Scout's Motto: Be Prepared

Hey there!

This weekend we went camping at Salamonie Lake as a family! It started out as tent camping, but my father in-law got an RV from his co-worker, which worked out well for camping with 2 and 3 month-old babies. We were so excited to go camping with Dillinger and Juniper for the first time!

This camping trip was slow and peaceful. We did a little bit of hiking and geocaching, but not too much since we had babies with us and it was a little slow going in the morning and between hiking sessions with breastfeeding sessions.

In general, I think that we were prepared enough for our family camping trip. Having the RV helped us not have to dress Dillinger as warmly as we would have if we had tent camped, as the temperatures dropped pretty low on Friday and Saturday. Even in the RV we were a bit chilly and had to cuddle and turn on the furnace.

Here is a list of must-haves for camping with a 2 month-old baby...

1. A white noise machine/a white noise app. We have a portable Bose speaker and Dave played white noise via his cell phone through the Bose all night, which always helps Dillinger sleep soundly. We also brought his Baby B whale that has various white noise options and alternating lights.

2. A baby carrier. Babywearing is a must when hiking with infants. Between my sister in-law and me, we had four carriers/wraps to choose from.

Dave carrying Dill in a Snugli carrier that he borrowed from my sister in-law, which was awesome because Dave isn't a fan of the Tula.

Me carrying Dill in a standard Tula with the infant insert

3. A baby hat...or three. We brought a bonnet, which is lightweight and covers the ears for hiking to prevent as much sunlight as possible from reaching his head. We also packed 2 caps of varying thickness for protecting against the cold.

4. Blankets of varying thicknesses and weights. We only brought two Tula blankets, which are semi-thick bamboo viscose blankets. Our sister in-law graciously shared her fleece blankets with us when it was very cold outside.

Grandpa carrying Dill in his Tula "Oso" blanket

5. A portable, electric breast pump or silicone Haakaa pump, along with storage bottles if you breastfeed. Seriously. I pumped 5.5 ounces just for some relief from engorgement and would have died without these items. I brought both, but only used my Haakaa.

6. A humidifier if you have access to a camper or RV and saline drops/aspirator/chest rub. The weather was dry, so poor Dill was miserable with a stuffy nose. We used the Nose Frida Snot Sucker, the Oogie Boogie, Little Remedies Saline Drops, and Zarbee's chest rub.

7. A stroller. Walks with these helped calm the babies down when they were fussy.

Asleep in our Uppababy Cruz stroller

8. Fleece pajamas. Dill stayed toasty in his Halo sleep sack.

9. A camera to document those special camping moments.

10. A camping journal so that each trip can be recorded for baby to look back on. We don't have one yet, but Dave wants to find one and we'll record the date, place we camped, who was with us, what we did, etc.

That's my list of items that helped us have an enjoyable camping trip or that we will use in the future for a better camping experience. Let me know if you have any other ideas, as we plan on camping a lot with our babe.

Dillinger in his camping themed diaper from Honest Company

XOXO,
Lauren