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Hello all,

Just ordered a new tent , Lichfield Commanche 8,- never camped before, got 2 girls 8 & 11 months, any tips or ideas on making life easier with a baby when camping- things to buy etc.

cheers

Sand

I was dragged to the south of France as a baby. Totally wasted on me, I don't remember a thing.

Babies are more resilient than people think. Do what suits you and the babe will fit in.

We're just back from a weekend with our three girls (8,6 and 15 months). We had the baby in a grobag (baby sleeping bag) as it was a more sensible size than a normal sleeping bag but stayed on (unlike sheets and blankets). She slept on an air bed with her two sisters, next to our airbed. She's used to co-sleeping at least part of every night in our bed at home though.

We didn't bother this time with the travel cot, partly cos we were a bit pushed for space, partly as we didn't really use it last year (she was 6 months then). Can see it would work well as a playpen during the day though. Zoe has never really got the hang of sleeping in ours!

Port-a-potti makes nights easy - no having to walk them to the loo in the dark.

Portable DVD players for when it rains.

Our baby's a bit older now but we found the travel cot a god send!

Apart from that we didn't take anything special and she was never any trouble.

 Thank you all,

 Will take a travel cot I think so that she cant escape !!!, bought a potta potti today, & elder daughter has got a portable DVD, will buy a waterproof rug and  baby growbag!.

I think I might have to buy a Van or trailor to take all the stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

looking foward to camping for the1st time

thanks for all your advice

HI Sandra, hope your finding all the messages useful, I know I have.

I've just brought a Vango Nitestar baby sleeping bag for our little lad, first time we took him away he was really cold.  Not with this sleeping bag, like a proper sleeping bag camping style for kids, looks really cute too.  We've tried him out in it once, so that when we went away it wasn't too much of a shock to him.  He was lovely and warm when he woke up.  Can't remember where I got mine from, somewhere on line, paid £15 for a new one.

Happy Camping and best of luck

Cheap white plastic high chair and tray from Ikea.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=12&langId=-1&catalogId=10103&productId=53018

(Can`t find a UK link, sorry.)

It`s about £14, legs unscrew for easy packing, extremly stable and incredibly useful. I think it was one of the most useful pieces of baby camping kit I have ever taken, together with the compact Graeco travel cot (2/3rd size of standard) and a Vango Nitestar Baby sleeping bag.

 ThANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIPS, KEEP THEM COMING-WILL TRY & BUY THAT SLEEPING BAG , LIKE THE BATH IDEA !!!, WILL HAVE A LOOK AT THAT HIGH CHAIR

KEEP THE TIPS COMING

CHEERS

Can't recomend a grow bag strongly enough. Got our girl in it before she went camping (16 months- not walking) so that by the time she went it was a bit of home she recognised. Put he on an air bed with a sleeping bag on top for the cold nights and she slept like an... err... baby. Lots of carpet offcuts, picnic blankets etc for them to crawl around on. We even used cloth nappies whilst camping hand washing them all for two weeks, that was a bit of an effort, but kind of theraputic in the open air. For small kids a hair scrunchy around the bottom of the sleeping bag to stop them sliding down is a good idea. As are ReadyBeds. 

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10103&storeId=7&langId=-20&productId=53018

UK link to the high chair... we are interested in this too....I love this site...

My daughter's 18 months so it's not quite the same, but I definitely recommend using a grobag.  We went away this weekend and she slept in a readybed with a grobag on for extra warmth, and she had a great time.  First time out of a cot and she was no trouble at all.

And I don't know if you're at the crawling stage yet, but it's worth looking at all in one fleece or waterproof suits - we had one when she started crawling (still uses them for toddling), and they were a godsend for letting her explore the garden on all fours without trashing her clothes.

we took that IKEA highchair too as it's our normal highchair

I wish we'd taken waterproofs for dd3! sounds stuuupid doens't it, but we've not got any! normally she's either on me in a sling, so under my coat / umberalla or in the pram so under the raincover.Well out camping she's not going to sit in the pram  / buggy all day, her big sisters were allowed out in the rain (waterproofed up) so she wanted to go too! one happy but very muddy wet baby!