Tent Camping: Part I
This week I had a friend, who is preparing to have her second child, ask about helpful hints on camping with new infants and small children. Her and her husband already have a camping trip planned and their baby isn’t even born yet…high five from across the U.S. Sadie!
This got my wheels turning in my rusty cobweb filled head and I had to refer to my journal for reminding…
September 13, 2004 - This is an entry I wrote when Corbin was almost 3 months old.
“Corbin slept through the night for the first time on Friday. The funny thing is we were camping out.
All four of us squished inside our tiny tent. But it was fun. He slept 8 hours straight. It was so nice.”
*What I do remember from this trip, besides my first restfull night as a new mom, is what he slept in that night. I got Corbin’s car seat and put it in the tent and lined it with warm blankets. I had him sleep in his normal pajamas and then put a fleece bunting over the top. I then topped it off with a little beanie on his head. Once I laid him in the car seat I just put a couple more layers of blankets over him. Fleece and synthetic down materials work best, I think. Because he was raised a little from the ground inside the car seat I knew I wouldn’t roll over on top of him. It allowed me to sleep better because we were pretty crammed…but warm!
April 28, 2002 - This entry was written when Cru was almost 3 months old.
“We’re on our way home from City of Rocks right now. We had a blast! I wasn’t too excited to go because the forecast said it would be rainy and cold; and it was, but not too bad. Cru was great. It was his first camping experience. We made the tent nice and cozy so we could all sleep in it. The first night was kind of rough but last night we stayed really warm and Cru slept all night. The climbing was rad!”
*I totally remember what made the difference between the first night and the second night. We learned a new trick that we still use to this day. When we set up our tent, and know it’s going to be cold and wet, we put a tarp under it. then we lay a fleece blanket over the top of the tent, where our air vents are. Then we put the fly on over that. It works extremely well. The heat stays in better but so does the stale air. Gets kinda stinky in there with three boys!
Mand
Great advice and so cool that you could look back on your journal to see what you did. I need to do better about the whole journal thing.
Thanks again,
Sadie
tent, camping, outdoors, adventure, summer fun, outdoor recreation
2 Responses to “Tent Camping: Part I”
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Awesome. I’d love to get my 7-month old daughter out camping with us, but I’ve been baffled about how to handle sleeping arrangements. I hadn’t even considered using her car seat.
Another option I’ve been playing with, but haven’t yet tried, is using two sleeping that zip together to make a larger “bed” for all three of us, and have Rosie sleep between me and my wife. We’ve done the family bed thing before, but lately she’s gotten too squirmy to share the bed, so I’m not sure if this option will really work.
I’ve never tried zipping bags together for a family bed but I’m sure it may help with staying warm. Good luck with that squirmy wormy! my kids are the same way. On the rare occasion that they sleep with us we find their feet in our face when we wake up.