Car Camping with a baby: Tips for wondrous success

“Car camping with a baby? In a tent?!? I will never put us through the trauma of that EVER again. Ben would fall asleep for approximately 1 minute and 43 seconds before the tiniest rustle of a crinkly sleeping bag would disturb him into another crying fit. That was after nursing him for 3 continuous hours to try and get him to settle down in the first place. Camping with a baby is THE. WORST, IDEA, EVER. ” ~wannabe car camping mom

Many parents balk at the idea of camping with a baby. 

And rightly so. 

There are a lot of parts to coordinate and life with a baby isn’t quite as easy without an endless supply of hot running water and light to illuminate a room (er…tent) at the flick of a switch. 

If you are a first-time parent, it is even more intimidating. 

IS IT OK TO GO CAR CAMPING WITH A BABY?

Camping with a baby is totally doable if you value an adventure-filled lifestyle. If you don’t, the effort won’t feel worth it.

Car camping is a really great way to dip your toes into the waters of camping in a fun and non-committing way. 

1. You have your vehicle for a quick ‘abandon-everything-this-sucks’ getaway if needed! 
2. Car camping is an ESSENTIAL first step to taking our babies on bigger and bolder adventures in the wilderness.
3. As the kids grow (like the picture below), your feat will be rewarded with awesome family bonds.

Today I am going to share some tidbits with you! From our family to yours; things that we have learned along the way.

GET THIS ONE THING RIGHT AND EVERYONE WILL BE A HAPPY CAMPER

If the baby doesn’t sleep well, camping life is miserable and there’s no benefit to the colossal undertaking.

Sleep = success

Our most important piece of advice is this: help your baby sleep ANYWHERE! 

Not just on you, or in their bassinet but literally anywhere.

Everyday life is the perfect opportunity to practice.

We swaddled our babies from birth and they slept all over the place for their daytime naps. Right alongside squawking magpies, rambunctious siblings or the snarl of a Skilsaw on reno projects.

They would sleep:

1. on different beds, in different bedrooms,
2. in a little nest on the floor or under a tree,
3. on a mat beside the couch, or on the couch,
4. in their capsule car seat,
5. in a stroller,
6. in a front pack,
7. on a blanket at the park or beach

If we were intentional about this for the first 6-9 months of our kid’s life (for a couple of naps a week; doesn’t need to be every nap) they became acclimatized to sleeping wherever. 

IT’S NOT TOO LATE 

If you have missed this window with your child, start implementing a sleep-anywhere strategy now.  Practicing at home will make all the difference to the success of your car camping plans.

I guarantee your camping experience will be like Ben and his mom and dad’s if your sweet baby Lou has only ever slept in her crib with a white noise machine and black-out blinds.

MAKE DISPERSED NAPS SAFE

If your baby is old enough to roll or stand up, don’t lay them on a bed at Grandma’s house that they could fall off.  You would choose the floor or strap them into their car seat where they can’t harm themselves. 

If you are at the lake, don’t walk off and leave them while you go for a swim.

If there are older siblings on the prowl you may not be able to have the baby sleep on the couch where they may get an unsolicited haircut from big brother.

BE SOCIAL

After our babies were born we continued our social life. 

We accepted dinner invitations, went to church every week, had friends over to our house, went on outings and to other programs we were involved in.  These were the places that gave us wonderful opportunities to ‘practice’  sleeping and made car camping with a baby much much easier. 

Because our babies could sleep and stay on a flexible routine wherever we were, they were usually calm and happy rather than overtired and cranky. 

DON’T MAKE CAR CAMPING WITH A BABY HARDER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE

Our baby methodology and parenting philosophy were shaped by our desire to be an outdoorsy family. 

We avoided habits that weren’t easy to replicate while tent camping such as white noise machines, night lights, music or blackout curtains.  If a baby is able to fall asleep without ‘home comforts’ there is less parental anxiety and it’s much less stressful for baby.

Two of our kids were attached to their ‘blankies’ for sleep time and we have friends whose kids had a special stuffy (soft toy). Both options are easy to cram into the camping bag.

WHAT IS NAPTIME FOR?

Sometimes we used naptime to stay put.  It works at a climbing crag, beach or campsite. Our kids have slept all over the place!

Other times it is wise to use naptime to travel distance.  On a road trip, driving some of the miles while they are sleeping increases the number of hours you can get under your belt before they become unhappy and restless.

Or sometimes we will have a destination in mind while we are canoeing or hiking so we paddle or walk while the baby is asleep. 

HOW EARLY CAN YOU GO CAR CAMPING WITH A BABY?

People often wait until their kids are ‘older’ but if you have the choice, we say the younger the better.  There is no magic age, and there are so many factors that play into this decision, but if you are emotionally and physically up to it you could start car camping with an infant as young as 2 or 3 weeks old. The earliest we went camping was with a 6-week old baby.

I have seen some outdoor adventure ‘influencers’ flying the ‘this-is-so-easy’ banner, camping with their sweet 2-month-old cherub. I agree that camping with a newborn until about 6 months old is kinda *easy* but the difficulty factor increases substantially once they are eating solid food and want to move.

From 6 months to 18 months fistfuls of sand taste better than goldfish crackers, they make a beeline for the biggest puddle in all the land and they move faster than a toupee on a windy day.  They are busy, inquisitive and have to be watched like a hawk.

In our experience, this means one parent is on kid duty and one gets to pitch the tent on their own. “Job-sharing” with your partner becomes crucial. Or bring along the favourite Auntie or your friends that have a 12-year-old daughter 🙂

That is why I recommend starting early – get your processes down before toddlerhood.

GO CAMPING WHEN YOU HAVE ONE BABY. 

Honestly, car camping with a baby gets more challenging the more kids you have, so just DO IT!  Despite the baby fog.  Despite your tiredness. Despite feeling like having one baby is the absolute hardest thing in the world.  If you plan to have more than one child you will look back and say one kid was easy and wish that you had tried a few more things. If you have mastered camping with one child it will be a matter of refining your processes to include a 2nd or 3rd or 4th…….or even a 5th kid if you are crazy like us!!

BEFORE YOU GO, ASK YOURSELF THESE 3 QUESTIONS

1. WHAT IS YOUR GOAL?

It helps to think through why camping and/or an outdoor lifestyle matters to you.  What are you wanting to get from it as a family? What are your skills and experience before baby came along?  These answers will help reveal your motivations and pitch your adventure at the correct level.

Our goals are:

1. To have our kids grow up living outdoors.  We wanted travelling and exploring to be a completely normal thing.
2. Using vehicle-supported camping as a step towards our vision of spending a lot of time in the backcountry as a family.
3. To get away from the hustle and bustle of life into some quiet, beautiful and preferably remote locations.
4. To be able to adventure solo occasionally;  biking, hiking, running or canoeing while the other parent is hangin’ with the kids. Contrary to popular parenting culture, it’s not all about the kids! 

2.  WHAT ENVIRONMENT WILL ACHIEVE YOUR GOAL?

Choosing where to go is an important decision.  It might make or break your existence as a camping family.

Some things that we think about:

1. Choosing a campground with a bit of space between sites or lots of trees/bushes. That way neighbouring campers are less likely to be disturbed by baby crying in the night or the general rowdiness that comes with kids.
2. Avoid popular campgrounds on holiday weekends or other peak periods.
3. We look for somewhere that has neat trails, a creek for kids to play in, or a beach that can be accessed right from camp

3.  WHAT STUFF WILL YOU NEED?

Go simple. Make baby purchases that support your vision.

For us, essentials were:

1. Baby front pack
2. Baby backpack
3. We added a stroller when our baby was 5 months old once we knew what we would use it for (sleeping & baby 4x4ing

Other useful items:

1. An infant tent (like a peapod type travel bed). This can provide a familiar place to sleep.
2. Hammock
3. Dad’s down jacket makes a great sleeping bag for a baby. Just lay baby on it.  Zip it up and cinch the bottom drawstring below their feet.
4. 3/4 Ultralight Thermarest. We got each of our kids one when they were babies and they still use them now.
5. A tarp laid on the ground provides somewhere safe to keep a smaller baby out of dirt/rocks/leaves/water. It gives them a place to have some kicking/play/tummy time.

Invest in necessary specialty items and improvise the rest. It is also worthwhile thinking about what your future family plans are.  Do you want more kids? How many? And how will this impact what you purchase? Can you hand stuff down to the next child? Will your purchases be useful when you have two kids? (think tent size, stroller etc.)

I look back and see how incredibly blessed we were in our early parenting years with our car camping experiences.  We most often camped on private land.  There was never ever anyone else there.  It was beside a river and had the perfect mix of ingredients for kid-friendly adventures and parental adventures as well. One of us could play on the river in the rapids right by the campsite while the other watched the baby/toddlers.  There was tonnes of exploring for the kids.  It was beautiful and quiet.

Go find your own piece of paradise! And as usual, if you have any questions or need some encouragement please reach out!  I am always happy to connect 🙂

FUN PLACES TO GO CAR CAMPING WITH A BABY

Premier Lake Provincial Park, Columbia Valley, British Columbia

Tunnel Mountain Campground, Banff, Alberta

Kikomun Creek Provincial Park, Jaffray, British Columbia

This post was first published in May 2018 and was updated in December 2021