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 Topic: Camping with a Toddler
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02/9/2012 at 2:04pm
Location: N. Manchester
Outfit: minnesota 4
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have been camping with little ones ~5 months. here are some of the things we have found!
When very little (baby) we used a pop up travel cot (folded up to the size of a dinner plate), however this was useless once the baby could roll as their body weight would tip the whole thing over! We have then tried ready beds (with additional sleeping bags, and those inflatable beds with sides all round. To be honest the first travel cot was great, the others were ok. I wouldn't rush out to buy any of them again. the problem with the cot was finding the zips in the middle of the night! We used the ready beds as we already had them at home. Now we cover the whole of the bedroom pod in SIM's and let them roll around, the youngest is always beside us incase of night time waking. We have never used a standard travel cot as we never had the space, both in the car and tent! We have plenty of spare fleecy blankets around.
We also used the baby sleeping bags with the shoulder straps so that they couldn't roll out (this was upto about 3) and get cold. When a real baby we also had a hat available if needed! We always used fleecy pyjamas, especially the ones with feet attached.
Then you need to try and not stick quite so much to routine! We did try and stick to the same bedtime, but it is really hard when they can hear children outside. Now we tend to play it by ear and see how tired they are, but going dark is always the limit of daytime!
WAterproofs, all in ones, and wellies are vital! Take plenty of clothes and watch out for the mud and grass getting everywhere. Sometime we resorted to a DVD before bed, which is something we would never do at home, but we used it as quiet time in the tent (we could have a drink and know where all the kids were!).
I would go, but be prepared for everything you normally do not to work quite as well. We have always found the early morning waking a problem, our solution is to stay up later so that a couple of days into the holiday they are so shattered they are sleeping in past the dawn. We did experiment with a piece of blackout fabric over the bedroom pods and this did help a bit with the early mornings.
Go and try and enjoy yourselves! But remember the next trip will be better!!!!! Hope the advice you get makes everything a bit easier!
Ribble
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02/9/2012 at 8:37pm
Location: Colchester
Outfit: None Entered
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We first took our little one this March when he was 7 months old. It was the coldest weather that I have ever been camping in, we used a normal travel cot and dressed him in a vest, babygrow with built in scratch mitts, grobag and 3 blankets over the top. He slept all night and woke up toasty warm in the morning. After this test camp, we bought one of these Arc 3 it is amazing, we let him sleep in it in his nursery a few times to get him used to it and now he always goes down with no problem at all. We try to keep as close to the normal routine as possible, and he is always tucked up by 7pm. We usually put a couple of fleece blankets underneath him, dress him in a vest and babygrow and put 2 blankets over the top of him that he can kick off if he gets too warm. We also find that the sound of chatter outside the tent helps to soothe him off to sleep. We have bought the blackout cover for the Arc and Alastair is so exhausted from having outdoor fun that he sleeps through till 7am.
I too had my reservations about taking a little one camping, but he is now 13 months old, has done a whole season camping and loves it, which makes me love camping even more! I have such amazing memories of camping as a child and am so excited that Alastair will be able to have his own!
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