Tent Camping With a BABY – Tips and Tricks

Tent camping is one of the most economical and wonderful vacations you can take. However, tent camping with a baby is a totally different ball game!

My husband and I learned how much we love camping together right after we got married. While initially it was me begging to go camping, after our first trip, it turned into him begging to go all the time. He will begin to talk about it first thing in the year, as at Ontario Provincial Parks you can book five months ahead of time. The popular parks book up quickly, so it is nice to book early.

This year was a bit different, in that we had a baby that was only six months old in March. When Colin started talking about going camping, my response was, “No, tent camping with a baby will be more work then fun!” It looked very daunting to me at that point. However, as time went on and we hit July, I began to get a strong desire to do some camping. (Also, our baby was at a much happier and flexible stage.) The benefit of where we live now is that there are provincial park options very close to us. This made things easier. While provincial parks do book up, there are also last minute cancellations, so you can always keep checking to see if a spot opens up. This is particularly true this year since cancellation fees have been waved.

One day I had a weak moment and said that I was maybe ready to go camping. Colin seized the moment and began looking for open sites. By the next night, he had one booked. Since cancellation is free this year, there really was no loss in booking. The closer the time came, the more excited I got. I was mostly nervous about Dakota (our daughter) sleeping. I was scared she would be too loud and keep people awake. Other than that, I wasn’t too concerned. She loves being outdoors, loves water, and loves being with her parents, so I was pretty sure she would like camping.

I am going to tell you a few things in this blog that helped to make our weekend a smashing success! However, one disclaimer before I start. I realize that all kids are different and what worked for us, may not work for you. These are simply a few things to try if you feel like trying out the tent camping life with a baby.

1. Keep it Short and Sweet Don’t go too far or too long to start. We drove only 45 minutes to our campsite after Colin was done work. This was important, to have enough time to set up before dark, but also nice in case Dakota didn’t want to sleep and we needed to head back home again (Thankfully, this didn’t happen). If you get to a campsite late, don’t worry about getting everything set up that night. Set up your tent and sleeping quarters and whatever you need for the night and worry about the rest in the morning. We went for two nights. Going for less than this feels too short to go to the work of all the set up and clean up, but we found this was the perfect amount of time for us and Dakota. We were all tired, but still happy when we left!
2. Simplify the Food Menu Since Colin and I are both slight foodies, camping has always been a fun time for us to try out new things over the fire. This year that didn’t happen. Camping with a baby means keeping things simple and easy where you can. For our food this year, we used similar ingredients in most of our meals. We did breakfast and pizza mountain pies. I chopped vegetables and had meat cooked ahead of time. Eggs and salsa were unique to the breakfast pies and pepperoni and pizza sauce to the pizza ones. Otherwise, the vegetables and other meat options could be used on both. On Sunday morning before we left, we fried the rest of the eggs and all the rest of the vegetables and meat and threw that in a tortilla wrap with salsa and had ourselves breakfast burritos. Camping with a baby also means bringing food for the baby. All babies seem to like macaroni and cheese, so I made a mac and cheese that could be heated over the fire. It was easy to prepare and delicious to eat! Hop on over to this link to see the recipe for Fire Baked Mac and Cheese.
3. Relax the Sleeping Schedule Sleep was our biggest concern. My biggest advice here is to be flexible and have low expectations. Since my expectation was that we might need to pack back up and go home, I was pleasantly surprised when our daughter slept from midnight until 7:00 in the morning the first night and from 9:00 pm to 6:30 am the second night. Naps were just whenever she dropped. I didn’t try to stick to a schedule. She fell asleep in the wagon a few times while going to and from the beach. We also took her for a walk in the stroller one time to put her to sleep. Her naps were definitely shorter than at home, and so she was quite tired by the end of the weekend. However, being outdoors and all the excitement still kept her a pretty happy baby!
4. Pick Your Campsite Wisely There are a few things that are not in your control when picking a campsite, for example, your neighbours. If you get a campsite beside a young party crowd or a really yappy dog, I am sorry. I never realized how late people are loud at a campsite until this camping experience. Eventually your baby will likely fall asleep, but probably not as early as you would like. A few things to watch for is picking a more private site if possible and also one that is not too close to high traffic areas, like the washrooms.
5. Get Some Gear Don’t be too much of a minimalist when camping with a baby. I am not saying your need all the baby camping gear there is out there, but there are some things I highly recommend to make your camping life easier and more enjoyable. Click here to see some of the products I recommend and also find a downloadable camping packing list!
6. Forget the Toys While some gear does make your camping experience easier, lots of extra toys are not worth your time. I brought a small basket of toys and Dakota wasn’t interested at all. I wouldn’t waste a pile of space on toys since there are so many other fascinating things for kids to explore on a campsite.
7. Pack Patience Understand ahead of time that everything will take longer. We realized quickly that one person was going to always be tied up with Dakota. So setting up and packing up was almost like doing it alone. Even things like going to the washroom take longer, as we had to have one person stay with Dakota while the other one went in. I see this being much better already next year when she is walking. A crawling baby has its challenges as they don’t like to be sitting still in a stroller or something too long. Though if you put them on the ground, they eat all the stones, sticks, or dirt they find. Each stage will have its challenges, but also its upsides.
8. Keep Current with Cleanup Clean up as much of the stuff on the campsite as you can so you don’t have too much unpacking and cleaning at home. We always have soap and scrubbies and heat water on our propane stove so we can clean things well. It makes unpacking and putting stuff away at home so much more pleasant.

We had the perfect weather for our weekend. It wasn’t too hot and not too cold at nights. Since it was in August, the mosquitoes were not near as bad. The water was nice and warm. There was no rain in the forecast at all. We could’t have asked for a better weekend.

If you enjoy tent camping, I highly recommend trying it, even if you have a baby. Just remember that things will take longer, it will be more work, and to lower your expectations. However, it is an economical and great family vacation. You will make lots of great memories and your kids will love it. My camping memories as a child are some of the best childhood memories. Tent camping with a baby is totally worth it!

As a fellow camper told us, “Take your kids camping while they are young, and they will love it for the rest of their lives.” So far true for us, but we will see what our future holds!

Remember to check out these two other blogs on camping!

1. Camping Mac and Cheese Recipe (This can also be baked in an oven.)
2. Camping Must Haves and Free Printable Packing List!