round the lake and saw one of his best ever sunrises

It does help if you bf but it is all still perfectly doable with bottles.

When I took dd the first time I had her in her Moses basket; when I took ds1 at 6 months-ish we co-slept on an air bed. If you don't use a Moses basket you can get some very compact travel cots - there is one by LittleLife which our friends used when they brought their 2 week old camping (beating our record, grr! The mum had had a C-section too ).

I took DD at 8 wks and was knackered! Camping with her lovely, and not that hard given that being at home hard, but I would only do it if bfing, hot water for tea is very precious in our tent!

I did worry with temperature so slept badly - piled layer upon layer on her as it got colder and colder, then as it got warmer in the morning slowly removed them one by one. Plus it was hard to bf with me wearing 4 layers and her still being little, so fed sitting up, which I hate (cos I have to be awake).

Sling definitely essential. I liked the pouch ones for easy in and out, and for feeding in. Its truly lovely living outdoors with baby though .