Camping Adventures Baby vs Toddler

07/27/2017

Our family loves to camp. We started taking our daughter when she was just under 6 months old. I actually found it easier on our first camping trip then the following year. I have made a list of my top tips for camping with a baby and then the revised list of tips for camping with a toddler.

• We used to drive a Pontiac Vibe hatchback so were limited on space for what we could pack. I got very creative. The first battle was what would we have her sleep in/on. We were able to fit the pack and play into the car but it wouldn’t fit in the tent with the air mattress. I usually take a laundry basket to hold things like food or other essential needs in the car so measured it before departure and realized with a couple of piled up blankets it would serve as a perfect bassinet for sleeping in and I could use it to carry supplies in the car.

• My baby was a bottle fed, formula baby so the next issue was how to heat up and sterilize bottles. We have a Coleman camping stove we take with us so I just boiled water in that and then dumped it into a wonderful thermos I have. It keeps the water warm for hours. That could hold 2-3 bottles worth of water so it saved me from having to boil water for each bottle. I then just boiled more water and washed the bottles out really well and hoped for the best. Worked out great for us.

• The Bumbo chair was key. My husband loves to fish and our site is right at the water with a great fishing rock. I could take the Bumbo chair to the rock and she would sit and watch daddy fish. It also was great because she had something to sit in while we ate. She also had the pack and play to hang out in with a mosquito netting to protect her from the bugs.

• She had always slept with a night light so I was a little worried about what to do about that. She had a glow worm from birth. When you pushed its tummy it would play songs and the face would light up. That saved the day. She woke up crying twice in the night and I just pushed the tummy and she settled back into sleep and was good to go.

• The last essential item was the carrier. We were able to enjoy a nice trail with her comfy in the baby Bjorn.

I thought it would be so tricky to camp with a baby but it turned out to be so much easier than expected. Because she wasn’t mobile she was content to sit on our laps or play in the pack and play and just really went with the flow. She travelled great. We had planned to make frequent stops but she slept a good portion of the way. I also knew I was going to have to try not to sweat things like her getting dirty. That was inevitable. I have seen people bathe babies in Rubbermaid bins but we were only gone for two nights so I gave her a good scrub down when we got home.

Camping with a toddler is whole other story. Now she is fully mobile and into everything. Setting up turned into me toddler wrangling and my husband setting up shop pretty much solo. There was a lot of whining but we quickly discovered if we sat her on a camping chair and opened a bag of Cheetos we could get some solid quiet time.

My biggest pieces of advice for camping with a toddler are:

1. Pack clothes you don’t care about, they are going to get filthy. I am good with her being dirty but if this is something that bothers you then it will be a camping nightmare.

2. Don’t expect to have down time to sit and read. I thought oh look some new toys she has never seen before she will happily sit and play and I can read my book. The only time I touched my book was when she was napping.

I prefer to pack on the lighter side. I always have rope and clothes pegs to hang up any wet clothes. If they are dirty oh well as long as they are dry then I throw them right back on her. Rocks and sticks become toys and we just learn to explore what’s around us. There is already so much to drag with you in terms of what you need to cook and to have shelter, that I forgo a lot of other things I have deemed unnecessary for a 2 night camping trip. Sometimes I have to get creative with how to entertain a small child but it has always ended up working out for us. While camping with a toddler is harder than camping with a baby, we still had a great time and now that she is 3 we continue to go to our favourite campsite and make memories together.