Taking a baby camping

[D4D]

We're a month or so away from having number 1 baby. We've upgraded to a Goldstream for a little more civilisation and we plan to stick to caravan parks with ensuite sites to start with. What are people’s thoughts and tips on taking a baby camping? Oh and we're having a boy 

[SteveandViv]

We spent three week up around Cannia Gorge, Gladstone etc when Cam was 2 Months old. We had a great time and have never let the kids stop what we want to do and we think they really enjoy it and get used to it a little later in life. Obviously we didn't do any diff lock hills as you have to worry about their neck etc but We enjoyed it. I reckon you guys will as well

[DAZnBEC]

Firstly, congrats for when the little fella arrives. Another up and coming camper.

We have four kids ranging from 10 down to two. They have camped from the age of 2 months, with out a worry. Personally I think its pretty easy when they are young, but when they start crawling it a different story.

Start them young and they will love!

Dazza

[madman1]

Congrats on the newbie.

In my opinion get them out camping the sooner the better.  After all, all they do when babies is eat, sleep and poo.

Its a bit like my kids and the boat.  Get them out early and they haven't been sea sick at all.

Good luck


Mark

[Demac]

Hi D4D, look we took our kids camping at a young age (3 under 3, two girls and a boy) it was no worse than being home, the first time might be a learning curve but after that you'll want to go even more than ever. Our kids are in there teens now and still love camping.

[D4D]

Thanks for the good wishes, its coming down to the business end so the excitement is starting to ramp up.

How do you get them used to and keep them occupied on long trips?

[Prado BB]

Congratulations D4D

We have 3 kids and they have always gone everywhere with us, including camping.  I think you are onto a good thing with the Goldstream and I guess on-suite sites are good to make it just that little more comfortable.  So in short, don't be too concerned, they are pretty ruggered when new , we then condition them

Edit: to answer your last question, the best thing is regular breaks and regular feeds.  It is a bit tough up to age of one (sometimes longer) as some can become very unsettled being in the car for too long.
 

[Foo]

Soon as they start breathing, the earlier the better!

The younger they are the quicker they get used to it.

Keep them entertained the same way parents used too do it, games, being an idiot and whatever else you can do, but most importantly enjoy it!

[DANBRI]

Congratulations, it's the best thing you've ever done.

Don't be too stressed, they are tough little critters and adapt really well. The first 4-5 months of their lives is probably the easiest on the parents ever (you'll realise this when you have your second child). They just seem to sleep, eat and pooh - that's it.

Wait till he starts talking!

Our son (2.5) just chews my ear off all day every day and our daughter (1.5) is an angel in the background.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

(PS: We purchased the Jayco for the same reason (kids - comfort etc) but we ended up happier in the soft floor strangely enough - go figure!)

[dazzler]

We are on our fourth and dont go during winter. We have found the cold night air can give them a chesty cough.

Other than that, no worries at all.

[Victa]

We were in the same boat, once we had our little guy we stopped camping until we were happy he was big enough to cope with a change in his routine.  We took him to tallebudgera and stayed in the soft floor with a powered site so we could heat bottles, use a fan heater at night etc. 

At times when he woke during the night or early morning I felt bad foe my fellow campers as there is some noise involved but we had great neighbours so to speak and they enjoyed playing with him.  He was 9 months old when we took him so walking etc which kept him a tad cleaner!!

[Macleod]

I reckon kids are very adaptable creatures.  Our son has been camping since he was 6 wks old (he's now 10) so he is very used to it and loves it.  Treat it as a big adventure and they'll really get into it.

Our first big trip was when he was 2 and as long as you stop every couple of hours and get them out of the car seat the kidlets will be fine.  I used to go the cheap shops before the trips and get a few cheap little surprises - toy cars, animals, games, etc. So each day when he was getting a bit "restless" he got a new toy.

PS - congrats on the upcoming new arrival

[JCOJ]

Our eldest, now 5, went on his first trip when he was 4 weeks old and the second one was 2 months old before his first trip. 

They absolutely love camping and 4wdriving so the earlier the better. 

One trick we did was to sleep them in the porta cot we were taking away with us a few days before we left so they got a bit used to it before we actually went away.

[Craig and Jen]

We have 4 kids from 3-9yrs old and another 1 on the way (and NO we are not crazy) and none of them have ever slowed us down bush camping with little or no amenities other then what we take.

[GU Rich]

Congrats on the new baby mate, Richard is a great boys name  

I went camping for the 1st time when me and cruza driver (twins) were about 4-6 weeks old in the back of a 40 series cruiser, I have done the same with our 2 girls. The oldest was born in winter so she was a little older. When camping in the warmer months just need to watch the flies ect around there eyes ears and nose as there to young to swat them away. Being young say before they crawl we bought a large cover screen net type of thing  girls like above there beds and hung it from a tree to keep the flies out. The porta cot was used as a bit of a play pen, again before they were crawling ect. once they were crawling a off they went playing in the dirt or grass depending where we were camping at the time.
 We used to have the stove ready to heat up the bottles ready for the middle of the night feeds.
Get the new baby used to hats froma n early age too. As for ensuites the baby wont need one for a while!

Best of luck look forward to hearing how you go on your first big "family" adventure!!

Cheers Rich

[BigJules]

My experience mirrors everyone above; I took my now 7.5 yo camping at 6 weeks and it was fine. In fact Kate used to sleep better when the roads were rougher.

I've got the next one on the way now, and looking forward to taking this one camping too. The attitude of the mother is the key I think; I'd love my wife to meet other mums who've taken their bubs out camping.

[bommy]

Congratulations...

We took our kids from about 6mths, #2 was an unsettled colicky baby & I didnt think it was fair to subject our mates to him at ungodly hours of the night so we waited until he "outgrew" it at 8mths with him, or we went by ourselves but didnt venture into the remote.

As a mother it takes a bit of careful planning of trips around times for immunisations etc & then what to pack etc.. but if your not doing huge trips its fun make it over two weeks and it can become a nightmare....

As a mum who is an ambo I now advise everyone, look at where you are going,how far are you going to be from a hospital if the baby gets sick & what are the capabilities of that hospital... if the baby is in need of urgent attention its a scary thing having to wait for RFDS to land to get you to a decent hospital. (Especially in remote locations! The amt of distraught mothers I have tried to console in the back of the ambulance lately is just  {and they live here, so know how little our hospital can do})

[Victa]

Don't look too hard as there is another thread around complaining about crying babies!!!  Can't please everyone

[GGV8Cruza]

Start them off as young as possible, my 5 and 3 year olds can do 8hr stints when needed with minimal breaks and no electronic gizmos. Let them get used to it early as possible and it shold make it a bit easier for you.

GG

[lostindust]

We took a 4 month old camping for 2 months. only bit of advice is think about temperature control. we spent a few nights in Canberra in April, and she ended up not sleeping - she is a thumbsucker, but we wrapped her in so many layers that she couldn't bend her arm - no thumb, no happy baby.

Also spent several hours trying to find a doctor that could see her the next day, as her hands and feet swelled to twice their size due to the cold then heat of buildings.

One nice thing about camper trailers is you can always leave them in the middle of the night if you really are worried about something. there aren't many places more than a few hours without a clinic or doctor or hospital that can respond. But is was really nice to have a satellite phone as backup. We didn't need to, but we did consider that when we bought our CT.

[D4D]

That leads to another question, first-aid kits. We carry a St-John remote area kit however what should we add for the baby?

[bommy]

What we carry is different to most (both Jase n I are level 2 Ambulance officers with ST John Ambulance here & Jason is an Industral Medic) so we dont have a typical kit.. ours is more of a trauma / emergency response kit

but a thing to make sure of is that you dont get led into buying more stuff than you need or can use.
Most places that do snr first aid will also give you basic courses in remote first aid,child first aid etc, so its always worthwhile to look into that. As horrible as it is & you may never need it but a course in basic resuscitation for children & babies is always money well spent.

A normal basic off road first aid kit , with a few extras, such as a thermometer,baby panadol is probably the main things to have. One of our ruggies is Asthmatic so we carry salbutamol (ventolin puffer) and a space chamber with a mask attached as well. As your kids get older you can get other paracetamols & medications but there isnt much you can buy for the real littlies..

With a sick baby the hardest thing to regulate if you dont monitor it is their temperature a cheesecloth blanket dampened with water & rungout is great to pat down with to help cool a fever BUT dont do the old submerse in ice water as that is no longer recommended. (We had one lot up here stick a feverish baby in an esky full of icewater it bought the temp down alright.... but then it was the opposite..

Just making sure you know where you are & what the capabilities are of yourselves to act in an emergency & how to get to help if you need it are the best things too.

Jacq

[Stone Stomper]

You have made the right move with the camper, if the other half feels comfortable then you can go many places.

As long as you are there and they are warm and fed there is no different to being at home. We went to the Kimberleys with a 3 month old.

Christian

[Deejay]

Hi D4D,

We have two little ones Currently 2.5 and 5.  They have been camping with us since the missus was pregnant and soon after the first was born we took her to Exmouth with us.  It never stopped us.

A few pointers though.

Maybe bush camp whilst real young as your fellow campers will be less amused than you if the baby wakes every few hours for a feed.

As others have said, regular breaks.  I used to drive throughout the night as the kids sleep most the night, but too dangerous here in WA and now do short stints of 3 hours or so and pull up for the night, there is adventure in every camp spot, even if it's on the side of the road.

Make sure you allow each other to get enough rest (difficult in the 8 months) as one dog tired partner is no barrel of fun.

The kids are tough, they'll adapt, just go for it and have fun.  OPur kids love camping mostly in the bush, we rarely do tourist parks but the kids find adventure there too in simple things like double bunks etc.

Cheers,

DJ

[gurich]

All the best with the new arrival.

We took our second child camping (soft floor camper) when she was 4 weeks old. In terms of the nighttime sleeping we let her slip in her capsule as she appeared most content with that. We had a porta-cot which acted as her play pen when weren't giving her a cuddle and she wanted some down time.

When we use to do long travel trips we would limit the travelling to about 4 hours a day. We would time the travel normally around her sleep times. We also could travel much more than this becuase her older sister is not one that likes to stay seated; she loves camping and getting out there in it.

As she got older she just started sleeping in the porta-cot.

When our baby reached 16 months old we did a trip around Australia in a Coromal Silhouette. We graduated her from a cot to the push out bed at the opposite end of the camper; it had a child mesh on it to stop her from rolling out. This was challenging as she clearly didn't adjust to all the new found space. After 3 months though she settled and was fine.

Also we needed to do quite a bit of walking around the camp ground with her in the stroller. We had a cheapy and I lost count of how many running repairs I did on that ride, but it served the purpose well.

I think you just go for it and let her tell you what works by the way she adjusts.