Our little one is four and a half months now. Here’s what I was concerned about with camping first time around, how it went and what I learned.
Will my baby cry and disturb other campers?
Happily this was no problem! In fact, the noise I hadn't considered was his squealing in delight. That said, campground quiet hours were 10pm to 7am and he didn't make a sound from his 7:30am bedtime through to 7am waking. Out and about in our home city of Brooklyn, NY our little one can sometimes get overstimulated and is often subdued outside, but it was interesting that at the campsite his behavior was just like it is at home when he's in his familiar, low key space: happy and relaxed.
Will the temperature be okay for a little one - will the tent get too hot?
Despite camping in August, it turned out we had the opposite problem in Massachusetts. The temperature dropped to low 50s overnight so we ended up concerned about the cold. We dressed him in a full onsie, a fleece and then a heavier tog sleepsack and he slept fine all night. I wouldn't have peace of mind camping in cold temperatures without high quality baby bunting with down fill.
Will we have enough room in the tent?
My husband insisted on buying an REI Grand Hut 4 with his coop dividend a couple of years ago. I laughed at him at the time as it seemed absurdly big for people who prefer a more minimal approach. But he was vindicated now we have a baby. It worked well because it is so tall, enabling easy movement - a tall person can stand inside. And the huge size meant that we could fit a Pack N Play in there, plus two adults and room to spare. I completely agree with this review covering both its pros and cons. I have had other families recommend Big Agnes Big House 6 and the Wawona 6 by The North Face, but they are both a lot more expensive.
Having tried car camping and seeing how doable it is with a baby I'd now be comfortable wild camping with a tent like our usual two and a half man REI Half Dome along with a baby (obviously with a different sleeping setup).
Where will baby sleep?
Because we have the enormous tent, I brought along our Graco Pack N Play because I wanted to be super cautious about SIDS prevention with a super safe place to sleep at this young age. I love that play pen, I can see why it has achieved cult status. We originally got it when we were going to stay at an Air BnB a couple of months ago as a travel crib and it has come into its own as a second napping spot in our apartment. I think this helped him sleep well outdoors because he was in a familiar place for bed. He passed out immediately on being put down in it. Also, since it is raised off the floor I believe that helped with temperature modulation overnight.
That was all very well for nighttime, but I what about daytime naps in a forest with no blinds to pull down? I got a darkening canopy to go over the Pack N Play, like this one. It's great because it's light, packable, breathable and keeps the mosquitos out. I loved how that meant we could pull the whole Pack N Play out of the tent for breakfast and not worry about bug bites. But its darkening effect is not nearly as strong as it appears from the product photos. It seems that if you want something with real darkening power, you have to be willing to pay above $30.
If you want a more luxury and powerfully darkening option, I have found Taking Cara Babies helpful for all things baby sleep, and Cara recommends the Slumber Pod on her site - currently with $10 off using her code!
Will it be easy to manage everything with a baby in tow?
This was the biggest adjustment. I hadn't realized how effective we are at 'parallel pathing' our tasks at a campsite to get things done quickly - like one person sets up the fire while the other person sets up the sleeping arrangements in the tent. What with setting up during our little one's wake window before bed, one of us was always on baby duty, meaning that the usual time for relaxing with beers around the campfire was reduced before he went to sleep. So although it was only a one-night experiment on our way somewhere else, next time we'd want to go for at least a couple of nights so that we get longer relaxing at camp. Still, we did have time for beers, all slept well, and had a lovely time relaxing over breakfast in the morning during baby's first nap, too.
