Camp Baby Sleeping Setups

UK4X4

Expedition Leader
We use the pea pod too for our little one, excellent little product !

In venolandia it doubles for us as a super mozy net,

the dog uses it when we have fly's arround ( he hates them )

I think ours has been in 5 countries so far.

Now my daughter is 2.5 years and we'll probably phase it out- as per her refusal to use a cot or nappies !

But yep in a magnolia dad will have to be displaced !

We have a 60" wide RTT and with her size now and the 6ft long dog its getting cramped too, and daddies looking for alternative accomodation or modify the existing RTT.

Mine needs a new cover anyway so I have a bunch of ideas to make a 60" long 2ft wide extension for the babe or the hound.

What's the point of a wife if she can't keep you warm while camping !
 

john101477

Photographer in the Wild
Woohoo - ok that may seem a little over the top but we just did a great weekend of camping. We took the peapod with us again and unlike our first outing a few weeks ago our 18 month old slept as if she was at home. She climbed right in blew us kisses and got comfy. She even slept late sunday morning :D
 

Alchemyguy

Observer
We were out at Radium Hot Springs this last week, down around 3-5C overnight. She's 15 months old, and has been sleeping in her own crib since she was 10 months. We put her in a play-cage, with a couple of big fuzzy blankets. Momma wrapped her in her fleecy pants and top over tights and a jumper, tied the toque on her head and she was out. No sweat. Still insisted on waking up at 0530h though. :rolleyes:
 

R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
We were out at Radium Hot Springs this last week, down around 3-5C overnight. She's 15 months old, and has been sleeping in her own crib since she was 10 months. We put her in a play-cage, with a couple of big fuzzy blankets. Momma wrapped her in her fleecy pants and top over tights and a jumper, tied the toque on her head and she was out. No sweat. Still insisted on waking up at 0530h though. :rolleyes:

OMG, the SIDS police will be all over you!!! :Wow1:

:coffeedrink:
 

Alchemyguy

Observer
My wife is terrified of that sort of thing, and insists on a monitor so she can hear the wee one breathing.

SIDS seems to hit kids from fat, smoking, drinking families, and there's a strong chance there's a genetic component. Also, once they're a year old, the chance goes to nearly zero. We are none of the above. :D
 

R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
Well, this turned out to be much ado about nothing. We used the Maggiolina on the weekend and it was fine. Elise just slept between my wife and I, no problems. The only issue was it took her a while to fall asleep. The whole camping thing was new to her... And then when she woke up at 6AM she started playing with our faces. But at 20lbs (8 months) already, she's quite robust and I'm not so worried about smothering her.

My son slept between us, "upside down" so his head was at our feet. He was feet to feet with Elise. No problem at all like that.

But, overall it was cramped up there, once you add in the 16lb dog, and the change of clothes... it was packed! And, it was muggy. But what was great was we were able to leave open both doors, with the screens closed over the opening, and the two windows at the ends open as well. And when the rainstorm came over at night (relieving the humidity), we didn't get wet even with the doors open since the the walls are straight vertical and there was no wind. Very cool.
 

thecriscokid

Explorer
I just read the thread and got some good ideas. I have a 7 month old and we still have a couple of icy cold months before we can get out on our 1st trip with him. In reality, I may wait until summer for multi day trips with him.
Thanks for the info!
 
We started camping with daughter at two months old in may of this year. It has been a continuous experiment since day one. We have been on nine camping trips total with her just turning 8 months old.

The first three trips were with our off road trailer and a maggiolina airland. Of those the first trip we had our daughter sleep in her car seat and bundled up like a burrito in between us at our feet. After that I fashioned up a mini bassonett that was perpendicular to our bodies theat went over our legs. It was like a little bridge. A standard bassonnett mattress fit inside it with enough room at her feet for diapers and wipes. That served us for two more trips in the off road camper. It worked very well. The key is the use of a Swaddle when they are young. The lowest temp was around upper 30's. She did fine, stayed very warm. Hardest part was unwrapping her to change the diaper.

After that worked started to get more stressful and I had to spend a lot more time than I would care to do. This decreased our overlanding and we have focused to forest camping closer to the house. So the wife and I decided for a little larger camper which we could keep packed and ready to go, but did not want something that big. We also wanted to be able to take it on FS unimproved trails since there are many near us. We settled on a fleetwood evolution E1.

The E1 is great for a pop up. Little more robust and good for mild off road. As for our little munchkin, she sleeps on the small bed without blankets. When she was swaddled it was very easy and she slept very well. As she is getting older and more mobile it is more challenging. We have not figured out a good way to keep her from rolling off the bed. She wears a fleece sleepsack and For now we use our two duffle bags with a body pillow as a bumper system. Trouble is that she is getting to a point where she can easily crawl over this barricade.

If you put her down for he night she has to be passed out, if not she wants to crawl out of bed. So it is back to the drawing board to see if we can make some screen to keep her from getting off the bed.

I am hoping next year we can get back to the off road trailer and do some more remote camping.

I thought it would be too hard to go camping with an infant. All of my friends stopped doing everything when they started having kids. I told my wife that having a kid would nit change what we do, just how we do it. What I found is camping is the absolute best way for me to spend a lot of time with my kid. There is no one to distract you, no chores around the house, no cell service (most of the time), no stores, nothing but nature and my family. I work a lot of hours and it's my way of catching up on dad time and I wouldn't do it any other way.

Sorry to digress, but all I can say about what works best - patience, and trust that you will find a way to do it. Swaddles and sleep sacks sure help. One thing that I started to do for her is create a geo-log for every place we camp with her so hopefully one day she can retrace her footsteps when she is older. Not sure if this helps at all, but hopefully some part may.
 

hitek79

Explorer
I'm glad this thread got bumped back up. Great info here. We have a 6 month old, but I'm not sure she'll be doing any camping this winter. Mom hates the cold. Our little girl cosleeps with us in a snuggleme. It's a great little bed.

http://www.simplymommyonline.com/

It wouldn't take up too much room at all, and would be warm in the winter. Put on a hat and some blankets and she would probably be pretty toasty.
 

TexasTJ

Climbing Nerd
We zip our bags together and just have our Son sleep between us. Its not for everyone, but it works for our family. We have also zipped up my puffy jacket and used it as a sleeping bag for him.

Nate
 

Westicoast

Down by the river!!!
I can't find a photo with the cover on. But this is the kids cot I made for my three year old. He loves the thing and it’s quite strong. Total investment is less than $50. We are camping this weekend. I'll try to bring back a photo of it finished.
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Amy H

Observer
Just an FYI the peapod infant bed mentioned in earlier post was recalled due to a 5 month old sufficating to death.

We co-slept with our son until he was 5 years old. Just don't sleep with baby while drinking or use of any drugs. If you can't afford much, a couple of pool noodles under the sheets can create a little barrier from your little one rolling away. There are also other portable bassinets out there that would fit into a tent easily.
 

Westicoast

Down by the river!!!
We camped this weekend. It was hard to keep our little boy out of this thing. Also it made a handy gear shelf with he wasn't in it.

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C1E64ECA-5998-47B8-B2DD-00B1F62792FC-2287-000003E8590F8CD0_zps893ea500.jpg
 

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