Camping with a Baby

Tips from a Non-Expert!

SO many of you have reached out to me with questions about tent/car camping with our littles! I’ll start off by saying we are NOT *super* outdoorsy, professional camper types of people. We love to go a few times a year, generally have all the *stuff* and we hope for this to become something we really embrace as a family, but we aren’t like *expert* campers (like some of our PNW friends). Make sense? 

That is to say, I hope these are some relatable, real-life tips I can share from our own personal experience! And I will also start with the caveat that these tips did NOT make camping EASY. It was honestly really really hard. But it is something that matters to us as a family and I feel is important to keep trying at. 

This summer our kids were about 2yr 8mo + 5mo old, so I’ve tried to include specifics for things relative to those ages (as well as some from Fitz at 1.5yr). Please, ask questions and let me know what else I can share! 

Camping with One

We took Fitz on a few camping trips before VA came along and one thing that helped us was prepare was practice camping in the backyard. We learned a few things, like what was/wasn’t helpful getting Fitz to sleep at night. One of our friends has a rocking camping chair that they said worked great for helping their little one fall asleep.  

One thing that helped some was a blackout cover for the pack-n-play. The slumber pod is too big to fit in our tent, so we bought this one on Amazon. I will say we only used it once, but I was relieved that it helped with sleep, especially considering how late the sun sets in the PNW in the summer! 

TBH, Fitz did great when it was just him. Hah. The most trouble we’ve run into has been since adding VA to our family :) 

All About Sleep

This is of course one of the hardest things about tent camping with little ones. And also something that has changed drastically for us now that we have two. 

Our first camping trip we had one super big tent, two pack-n-plays and sleeping pads for the adults. Our kiddos do not share a room at home so in retrospect, I should have known this wasn’t going to go over well. Fitz is still in his crib at home (but we are transitioning him to a mattress soon). Fitz had an extremely hard time winding down for bed and would scream waking VA up. We tried separating them on either side of the “room” divider (it’s flimsy and didn’t phase Fitz) and even tried putting him and Kevin in the car to sleep (this was a disaster). Eventually he fell asleep and we survived. 

Our next trip we brought two tents. One bigger one with a pack-n-play for VA and an adult, and one smaller one with two sleeping pads for Fitz and the other adult. We also didn’t attempt to put Fitz to bed at a reasonable hour and waited basically until the sun was setting and he was tired enough. This worked marginally better and probably what I would do again next time. 

VA napped in the carrier for the majority of the weekend. This summer, Fitz skipped his naps (sometimes was fine, sometimes a disaster, hah). This is just where we’re at with his age right now. Previously, he’d napped fine in the tent because he was so tired from playing outside all day! 

As far as what to dress them in for sleep, my biggest suggestion is you don’t need to bundle them up as much as you think. VA was just in footie jammies and her regular sleep sack, (a thicker one if you have different weights) and Fitz was in regular jammies and a blanket. The tent can actually get pretty warm even if it’s chilly out. If it’s really cold, I have put Fitz in fleece footie jammies when he was in the 1yr-2yr old range, or a fleece sleep sack.  

Packing List

• Bottles + Formula (+ I decided to bring bottled water for Va’s bottles instead of using the campground water. Probably not necessary, but made me feel better.) In our experience, Como Tomo bottles are the easiest to clean on the go (brough dish soap with us).
• BabyBjorn Bouncy chair (folds flat + easy to pack) + picnic blanket were all we needed for VA since she wasn’t mobile. When Fitz was mobile, we brought this play pen which was great (and kept him from eating rocks and mulch).
• Travel Potty (for when Fitz didn’t want to go to / use the campground toilets) 
• Portable white noise machine(s)
• Bug spray - can spray on things around baby, like the bouncy chair, the carrier, etc. (and sunscreen of course)
• Little camping chair for Fitz (We also have a light up vest and headlamp for him) 
• Fitz’s strider bike, dump truck, chalk, shovel 

Searching for Sites

This year, we planned on campsites within about 2.5hr radius of Seattle at state campgrounds so that we knew we would have easy access to potable water and bathrooms. These can book 6mo in advance, so I set alarms/reminders in my calendar to book the locations we wanted. When possible, I tried to choose sites at the end of a road, or more private spots (but this can be hard to tell online). 

In Conclusion

Tent/car camping with little kids is NOT for the faint of heart, but we also had some really sweet moments as a family. 

I saw a post shortly after our last trip that said something like “having kids doesn’t keep us from doing the things we did before, they’re just ruined now”. Hah. 

We decided twice was enough for us this summer, but we will try again next year and see what needs to be adjusted as our kiddos grow! As my therapists says, the goal posts are always moving! 

Please share your own tips/expertise in comments!!