Backpacking with a baby. Is it possible?

[Hamic]

I've got an almost one year old, a Kelty Kids carrier, lots of camping equipment, a pack-n-play and I'm not afraid to carry 60-80 pounds. Is it possible to take my wife and kid on an overnight backpacking trip somewhere? To get a real night sleep the baby needs to sleep in a pack-n-play and in another room from the parents. Has anyone done an overnight trip with a baby or toddler?

[AlmostThere]

Of course it's possible. Sleeping in "another room" while backpacking isn't likely, however. Also, "camping equipment" doesn't always equate to backpacking equipment.

Think for a minute - the baby is small and less able to regulate his own body temperature. The baby has poor motor skills. Put a baby in a blanket and put it in another "room" in the outdoors, where there are no heaters... this is a recipe for disaster. You will be co-sleeping with the baby and making sure he's not smothering in a sleeping bag or blanket, that the cover doesn't get kicked off while it's 32F, and that baby is fed and not sleeping in a wet diaper.

There's a lot on the internet about hiking with small children. Here's one: https://hikeitbaby.com/blog/ultimate-be ... es-basics/

Yes, lots of people do this.

[looks easy from here]

Have you slept in a tent with your kid yet? We started dispersed tent camping in the SNF with our first born when he was 16 months. No blanket and no sleeping bag at that age, so we layered him up, insulated him very well from the ground, insulated the tent with a blanket under the fly, he was right next to me, and my parental instinct still had me up every thirty minutes to check on him. It was nice to have the full resources of everything I could fit in a car at the beginning.

We started him properly backpacking when he was 3, and could do the walk and carry his own pack. He was very proud. http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Alpine-Star ... 3315n.html

[c9h13no3]

We started him properly backpacking when he was 3, and could do the walk and carry his own pack. He was very proud. http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Alpine-Star ... 3315n.html

That is a pretty badass trip report. If someone asked me "What's easier: keeping a toddler happy for 48 hours in the wilderness, or climbing Devil's Crag #1" I'd have probably said the latter.

[bobby49]

My friends had a baby, and they recruited me to go along on backpack trips to be the Sherpa. The father carried the baby carrier plus a lot of gear weight. The mother carried some gear weight. Then I had to carry the rest of it.

At one stream crossing in Yosemite, the water was almost waist deep. So, I went across first and managed to string up an overhead rope so that the father had something to hang on while he waded across. Carrying a baby load like that, you really can't afford to slip deep in the water.

So, while the baby was small, this worked OK. Once the baby got to be 2 or 3 years old, it had a lot more body weight, yet it still did not have enough walking stamina to walk very far. That's when the trips got worse, so I got more Sherpa duties.

[myg606]

yea you will probably want to cosleep - we took our two year old on a two night trip in the desolation wilderness last year and she slept pretty well between us in a nemo double quilt and pads. Temps dropped to around mid 40s last year and it was comfortable - as previous poster mentioned id worry about thermo-regulation of the 1 year old.

backpacking with a young child is a lot of fun and i kinda wish we took her out at 1 although im looking forward not having to pack out diapers this year . also highly recommend a one night shake-down trip.

[balzaccom]

We did car camping but not backpacking with our kids. My wife swore she would not backpack until the kids were old enough to avoid eating dirt....

Good comments about thermoregulation. But I'd add hydration to that list. Little kids get dehydrated very easily...

[Teri]

I would have said no. But in August of 2017, when we did the JMT, there was a couple that did the whole trail with their baby. Maybe ~ 1 year old. I was impressed. And there she was, climbing Whitney, in the snow, with that baby. So....for some people...it is!

[The Other Tom]

The Crawford family (all 8 of them) hiked the AT and carried their 2 yr old. They vlogged every day and posted a summary video at the end. Here's a link to the summary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtickT2tCwo

[rlown]

Hiking out with spoiled diapers sounds daunting.