Suppose your hubby suggests that you go outdoors and camp with your cute baby; you might be taken aback. After all, you’ve been very meticulous in taking care of your baby since birth. And now, your hubby suggests you expose your baby to the harsh elements of nature. But is it a good idea to expose your baby to risks concomitant with outdoor activities like camping?
Well, many families go camping with their babies, and they got not much problems in doing so. But once you decide to go camping with a baby in cold weather, you should ensure that you got all the necessary baby camping gear. Moreover, it will help if you determine what camping site is best for such an activity.
Ways and Techniques to Keep Your Baby Sleeping Well in Camping Tent
When camping with a baby, you need to ensure you got safe sleeping bags for your baby. Besides, the layers should not be restrictive to your baby. Blankets, of course, can be a tempting option, but they pose some risks, especially if your baby is super active. The thing is, you should only use blankets when you’re sure you will look after your baby all the time, and you’re comfortable with their use. Below are some succinct tips and techniques on how to keep your cute baby warm in cold-weather camping:
Plan Well for Cold Nights
If you will pitch a tent, you should ensure that you purchase a highly rated one for cold weather camping. Go for winter tents designed for keeping heat inside. It should also be completely waterproof and not only water-resistant. Remember that waterproof and water-resistant are different. Besides, it will help if you choose a big tent, depending on the number of people you would like to accommodate inside.
You should also bring with you a portable crib, and you should have provision for the crib inside the tent. Ensure that you anticipate and get all your baby’s needs to ensure that your baby will have optimum comfort during the camping process.
To ensure that you will never forget anything essential to your baby’s comfort and safety, you can make a checklist of what you need to bring.
Keep Active
During the day in cold-weather camping, it will be best to keep your baby active. Engage your baby in many activities that could keep his muscles warm and moving. In this way, when nighttime comes, your baby will be tired enough to sleep well throughout the night.
Enable your baby to explore the outdoors. Give your baby enough stimuli for the day. Besides, go for a short hike around the camp. Your baby will be fully engrossed in the new stimuli available to his senses. However, ensure that you take note of the vicissitudes of the temperatures.
Pack Layers of Clothes
You usually go out of your comfort zones when you camp, especially if you got a baby with you. So, you need to bring layers of clothing for your baby. Remember to pack more than you need to ensure that you will not lack essential clothes.
The good thing about baby clothes is that they are tiny. So, if you’re car camping, you can go nuts with layers. The thing is, you should keep your baby warm and dry.
Remember too that babies can’t regulate their body temperature like adults do. So, you need to ensure that they got enough layers to keep them comfortably warm.
Check your baby’s temperature from time to time by putting your hands on your baby’s neck. Check likewise if your baby is dry. Start with lighter clothes. Then, stack thicker layers over these lighter clothes.
Often Check the Ambient Temperature
When you’re with a baby on a cold night, you become doubly cautious and aware of the ambient temperature. Weather at the campsite can be unpredictable sometimes. It could transition from dry to rainy within a wink of an eye.
So, ensure that you check the temperature more often. Since you will be camping in cold weather, always bring warm hats, mittens, and warm layers for your baby. Checking the temperature can provide you with the needed data to adjust your baby’s clothing accordingly.
Take Care of Your Baby’s Skin
Away from the comfort of your room’s air conditioner, your skin will quickly dry out. Much more the delicate skin of your baby. Baby’s skin is more susceptible to dryness, irritation, and itching due to the vicissitudes of the weather.
So, when camping with your baby, you should ensure that you bring lip balm and lotion for your baby. Ensure that the lotion you get doesn’t cause skin allergy or reaction on your baby.
You should also not forget to bring UV light protection. Even if it is snowing, UV light can still damage your and your baby’s skin. Besides, the snow will reflect the light and hit and burn skin more quickly.
Cover the Hands, Head, and Feet of Your Baby
Body heat usually comes out more in areas like hands, head, and feet than anywhere else in the body. Thus, using a hat is crucial to keeping your baby warm. The hat should cover the ears of your baby. Choose hats with Velcro straps as well as flaps. Let your baby wear this hat even during playtime.
Ensure likewise that your baby’s feet and hands get covered with mittens, socks, and footies. Make sure that every exposed skin of your baby gets covered. You should also bring footie-pajamas and extra blankets if you need them to warm your baby.
Change the Clothes of Your Baby When Needed
If you camp somewhere else wherein temperatures exhibit big swings between afternoon and evening, you should ensure that you quickly change your baby’s clothes when needed. Ensure that you got day-time garments for your baby and nighttime garments.
It will be best to replace your baby’s clothes before sleeping to keep your baby comfortable and dry. Ensure likewise that you bring extra mittens and hats. Besides, you need to check the temperature more often and be wary of temperature changes from humid to rainy and vice versa.
Don’t forget your waterproof clothes. Make sure likewise that your tent is well secured. Remember again that waterproof materials can trap moisture. So, you need to be wary of dampness inside your clothing and your baby’s clothing.
Precautions When Camping with Baby
Several dangers and risks come with camping, and all you got to do is minimize these risks. Yet, the situation becomes more challenging if you bring your baby with you. Hence, you must be cognizant of the following dangers accompanying camping to ensure you can minimize them:
Be Wary of Carbon-monoxide Poisoning
If you are a seasoned camper, you will be cognizant of this warning. Yet, it will be best to get reminded of this danger even if you’re a seasoned camper. This danger is all about carbon monoxide. Over-exposure to carbon monoxide can cause poisoning. So, it will be best not to use fuel-burning equipment inside your tent or enclosed shelter.
These carbon-monoxide emitting gadgets include heaters, gas stoves, charcoal grills, and lanterns. Besides, you should not sleep or sit inside your car if the snow is falling and clogging the car’s tailpipe, for such a happening can lead to poisoning by carbon monoxide.
Stay Safe
The towering trees and lush greenery might overcome you. The Northwest campsites, for example, might look idyllic, but they harbor plenty of hazards. So, before you pitch your tent in such places, you should carefully inspect the spot.
Check for sharp sticks and rocks, matches, garbage, knives, and other hazards. Check also for potential choking hazards.
Watch out likewise for irritating and sickening plants. You should also not take babies above 2,500 feet. Otherwise, your baby might experience the difficulty of breathing.
Additional Gear Needed for Babies in Camp
Aside from knowing the things you need to when camping with a baby, it will also help if you know the following additional gear you would need for babies:
Baby Sleep Sack
It will be best to go for a wearable blanket or a baby sleep sack. Besides, you can use this baby sleep sack in place of the cumbersome blankets. Most wearable blankets are wrought in fleece.
Yet, fleece blankets can make your baby feel uncomfortable. So, you can use a baby sleep sack instead of wearable blankets.
Baby Hat
It will be best to let your baby wear a warm hat to cover much of his head. Babies, of course, have soft little hair. Yet, even if they have profuse hair, heat can come out of your baby’s head, especially in the ears.
So, you need to cover these head parts to ensure that heat will not emanate from these parts and to keep these parts warmer.
Wool Socks
Wool socks can come in handy to keep your baby’s feet warm. These socks are usually made of 48% wool. They are also traditionally made from alpaca wool. Hence, they are much softer than ordinary hypoallergenic wool socks.
Wool Gloves
Your baby can further stay warm with wool gloves. These gloves can keep your baby’s hands warm while allowing air to flow inside.
How Can You Keep Your Baby Comfortably Warm inside the Tent?
When camping during cold weather, the temperature might become unexpectedly too cold during the nighttime. Despite all the layers of clothes and other needed gear, you might end up still needing some extra help to keep your baby warm.
If you have a battery-operated space heater or a portable electric stove, you can huddle around it. You can also position this space heater on top of a sturdy platform to prevent it from melting snow underneath.
You can also use a baby sleeping pad that can radiate heat to your baby’s body. Besides, you can insulate the baby from the ground below by a blanket or quilt that is foldable. But most significantly, you can warm keep your baby warm with a loving embrace all night long.
Conclusion
During summer, you will find most campgrounds crawling with toddlers and babies along with young families. Yet, many young and new parents are still hesitant to head into campsites with their toddlers, prevented by the thought of risks concomitant with camping with a baby. Yet, if you know the things and the precautions to consider, you can make camping with a baby easier than you would think. Your level of experience and camping and your parenting way will play a crucial role in making your camping with your baby easy and comfortable.
Of course, you got your hesitations to bring your baby to the campsite, considering that babysitting in the comfort of your house or room is already tricky. Nevertheless, if you follow the simple tips and techniques on camping with a baby, you can enjoy the outdoors, and your alfresco getaway with a baby becomes a memorable experience for your family.