Camping with a Child

I went camping a lot as a kid, starting when I was about 4 and my brother was about 2 1/2 but potty trained.

I have been camping with my oldest and will be taking the middle one next month. I have set the minimum age of 5 to camp in my house.

I would not take an infant camping. They are too young and the world is too unpredictable. I will go so far as to say that I think that taking a 3 month old backpacking is a needless risk. There are too many things that can go wrong - a fall, bad weather, animals - that could endanger her for a meaningless (for her) experience. I don't see a big problem with car camping (driving to the campsite) since there are more resources, but even packing in a couple of miles seems like a bad idea.

Remember, you have to carry all of your gear, her gear and her. You've immediately added her body weight in gear alone - food, bed, clothing, extra clothing, etc. Add in that one person will have to carry an a smaller load of gear plus her over uneven ground and I see all sorts of falls that were not bad before becoming very bad for the adult trying protector her or her. Her diapers, as unoffensive as they may be, will be attractive enough to predators looking for an easy meal.

Weather is something particularly troubling. My father almost lost his toes to frostbite in Florida. In May.

Cold and wet babies are unhappy babies. I agree with your husband. Cabins actually have a lower chance of bedbugs because there will be few people through them, and they require hosts to feed from. As far as the cleanliness of them, I have to point out that the wilderness is often much less sanitary than a cabin - do a bacteria test of any water source for proof.

 

We first took our son at 8 months as part of a fall road trip and it was fine. The only rough patch I remember was a really cold night in Yellowstone (fairly high altitude too) that we weren't fully prepared for and he was right miserable.

Instead of sleeping bags we all shared a foam mattress with bedding and he lay on my wife's side for easy feeding. Obviously if co-sleeping isn't your thing then there are other solutions but it worked for us.

In some ways it's easier with an infant than toddlers because you can contain them in a playpen or whatever and entertain them with toys and whatnot just as you would visiting Grandma or a friend's house.

The only caveat I can think of is if baby is not a quiet sleeper and prone to late-night screaming fits, out of respect for your campsite neighbours, perhaps wait until she's older and sleeping through well enough.

For your first trip I recommend a simple car-camping experience at a nearby state park to get the hang of it. Some of my fondest memories as a child myself are camping and I credit it for much of my appreciation of nature and the greater world we live in.

I'll post a picture later.

Oh and congratulations by the way!

 

This time of year would be the best when the temperatures are good. In the Summer it is too hot and there are bugs.

If she is sleeping through the night, I don't see a problem with it. The only thing is finding the right camping spot that is far enough away from everyone if she did start crying at 2am. That might mean hiking though. And I would think you would want to be close to the car if the weather gets too cold or too wet.

Humans have been born and live in much worse conditions than first world camping conditions.

 

I took both of my daughters camping when they were small. A toddler is more problematic; there's no end to the trouble that a toddler can find in a campground. Like others have said, be kind to your neighbors. I'd also suggest making sure that you can bail out easily if the need arises.

When faced with a choice of Disney World, a cruise, or backpacking, my daughters always picked backpacking. We've taken week long trips in Montana and Alaska ... their husbands had to take them to Disney World.

 

I've taken my youngest son camping at Road America in Elkhart Lake many years ago. He was in middle school, so not really a child, more like a junior adult. It rained for nearly 24 hours straight and was one of the best experiences in my life. It would have been extremely difficult with a younger child.

 

We've been camping with the boys for a few years now, though I don't think they are ready for hiking too far to a camp spot yet. We first went when my youngest was 4. He was mobile, day time toilet trained (though wearing nappies at night). Not that I'm getting the chance, as we aren't having any more children, but I don't think I'd be keen to go younger.

On our most recent trip (3 weeks ago) the people next to us had a baby that howled (what seemed like) all night. Talking to them in the morning, they said they had camped with her quite a bit and this was out of character. They ended up cutting their stay short to take their little one to the doctor. IMO, part of my reason *not* to go would be the possibility of disturbing others if the little one gets upset/has trouble sleeping etc. Plus, most of the places we would go camping *don't* have any rubbish collection, so we would be carrying the dirty nappies out again - not too keen on that

Still, I don't see any major reason not to car camp, especially if there is an easy bail out option if required.

 

Car camping sounds like a good compromise for the first trip.
My wife and I are experienced campers. We have not taken our little ones, 5 and 3, yet but it might happen this summer.
GG if you go I hope you report back on your experience. I would love to hear about it.

 

I always went camping as a kid and with my kids when they were babies to in their teens.

The husband never came along.

The kids loved going and still talk about some of the places I took them. The campfires were the best. Did a lot of hiking and fishing.

Yes good memories!

 

My parents took me out camping as early as 6-8 months. They were car camping though, and were able to pack up and call it quits if weather conditions or something else came up.

I know for me personally I would never be comfortable with backpacking with an infant simply because of my own balance issues due to my ear/nerve damage. Just carrying a pack is not recommended for me, so I can't leave my husband to carry everything PLUS a baby.

I would possibly suggest trying longer day trips and seeing what your experience is like.

 

I'm heading out on a father-son camping trip with a bunch of Dad's from my hockey team. It will possibly be the first time (unless we go before July) that my three sons have camped and they and I am looking forward to it. Two nights but nice and close to home (only about 45 mins away) in case things don't work out too well.

 

I don't have kids (yet) myself, so I might not be a very good source for advice, but I think it's awesome that you want to go camping with your daughter, even at such a young age. As long as you're realistic and really plan things out, I totally think it could be a great experience for her. I mean, we talk so much about what a child can feel when they're still in the womb - about how music and our voices can affect them... I think a weekend out in the wilderness could be a positive experience at any age.

I once saw a documentary where a couple goes on a canoeing trip across Canada, and they take their <2 year old with them. The kid was used to going places with his parents, and he behaved so well along the trip, it was amazing how many skills this kid had from just getting out there and experiencing stuff. It was inspirational.