Camping with baby

[Willow82]

So we have the opportunity to go camping at the weekend, something we haven't done since before children. I'm trying to think through the practicalities which I think I need some advice on.

We have a big family tent which we've never used. I think it has two bedrooms so enough room for the 4 of us. We have the Chicco crib which is portable so that's fine. I do co-sleep with her from 4am though. Does it make any difference this being on an air bed?

I'm also not sure about how to formula feed her and wash and sterilise her bottles. I'm told that there is access to water but I'm assuming we would have to heat it up in order to wash her bottles. She won't have cartons so we will also need to heat up water for her. Is campsite water ok to use?

Also, it gets really warm in tents especially in the morning. Is it safe for her to sleep in the tent?

Sorry, I've no experience camping with a baby so I'm worrying over all the details!

 

[CRWx]

How are you going to boil the campsite water for her bottles? I'd have said you'd need to take enough bottles to feed her once with, can't imagine how you'd be able to sterilise them properly. (But I'm a bit clueless!)

I'd also be more worried about the temperature being cold in the tent rather than warm, if it's warm you can open the door but being cold is an absolute mare. When I camped in August 2 years ago at a festival I was freezing!

 

[MindUtopia]

My advice would be to go with an open mind and expect everything to be a little bit upside down and for any routine you have to pretty much go out the window, but if you go with that expectation, it's much easier. Yes, it's safe for her in the tent. Actually, in my experience, it's much colder than at home unless it's a really blazing hot day and night (and if you're in the UK, I don't think it will be!). When we first took our daughter camping as a baby, it was mid to late June, and I had her dressed in a vest, sleepsuit, 2.5 tog sleeping bag with a jumper on over the top and then both of us under a winter duvet. It was that cold! Keeping her sleeping in her travel cot will be safer than on an air mattress, but you can make an air mattress safe, just make sure it's mostly just the two of you, she can't roll off, and it hasn't begun to deflate so that she could roll and get caught in a dip. We definitely used to co-sleep on the air mattress camping, but we had our own (my husband slept separately), made sure it was very well inflated every night, and also we bedshared full-time at home anyway so it was just something we were very used to, so I was always very aware of where she was. Dress her in layers so you can remove some if it gets warmer towards the morning, but will be enough to keep her from getting to cold during the night.

For bottles, I would recommend using milton's and bringing a bucket from home to keep them in, which you could keep just outside the tent or under your car so it doesn't get knocked over. The campsite may have sinks for washing up which often have hot water. Otherwise, bring your camp stove or whatever you plan to cook on and boil water for washing up. They will surely have drinking water available, which will just be normal tap water like you have at home, unless they are on a well. That should be fine to use. If you aren't comfortable with it, bring your own from home. We often got a 5 or 10 litre water bottle (you can get them from outdoor shops or buy water from the supermarket and either use that, usually it's also just normal tap water, not spring or mineral water, or pour it out and refill from home). My husband's family has a cabin that is completely off-grid that we go to every summer. The only running water is water out of a natural spring you go collect yourself (like literally it's a little waterfall that shoots out from behind a rock and you fill up bottles to drink and wash up in from there). When our daughter was small (under 1), we brought those like 5 litre jugs from Tesco and used that for all her washing up, drinking water and for making formula as I wasn't 100% comfortable using water from a natural spring at that age.

Also, if you have a wrap or a carrier, bring it. It will be a godsend. She will most likely not go to sleep at her usual time and will probably be up with you until later. Having something she can sleep in while you go about your evening will make a huge difference in how much fun it is. The first time we went camping we didn't bring our wrap and it was a nightmare. We spent like 3 hours trying to get her to sleep and I was exhausted and miserable by the end of it. But with a wrap, we could pop her in, she slept as usual, we sat and had dinner and relaxed and went to bed when we were ready.

 

[RaspberryK]

You can boil water on a stove so whatever water you use will be fine and you can cold water sterilise with tablets but I would definitely not bedshare on an airbed!
Xx

 

[Willow82]

Thanks for the really useful advice. We've decided to give it a miss because of the co-sleeping issue. As an air bed is unsafe to co sleep on, I would end up getting up at 4am with her which I don't want to do.

Hopefully, it will be a bit easier next year!

 

[mum22ttc#3]

I would have said basically everything mindutopia said

I would definitely recommend the Milton tablets and either a bucket or cold water steriliser, we brought one to use full time also having camping in mind and I have to say I much prefer it to the microwave sterilisers.
We're taking DS in a few weeks and he will only be 6 weeks, nights was what I was most nervous about what with crying and keeping others awake but so far he really has t been much of a 'cryer' so I'm hoping all will be ok.

Have you thought about a pop up cot? Not quite the same as co sleeping but we had one for dd4 and you can leave the sides open, it would depend how much baby moved about I suppose. They go flat on the tent floor so aren't to far of the level of the air bed.

 

[jessmke]

We are car camping with DD at the end of this month and will be taking our really big tent so we will fit her pack n play in it. Hopefully she sleeps in that but I imagine she will end up on the queen size air mattress with us. We'll just make sure it's maximally inflated each night. I worry more about her being cold because with only 2 adults and 1 baby in a tent that large it won't warm up in the tent at night.