We are off on our regular yearly 2 week camping trip soon and our newest family member will be 11 wks old,he is still waking fir feeds in night but normally stirs before actually crying thankfully!
Has anyone been camping before with such a young baby and if so what tips can you give?Our other 3 kids are 11,9 and 7 and the youngest we have took one before was 18mths.
We have brought a samsonite pop up cot and will stand that on a suitcase.
We always have ehu too.
Hi, we went away to France with our then 6 week old, plus our two older kids. Really glad we didn't chicken out; it was great. We had a folding camper back then but we'd do it now with our tent all the same.
We were bottle feeding -don't know if you are? Our compact (steam) bottle warmer thingy was invaluable.
I put a pic of our little one on that trip on another thread a while ago.Here
Good luck! I haven't any advice as I've never been camping yet, but I'm sure it will be so easy tho. At that age they are a doddle aren't they - sleep most of the day!!
Our youngest two have been around the same age when we took them for the first time. I actually co-slept with baby but with separate sleeping bag |(DH relegated to other sleeping pod). Baby had the grobag and I did put couple of blankets on them too. I found it easier as I was breast feeding and also felt more comfortable with the little one near me so that I could check on them during the night and adjust blankets etc.
My Eloise was 16 weeks old. I was combination feeding. Took a cold water sterilizer and bought pre made aptimil formula. Eloise was so quiet nobody knew there was a baby in the tent. We had a pop up koo-di and had extra blankets at the side I case it got too cold. I'm camping right now and Eloise is now 17 months. She absolutely loves it, all this fresh air is great for them.
If your bottle feeding, make sure you have the bottles sterilised before bed, powder measured, and maybe the water boiled and stored in thermos flask. We boil and fill the flask, then boil another load of water, empty the flask and refill, I find that this helps to keep the water hotter for longer.
Also, I'm sure your already doing this at home, but work together to get the job done quicker, meaning you both get back to bed quicker, and less disruption to others on the site.
With our son, when he woke in the night, I would quickly get the kettle on, make the formula, and my wife would start changing his nappy, I would finish off the nappy once the bottle was done, and she would feed him (as I had to go back to sleep for work).
Before we had a child, I remember going camping and being woken twice through the night by a crying baby, and the parents having to boil the kettle on a gas stove, and prepare the bottle, it being a good 15 minutes of crying before the baby had a bottle ready.
Maybe at home that is ok, but in a tent, the sound carries across the campsite and you could see many disgruntled campers the following morning, I can never sleep when there's a crying baby about!
Took our 9 week old granddaughter. She slept in a moses basket and kept to her routine. Luckily she was sleeping through by this age and always managed her uninterrupted 10 hours.
We took our daughter when she was still having a bottle throught the night, I had cooled bottle water in a flask and booled water in another so as soon as i heard her stirring I could make her bottle very quickly and at the right temp! I also took milton tablets for sterilising in a big tupperware dish. Good luck!
------------- 21st-26th april plas farm caravan & camping park
27th-30th may High bank farm
June??
July/aug fangfoss campsite
september 6th-10th bordeaux,France (for a wedding, not camping!)
If you want to keep water hot for a long period of time, try the Thermos 24hr flask, we bought one from Argos, they are more expensive than a standard flask, but have a stainless steel inner and are virtually unbreakable.
We once accidently forgot and left ours half full in the back of the car for a couple of days, and when we tipped the water out it was still quite warm.
Julia
------------- Just love to be out amoungst Nature and Wildlife
Celebrating 37 years of Caravanning in 2019, Recently Considered Retiring, but Totally Addicted for Life!
I took my daughter to France for a month when she was about 10 weeks. It was made easier by the fact that I was breastfeeding, although still needed sterilizer for bottles of water due to temperatures but that was all fine.
Sleeping and nightimes were fine - she slept in a Moses basket, insulated underneath and plenty of layers.
Good luck!
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Camping with our 11wk old...
