Description
This article is from the Outdoor
Activities for Young Children FAQ, by Gloria Logan
glogan@atk.com with numerous contributions by others.
21 GENERAL CAMPING: questions about camping
From kperdue@hpsmtc1.cup.hp.com (Karla Perdue)
>I have some questions about camping that I haven't seen addressed so
>far--I'd love to get input from the more experienced.
>
>Sleeping bags:
>I had imagined that when we went camping, we'd put the baby in
>between us to sleep. Now that I know Will, it's obvious that this
>would not allow enough room. What a little squirmer! We zip together
>our two down bags to sleep while camping, and there's not a lot of
>extra room.
>
>At least it turns out that, with modern diaper technology, wetting
>the bed is not a problem, so we don't have to worry about the fact
>that down does not insulate when wet. There is a real spit-up
>problem, though--at 5 months, Will enjoys eating twice what he needs
>and then ejecting the excess.
>
>I think that Will should have his own sleeping bag, and I should
>probably sleep between Will and his daddy. (Note that we're talking
>about a warm climate, here in Texas!) For a sleeping bag, I could
>perhaps put him in my parka, lined with a baby blanket to absorb
>spit-up. Or perhaps I could buy a Polartech blanket and sew it, with
>removable stitches, into the correct size for his current size, or
>better yet sew in snaps so we can still use the blanket in other
>ways. What do you think? If he gets cold, I'll be right there and can
>put him in our sleeping bag.
I highly recommend that you get something that WASHES. No matter how
hard you try, you won't keep it clean and will want to wash it between
trips. I did not trust my daughter in a "real" sleeping bag until
3 1/2.
Do you use SLEEPERS? I am thinking of those 1-piece sleep outfits
that have feet and a zipper down the front. Around here they are sold
for winter wear; you can get them made of flannel, terry cloth, or
other warm, soft fabrics. One problem is the child wiggling; this
makes it difficult to keep them covered. The more the bedding clings
to the baby, the harder it is to throw off. I would put my daughter
into a sleeper and lay her on an insolating pad (so she does not get
cold from the ground). If needed because of cold air, I would then
cover her with blankets. In fact, these blankets were often out of
her crib, so they felt like home and were comforting.
Also consider getting 1 or 2 FLANNELIZED RUBBER CRIB SHEETS. These
are rubber, so water proof. This protects from leaky diapers and
spit-up. But they have a covering that feels like flannel, so is soft
and comfortable to lay against. They are machine washable. I would
put one of these down over anything non-washable that my daughter
might end up sleeping on. This meant that nothing got dirty on the
trip that I could not wash when I got home. I still use them over
the camper's matresses just to be sure, although I no longer use them
in the tent.
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children, child, kid, Outdoor Activities, backpacking, ski, canoeing, biking, camping, trailer
