1st Camping trip with a baby

[Clive51]

Hi guys, just sounding out some advice really. We're off around Cornwall in June and taking Holly, my 10 month old daughter. We're putting a list together of things we need etc, but does anyone have any additional advice. She'll be sleeping between us (full width R&R), we'll be in sleeping bags to stop the chance of rolling on her. She's usually up at 06:30, so things like heating the bottles etc, anyone had any problems with neighbors if the little one is a bit grumpy in the morning , how did they sleep etc.

She loves the outdoors so fingers crossed it'll all be cool, especially as we intend to get away for as many weekends as possible.

Any do and don'ts etc.

Cheers guys/gals 

[Flibbertigibbet]

If you are cosleeping research shows that as long as neither of the adults are intoxicated with alcohol or drugs then you will not roll onto her. Oh and as for milk get her used to drink it cold lol Have a fab trip

[Therunner]

god yeah, 'cold' milk, if only our boy hadn't been so fussy! (our girl wasn't)

we made him up a little crib area in the cab when he was a baby, as even that young you couldn't
share a bed with him, fidget(sp) a***! when he was older we had a travel cot that we could just wedge
between our bed & the front seats & hope 'we' didn't need to get up past it in the night!
this year (tommorow), he's going in the high top, i just know it's going to be... 'interesting'..

& as for neighbours, i'm pretty sure i felt someone come & give our van a good kick (probably after he'd p!ssed up it!)
one night when the boy was crying out,.

have fun

[Clive51]

Cheers guys really looking forward to it, might try her on the cold milk, that'd solve my main concern as she really only winges when hungry. As for no booze, can't really guarantee that , may take the blow-up matress and kip in the awning , no-one will be kicking my bus, their foot would probably go through the panel - lol, nah, thats all been sorted now.

[ttcharlie]

Easy,

Wife and Baby in Van, Dad asleep in awning with the beer and food

Last time we did this, I was kept awake by the crying of the baby in the tent near by, that ruined my plan for a good nighst sleep

[Strawhead]

The only prob we had was the little one (18 months) getting a cold when we went camping a month ago.

should not be an issue now but the eve's can be pretty chilly.

we will have a removable parcel shelf for the smallest one to sleep on hopefully. should not be a major issue heating the milk

[kathyshack]

i used to give summer her milk cold too. It never bothered her so we were lucky. Its not to bad really really camping with babies. I must say though that i couldn't sleep very well with summer in between us. Worked better putting her in a travel cot bewteen our bed and front seats. we have twin slider though so this was easier to do. Just take quite a few spare baby blankets and stuff. Travel cot handy to put up in awning for when you want to put them down whilst you do stuff. parcel shelf bed was good to with our feet underneath. Another option is letting baby sleep in boot area as the seat back acts as a wall creating a safesleeping area, and you two sleep up top. Bit harder having to get down in middle of night but it is possible.
Enjoy it. Its great getting them off to sleep all snug in the van and sitting outside with the bevarage of your choice. Eeee, can't wait to get my second one out then we can get back to proper camping and having a drink

[ringo]

We put one of these up in the pop top and just zip Fern up in it:



However, that got on my nerves last weekend as it takes up all the pop top - not a problem if you have the awning up - but last weekend i couldnt be arsed. We ended up having our bags and stuff on the front seats.

So, i got home and converted a bed guard/thingy (thanks to bully boy Newts for the donation) so i can raise it and lower it:





I'll trial this in Cornwall next week.

Fern is 9 months and has had cold milk for 5 months now. We have taken the decision that she's old enough now to not need her bottles sterilising (with the steamer that we use at home) for a weekend - so we just ensure they are wahsed up properly.

We put her in a baby grow. I do get worried about her getting cold and too hot so we have bought a BT baby monitor which sounds an alarm when the temperature goes out of range (15 - 22 degrees i think). Its also a great baby monitor so we can sit in the van next door with friends in full confidence that if she kicks off we can turn the volume down

Good luck and enjoy

Ringo

[Clive51]

Hey Ringo, thats great. I'll check out our monitors, although I don't think they monitor the temperature, so may look into getting one of those. Hopefully the bus will be Ok, I insulated it a while back using Celotex and Thermowrap + a new vapour barrier and new board .

Going to start her on the cold/room temperature milk tonight, to be honest, she's usually a hungry little beggar, so I'm sure she'll scoff it down

[ringo]

Going to start her on the cold/room temperature milk tonight, to be honest, she's usually a hungry little beggar, so I'm sure she'll scoff it down

Thats what we like to hear

Ringo

[jed the spread]

Hey Ringo, thats great. I'll check out our monitors, although I don't think they monitor the temperature, so may look into getting one of those. Hopefully the bus will be Ok, I insulated it a while back using Celotex and Thermowrap + a new vapour barrier and new board .

Going to start her on the cold/room temperature milk tonight, to be honest, she's usually a hungry little beggar, so I'm sure she'll scoff it down

Look here http://www.freewebs.com/ababyonboard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; we have had ours out in the van since he was a couple of months old you will be fine.

jed

[richnewton]

Pleasure pal..................................see you soon

[chrissiefiddle]

take a small paddling pool, its great for washing baby in, and any clothes etc that need a wash, cos van sinks are very small.

[Llamapup]

Hi there

Camping with a baby in a T25 is alot easier than I thought it would be so I would definately reccomend giving it a go. We have camped with our baby who was 9 months ther first time we went for a weekend away. The first night we had to give him an extra feed around 1.00 AM to get him back to sleep as I think he was feeling a bit unfamiliar with his surroundings.

Ours is a pop top Westy camper. The boot area behind the rear seat is a great padded playpen and sleeping area for the little guy. During the day he hangs out there with his toys while we are cooking and tidying up. It keeps him from getting under your feet. At night my wife and I sleep up top in the pop top and he sleeps down below on his own in his comfey boot bed.

The three of us have slept down in the 3/4 rack and roll bed together one night when he was struggling to get to sleep.

Get one of those grow bag things. They work great as a sleeping bag. We went camping in pretty cold temperatures (around freezing at night) and just layerd him up with loads of clothes and put a hat on his head and sox on his hands and he was cozy all night. (we do have an eberspacher heater just in case it got too cold though).

He loves haning out in the boot. Here he is having a bit of snack before heading out for the day.



We brought a travel cot as well so that we could contain the little guy in the awning when we needed a few seconds to sort things out.

The other tip for camping with a baby is some sort of waterproof trousers or body suit so they can hang out on grassy areas without getting their clothes all wet from sitting on the ground. Our baby was just learning to crawl when we started going camping with him. We got him a pair of Spotty Otter waterproof bibs which were great because he could just crawl about all over the place without being confined to the camper or the awning.

I would also reccomend that you bring loads and loads of baby wipes. Its amazing how many of the things you get through when you are in a confined space with a messy baby.

We used a big storage box as a washing up bowl and baby bath.

Best of luck and give it a go.

Llamapup

[Clive51]

Hey Llamapup, thanks for the great advice, we'll have a couple of storage boxes for toys and food, never thought about using that as a bath and to wash up - will be doing that , will also get some waterproofs. She's got a load of those grow-bags, so with those and some warm clothes she should be ok.

Our's is a converted Panel van so no pop-top, but I've just put in a full width R&R from Bluebird, Holly's only little so for the time-being she'll go in-between us. We've also got a travel cot - so may take that, and another thing my wife brought is one of those play tents, so we'll be able to have that outside while we're sorting things out.

Really looking forward to getting away now