Afternoon all, just a quick one today. We’re in the process of planning our summer holidays and with a new-born in tow, realise it wont be anywhere exotic so camping is top of the list.

Last year we took a trip to Eweleaze Farm in Dorset when Ettie was 12 months old and we absolutely loved it! We went with friends who had a little boy the same age, and it was so lovely watching them discover all of the new things camping had to offer and also giving them so much fresh air!!

I can’t lie and say I wasn’t a little nervous about taking a baby on a camping trip! They require a car full of equipment at the best of times, never mind when sleeping under the stars! But the trip was absolutely fine and we were better equipt than we thought we would be!!!  Knowing that camping was something we’d be trying again in the future and being organised for once in my entire life!! I made a list of everything we found useful while we were away and added things to it that I thought we should remember for next time!

So in the interest of saving other families hours of research trying to establish what to pack when taking a baby/toddler camping, here is my Essential Guide to Camping with a Baby*

Is a one year old a baby or a toddler? I wasn’t sure??

The Essential Guide to Camping with a Baby

A Blow-up Travel bath – Needless to say babies will get grubby when crawling around outside so will need a bath at the end of the day. We had the duck bath available from Boots and it worked amazingly well.

A Travel cot – This isn’t an essential and it takes up quite a lot of space, however we found that using a travel cot gave us peace of mind that the babies were positioned safely out of harms way when we were outside the tent past bed time. (Don’t forget sheets for the mattress!)

The Food Muff from your pram (if available): This is my top camping tip and happened quite by accident as i’d forgotten to unload it from the car! But we found the footmuff from our Joolz Buggy doubled up really well as a baby sleeping bag, so if you have something similar, I’d recommend taking it along.

Onsey/ all in one fleecy thing: This is really useful for the babies to be able to run/ crawl around camp in the evenings once they’ve had their bath, as you can just strip off the outer layer in time for bed.

Things to help them sleep: Depending on your little ones sleep routine, it may be useful to pack their favourite books, teddy, iPad with ‘In the Night Garden’ downloaded – remember the tent is likely to be lighter than their bedroom at home, so they may need an extra bit of help getting to sleep. Especially on the first night when everything is new.

A Baby Carrier: A pram or buggy really isn’t the most practical thing on a camp site, especially if it’s raining, so you are going to need something to transport them around. We found the Baby Carrier from Little Life perfect for this, but there are others available.

Bottles/ Water Cup/ Plastic Bowls/ Spoon: All the essentials for keeping your baby well fed throughout your trip. Remember you will need to carry them to the sink to be washed so don’t pack too many.

A High Chair – again not an essential, but we found the high chair a really useful way of keeping the babies in place while we were trying to set up camp. It also stopped them dropping food on the floor and being able to pick it up and eat- which is more of an issue when camping in a field. We took our BabyBjorn white plastic high chair which folds down really flat, but our friends just used their Bumbo with a tray and that worked just as well.

Nappy Wipes x 2 packs: I say two packs, but in all honesty you can never have enough baby wipes!! We took two packs for three nights and used every single wipe!! So if you’re staying for longer, pack accordingly. I love these biodegradable wipes from Amazon and buy them in packs of 12 every month.

Picnic blankets/ Rugs/ Foam mats: Anything for the floor to stop the little ones picking up everything they see to try to eat it!! Those with a waterproof underlayer are particularly useful.

Toys:- you won’t need many as there will be tons of stuff going on to keep them going, but we found a big ball, some stacking cups, books and some bubbles came in useful

Swimming gear and a towel: in a separate bag so its easy to take to the beach.

Mini Wellies (if you can find any to fit): These were really useful as Ettie had just started to walk, however if your baby is still crawling they are obviously not an essential.

Sun tan lotion/ sun hat and sunglasses: These can easily be forgotten, especially if its overcast when you embark on your trip.

Towel/ Pyjamas /nappy cream etc : again in a separate bag to keep them nice a clean for bedtime.

Snacks: We found blueberries, ricecrackers, cooked pasta and bananas firm favourites.

Nappies – seems obvious, but thought I’d list them anyway

So there you have it, hopefully a complete list of everything you’ll need this summer if you’re planning on taking your little one away camping. We really did have the most fantastic time and I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone.  If you’d like to hear more about our trip to Eweleaze Farm, you can read more about it here: Eweleaze Farm, Dorset.

Written by Emma Faith for her blog, The Halcycon Years.

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