Is it just me, or is camping with a baby stressful??? When I was trying to plan for this trip I tried to think of every possible variable and couldn’t find a whole lot of helpful information out there. This trip was definitely a learning a experience. Next time we go won’t be near as anxiety inducing. Learn from my experience and have a great trip from the get go!
I have always loved camping and hiking and the outdoors. None of that changed when I had a baby, I’ve just had to learn to adapt to camping and hiking and being outdoors with a tiny person. And it’s such a good life I am living.
DO: BRING MORE THAN ENOUGH BABY FOOD
The last thing you want to do is to run out of food for your babe while camping. And for us, this means planning for all of Calvin’s usual bottles (he drinks a 6 oz bottle 5 times a day) as well as a 4 oz bottle for each night we are away.
When we are at home, Calvin doesn’t do a dream feed anymore. He has a bottle before bed at 8:00 and then doesn’t eat again until 8:30 the next morning when he wakes up. But when we are away from home and sleeping somewhere unfamiliar, sometimes he wakes in the middle of the night and the only thing that will console him is a small bottle and then he goes right back down. Other times when we’re traveling, he sleeps through the night just fine. I never know how things will go, but prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
On this trip, we were gone for two nights. The first night in the tent, he needed a 4 oz bottle at about 3:00 in the morning. On the second night, he slept straight through and didn’t eat, but I was prepared for him to want a bottle.
DON’T: WORRY ABOUT YOUR CHILD EATING DIRT
When I say this, I don’t mean, “Don’t worry about your child shoveling dirt into their mouth by the handful, they’ll be fine!” What I mean is, “When you are spending time outdoors, there’s a good chance that dirt is going to make its way into your child’s mouth. Don’t stress too much about it. Just be in the moment and try to redirect the dirt next time.”
DO: LAYER CLOTHING FOR SLEEP
Let me describe to you our night sleep attempts during our two-night tent camping trip:
Night #1 – we dressed Calvin in a diaper and fleece footed pajamas, then zipped him into his winter bunting as his sleeping bag. We gave him his pacifier, turned on the sound machine, then zipped him into the Peapod for the night. He went to sleep fine, but woke up many times throughout the night because: 1) he couldn’t put his own pacifier back in his mouth because of the bunting, and 2) the swishing noise of the bunting on the Peapod kept disturbing him. It was a very long night for all three of us.
Night #2 – we got smarter. We dressed Calvin in a diaper, a long sleeved onesie, and his fleece pajamas, we then took a pair of warm adult socks and pulled them over his feet and legs to add a layer. Then we zipped him into his usual Zipadee-Zip sleep sack and put a well-fitting beanie on his head. With his pacifier and usual white noise, he slept the night through in the Peapod.
DON’T: STRESS ABOUT SHORT/WEIRD NAPS
I’m going to warn you now: your little one’s naps while camping are likely to be rough. My best advice would be to try to recreate their home sleep environment as much as possible, offer more naps, and just accept that they are sure to be flawed. I don’t think Cal took a nap longer than 50 minutes for our whole trip, whereas at home he typically takes a 2 hour nap and a 1 hour nap.
While camping he napped in the tent, in the Peapod, in my mom’s arms, in my arms in a hammock, and on a ride in my parent’s side by side. And he survived and maintained his home sleep habits.
DO: TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES
Always take lots and lots of pictures of your kids. But, my advice for vacation pictures is: take hundreds of pictures while you’re away, but don’t review them until you get home. Don’t worry about deleting duplicate or bad shots or editing and posting your pictures until you get home. I think this allows you to take all the pictures and memories you want, without becoming trapped in your camera roll and letting the whole vacation slip by unnoticed.
We also brought our Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 camera on this trip and had so much fun taking polaroids of everyone. Highly recommend, just for the fun of it!
DON’T: STORE DIRTY DIAPERS INSIDE YOUR TENT
Okay, this should be a no brainer, but keep your dirty diapers outside of your sleeping area. If you are in a critter safe area, a regular trash bag hung in a tree should suffice. If you are in bear country, I would lock all smelly items and ALL food in your car, especially overnight. Also, follow all other rules for bear country. If you are at a campground, there are likely dumpsters that you can use as well. Just don’t store them in your tent.
DO: PACK FOR ALL TEMPERATURES
We were camping at a mountain reservoir the last weekend in August. We had Farenheit temperatures ranging from the low 40’s at night to the low 90’s during the day.
I used the packing list from the blog Born a Backpacker as a baseline, and trimmed it down for a weekend trip. I also knew that if anything essential got really dirty or gross, that I could wash and line dry it pretty easily.
For Calvin’s clothes, I brought: 3 short sleeved onesies, 2 long sleeved onesies, a fleece zip hoodie, a heavy jacket (Cal’s is a Carhartt), a pair of shorts, a pair of long pants, 1 pair fleece footed pajamas, a swim diaper and UV swim suit, a sun hat, a beanie, a baseball cap, 2 pairs short socks, and 2 pairs long socks. I also had a flannel blanket for sitting around the fire and his Zipadee-Zip for naps with us.
DON’T: WORRY ABOUT YOUR CHILD LOOKING “CUTE”
It is more important that your child is appropriately dressed for the weather and outdoor activity that it is that they look cute. It is absolutely possible for both to occur, but if you have to choose, let go of the whole “cute” thing. Plus, when you look back at these pictures, the more unique their layered little outfit looks, the more you’ll smile at the photo.
DO: HAVE A SAFE AREA FOR BABY
Before going camping, we chose to purchase a KidCo Peapod for Calvin. We knew it would be a purchase we could use with him until early toddlerhood and for future babies too. This was where Calvin slept in our tent to give him his own space and to keep him from rolling over top of us. This was also where he took a couple naps and where we contained him when no one was available to watch or hold him (for example, while setting up camp). He didn’t necessarily like being contained during set-up time, but he was safe and out of the car, which was most important. It also kept the bugs that got into our tent off of him.
DON’T: BRING UNWASHABLE TOYS
Normally when we go on trips, I will bring this stuffed elephant toy that Calvin has liked since he was tiny little. But that elephant is plush toy and not one that Calvin insists on taking everywhere, so we left it home for the camping trip.
Every toy that we brought with us was one that I could throw in a sink full of soapy water when we got home, give it a quick wash and rinse, then towel dry it and put it right back into rotation. Everything somehow gets dirty or dusty while camping, so just embrace that!
DO: PLAN ON BUG AND SUN PROTECTION FOR BABY
Sunscreen and bug repellant are essentials when spending time outdoors. My personal favorite for baby sunscreen is Tubby Todd’s Mineral Sunscreen. It works really well, doesn’t have a strong smell, no scary ingredients, and rubs in decently. It’s also broad spectrum.
For bug repellant, I don’t like to spray anything on Calvin. I will spray the back of his outer clothing with an essential oil bug spray. I also made a bug repellant hanger with peppermint and lemongrass essential oils. You can also use citronella, or a deet-based clip on repeller.
DON’T: USE HARSH CHEMICALS ON BABY
Chemical sunscreens and bug repellants are not recommended for babies. I personally don’t think they’re really recommended for anyone, but babies are especially sensitive to these chemicals. Make sure to do your research before using your usual outdoor products on your little one. Better safe than sorry.
The main takeaway from this post should be: DO take your baby camping with you and DON’T let fear stop you from exploring with your little family! The world has so much to offer and showing this beautiful earth to beautiful tiny people is such a gift and a blessing. I hope my children grow up loving the outdoors and exploring as much as I do. And even if they don’t, at least they’ll get a healthy serving of it while they’re young.
BARREL OF MERRELL'S 
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