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how do you manage?

Hi

We went camping last year with 11 month old.  I slept with baby and OH slept with 3yr old as our tent had seperate bedrooms.  I breastfeed so didn't have hassle of sterilising bottles, assume you would have to use Miltons if you bottlefeed.  Baby was crawling not walking yet so only trouble we had was when it was raining and he could escape UNDER the sides of the (cheapo off ebay) tent.  Other than that had a FAB time.

Our son was 7 months and he was great, he was bottle fed and we took sterilised disposable bottles and cartons of formula and jars of baby food (I made my own at home but it is very convenient). Disposable bibs are great too so you don't have to carry around lots of smelly bibs.

Can't recommend the Vango Nitestar Baby sleeping bag enough (see thread in Equipment forum) and took the travel cot,

He slept very well and loved being in the outdoors, I am dreading this year as he will be toddling and I think that will be even harder!

Breastfeeding, baby sleeps with Mum if very small, travel cot and Baby Nitestar from about six months, easy clean plastic high chair from Ikea when older. If you`re bottle feeding and only going for a weekend, use disposable bottles and cartons of formula. Most babies will dring room temperature milk if you`re using one shot cartons...it`s a myth milk needs heated unless it came out the fridge. Jars of food (French babyfood is FANTASTIC if you`re going abroad.) are much easier than trying to make home made, though it`s been done. For bathing, take a large plastic toy box, add a few inches of warm water. My kids adored sitting outside the tent in this on sunny evenings.

It gets a LOT harder when they start to crawl and walk, which is when you need a travel cot. Graeco make a very good compact version which saves precious space in the car. Also for crawlers, a set of walking reins with the long tail threaded onto a spare guyline, which gets pegged down securely at each end.

There`s no substitute for 24/7 vigilence though. Campsites are full of hazards, not least of which are cookers and barbecues out in the open, cars squeezing between tents and dogs. Basically, unless you`re going to tie your child up (see note above!!) they have to have a parent within a few feet at all times.

But kids love camping. And for parents, I think it`s x1000 easier going camping than trying to make them behave when you`re all jammed together in a hotel room. yes, you`ll worry about the noise at night but don`t....99% of your neighbours will understand that it`s natural for a baby to wake for food or a toddler to have the odd bad dream. As long as you`re doing your best (controlled crying techniques are not appreciated in campsites!!) things will be fine. Most parents won`t even wake up for another childs cry, btw. And as for the other 1%, there are adult only campsites, no?

No1 tip...agreed on by 99% of parents. Don`t stress about the baby`s routine. Your child may go down at 7pm on the dot at home, but I can guarantee they won`t on a campsite. There is too much going on by way of activity outside, they can here the lot and all you`ll get is a couple of hours of weeping misery for both of you. Let them stay up till nine pm untill they fall over in their tracks, don`t worry too much about complex bedtime routines and you`ll save yourself a lot of hassle. Or any other routine, for that matter. All my kids have gone camping from a very young age and as soon as they got home...bingo, straight back to their old routines. Babies learn the cues for their routines, which is why they don`t work on campsites. But they will remember when they get home.

They may even sleep later in the morning too. Now this is one thing most campers agree on...letting your kids out to play at 6am is not appreciated. 7am is barely tolerated, 8am is perfectly fine, though there`s always someone that feels they were entitled to a 10am lie-in! But if your child is an easly riser, you`ll have to be prepared with milk, drink, snacks, books and quiet games, story tapes on Walkmans or the DVD player with earphones. No shouting, but quiet talking is OK.

We took our youngest when she was about 7 weeks old first and she has been camping ever since she will be 2 soon, last summer she was crlawing and walking. so any questions ask away! what age baby are you planning on taking? how long for and where?

I am planning on going as soon as i feel up to after this on is born, I have brestfed all my kids and hope to do with this one as it is easer, but I have done bottels on campsite so it is possiable. we all so invested in a travel cot that use small poles like a tent to put it up so saves loads of room in the car. we have the nister baby sleeping which is great.

I've got 5 "babies" the eldest is 17 next week and the youngest is 2 months old, fortunatly the one thats the hardest work hates camping so the eldest stays with good ol' Grandma, I cant wait to go camping, I've bought one of these to help with bathing, or just to have a spash around in for the 2 youngest, It's great fun, just relax and enjoy.

How old are your babies?

ps bottle feed and pureed veg

The easiest way to feed babies is to take jars of whatever, but if you had a decent fridge or coolbox then you could pre-freeze food and it would last two or three days, if you kept the box well shut. Or you could take a small stick blender if you had EHU. You don`t really have to sterilize anything by 10 months, so that`s easier than when they`re younger.

I have to say that my babies lived on some pertty peculiar things on long camping trips. One that sticks in my memory was when we went to France for seven weeks when my daughter was about twenty months old...she hated french milk and formula and I`d stopped breastfeeding her by then so she drank water, orange and pineapple juice and ate nothing but yoghurt, french bread and garlic sausage, supplemented by the odd chip. For seven weeks. Didn`t seem to do her any harm at all, though the nappies were horrific.

Moral of story is don`t fret, be adaptable and if your ten month old will eat bread sticks, cubes of cheese and mashed banana (or indeed anything else) by ten months then he won`t starve. If he`s hungry he`ll just drink more formula.

Quote: Originally posted by twynholmblack on 13/1/2007

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Last August I took by myself(my husband came to put the tent up and came back on the last day to put it down!) our 4 angels! The younger one was only 10 days old. We had a bril time.

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By 10 months your baby should/would be eating more lump food any way, if you think carefull about what you cook you should be fine. ie fish in sauce with rice, spag bolo, soups with bread mashed in,can all be mashed down nicely with just a fork. The throw away bottle are great, and come in two diffrent age groups (ie teat speed) if you don't want to spend so much money mothecare do cold water sterrila bags that have a tablet in, they last 24hrs each and have 7 in a pack for about £2.00 you just fill up to the line with water and put your bottels ect in leave them for a min 30 mins and they are done. you could then use your normal milk powered to make bottle as and when you need. (but rember to leave enough time for the water boil and then cool)