First Time Camping with Dad and Our 14 Month Old Who Still Crawls

I first have to say that Dawn B. is wrong! He is not too young to go camping. My son has been camping since he was 4 months old. He is 3 1/2 now and loves camping. He packs his own backpack and gets his toys ready. Of course I have to make sure he remembers his cloths but he packs his sleeping bag, flashlight and beanie and then there is always random things that he stuffs in there.

If you are planning on fishing I would get a backpack carrier for him. If you don't have one I would first try Craigslist but for a new one I would go to REI. You could give him a little pole with no line on it just for him to play with.

I have never had any problems with getting my son to sleep. He has always been so tired by the end of the day that he is out like a light. When he was really little he would share my sleeping bag. By the time he was your childs age we got him is own sleeping bag. Depending were we are camping I usually take his Thomas the Train fold out couch for him to sleep on between my husband and I in the tent. I put the bottom half under his couch then zip the top part over him and the couch. If its cold I will stick another blanket inside the sleeping bag. I also do layers on him for bed. Usually long underwear and fleece footie pjs. My son actually asks me if he can go to bed now when we are camping.

As far as food goes I just take what he would eat at home with us camping.

Bring lots of change of clothes and let him crawl around and explorer. Just remember he is going to get dirty and he will probably eat dirt too. I have had to give my son two baths after some camping trips. LOL!

You could always have a camp out in your back yard just to see how it goes. My husband and son have slept in the back yard a few times. They have a great time.
Hope you have a great time.
Tina

Forgot to add that once he is walking glow sticks for the night time are great. I tie a glow stick to the back of his pants and he has a headlight flash light so he can see and play at the same time. I also tie a glow stick to the dogs collar.

Both of our children have been camping since around 6 months of age. We also live in Texas, so obviously water, sunglasses, hats and sunscreen are big ones to remember. We kept things pretty simple, bringing food they normally ate, diapers, wipes (large ziplock bags for the trash), extra clothes. We usually kept a comfy set of clothes in the car. We changed them into those right before we left, seemed to make them feel better to have clean clothes that didn't need to be dusted off. Our kids are 5 and 2 and we still do this. We brought our pack and play and stroller. The stroller was not only great for getting around, but it also doubled as a high chair at meal times. We left the pack and play out during the day, camping is dirty enough without crawling through the dirt. We bought a larger pop up tent, so we could fit the pack and play in our tent. They seemed to sleep better in there. And it felt like cheating to us, but we did go ahead and buy a battery powered fans for those miserable August temps, we were concerned about the kids overheating. Bubbles and a ball are also a must. Have fun!

We camped across country with a 6 month old who learned to crawl in the tent, a toddler, a 5 year old and an 11 year old.
All mine have been camping since they were infants.

Take the pack and play.
Keep fishing gear locked until you need to use it, let him have his own fishing pole, it doesn't need a hook.
We had a locked crate that has all the camping gear, axe, fishing gear, fire equipment, camp stove, etc
Rocks, sticks, sand, mud are great things to play with.
Show him "sparklers" take brown pine needles connected to the branch and throw them in the fire
Get baby tools. a small rake, shovel, buckets, you can get them from Target
books
loveys
blankets, footed sleepers
a baby flashlight
small cd player with his lullabyes, lots of batteries
finger foods, cheese squares, grapes (cut up), crackers, grahams, small marshmallows, juice, water, luncheon meats, Dole fruit cups
flotation swimsuit and child sized life jacket.
water shoes
Tennis shoes and lots of socks
bug spray, and sun screen lotion
Swim t-shirts
Anti itch cremes, for bug bites

We put ours in bed and sat outside until they were asleep, the older they got then they were allowed to sit by the fire with us, by 8 or 9.

Have fun!!!

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I love google - I put in "infant toddler camping equipment" and got:
http://babytravel.lifetips.com/cat/64789/outdoor-travel-w...

I'm not a camping mom; I'm sure you'll get some good 'real world' info, but internet searches might give you some good ideas as well.

Go to camping.com. They have lists of everything you will possibly need to remember.

I would bring our pack n play but that might be too heavy if you are going to have to hike with it. Bring something air tight to put the dirty diapers in until you can get them to a trashcan. Bring dry snacks and a couple of sippycups. Layers so you can peel off if it ends up being warmer. Sunscreen and a hat. Pacifiers with a paci-clip. Something that he sleeps with, a lovie or a small blankie. A battery operated night light.