We Survived Camping with a Baby

Call us crazy but this past weekend we took our almost 7 month old, dog and ourselves camping with another family (who have 3 kids themselves). We were 12 miles from the closest town, with no cell service, and a lot of dusty dirt, but let me tell you we had a lot of fun.

I’m not going to lie the first afternoon we were there was rough, and I mean so rough I questioned our sanity for thinking this was a good idea. My very easy, happy baby was a hot mess. She was crying and pissed for most of that first half-day. Bedtime was a nightmare because she was overtired, and she was pretty much unhappy with everything. It definitely got much better once we all adjusted to change that next day. Moral of the story is don’t run at the first sign craziness. My little girl got used to her environment and did pretty stinking good the rest of the weekend.

There were definitely some items that we could NOT have lived without while out there (and few I didn’t need after all). Here are the must haves for camping with a baby:

A Pack n’ Play (This was a clean play surface, a perfect napping/sleeping crib, and a safe holding zone while you get things done.)

An overabundance of Wipes (The baby got dirty in ways I never thought possible and we went through so many wipes)

Plenty of clean water to wash all of the toys and bottles (that will inevitably end up in the dirt, constantly)

Kid safe bug repellent and sunscreen

Warm PJs and a Beanie (even in the summertime it was cold at night and early in the morning)

A Big Pot and your baby’s soap (we warmed some water and gave her a little bath in the pot)

Adorable Camping Apparel from Littlest Sidekick (because you know you’re going to take a ton of pictures).

These were some of our essentials that I didn’t think would be as important as they were. Make sure to bring all of the other essentials for your little one (for a complete list check out this post).

The best time spent was at the lake where the water was the perfect temperature, the sun was shining, and all the kids were happy. Charlotte loved watching all the kids play and she loved floating in the little boat (in knee deep water with us sanding right there with her). The little floating boat was seriously the best thing to happen for those younger kids.

Charlotte did most of her napping in the truck driving back and forth to the lake. She was off schedule but she took several shorter naps all day which was easier on us parents and she never got overly tired that day. This was my biggest lesson learned; the schedule/routine goes out the window when camping. Instead just focus on answering your baby’s cues and all will be well.

We want to go again before the summer is over because we really did enjoy ourselves.