Camping with an 11-month old

Last July our family went on a week long camping trip to Lake Tahoe. It was the first long drive we took with Erin. Longest car ride before Tahoe was maybe 1.5 hours. It took about 8 hours to get to Tahoe. We started the drive at midnight and got there early afternoon. To our surprise Erin was really good the entire car ride there! We had high hopes for the trip. We weren't sure how Erin would handle a new environment, sleeping in a tent, eating outside, etc. We were hoping and praying she'd adjust well and enjoy the change in scenery. She did exactly the opposite. Of course.

She has a lot of anxiety at her age already. I can go on about this, but I'll save it for another post. She gets overwhelmed easily and has quite a bit of separation anxiety. She's not the most outgoing girl, but she'll start warming up to once you've given her some (a lot) time. She knew immediately she was not home. She refused to interact with anyone (including dad) or do anything. She practically lived in the Ergo. Camping with her was a challenge. I didn't end up getting to do much because I was still nursing and she would not associate with anyone else. It didn't help that she wasn't walking yet either. My arms were dead by the end of the trip.


This was our giant 10 person tent. Lots of room for just the 3 of us.

Erin and the Ergo.

Tahoe was absolutely beautiful.

The Fam.

The Giant and the princess.

Chilling in the hammock.

All the kiddos. (Erin had a great time)

Deciding if she likes sand or not.

Now that I've gone camping with an 11-month old, here's what I would've done differently:
1. Bring a large tarp. Erin was only crawling at 11 months and I could tell she wanted to explore but I wasn't going to let her crawl around in the dirt. The only other option I had was to play with her inside the tent and that would be no fun, we'd be missing all the nature. So next time I go with a non-walking kid, I'd bring a large tarp to lay somewhere flat and put a blanket on top to cushion it. This would allow a child to sit, crawl and just play in the open.
2. Bring more food for the baby. At 11 months, Erin was eating a lot of things. I still had to make sure things were soft enough for her and small enough for her, but she ate mostly everything. I only brought with me a few containers of pureed food hoping that she'd eat whatever the other kids and adults planned on eating each mealtime. But of course Erin wasn't open to trying a lot of the things we cooked so she didn't really eat much during the whole camping trip. I know now to pack more and better next time.
3. Leave my baby. I felt so bad for my kid so I decided to stick by her side, even though that would mean mommy couldn't do ANYTHING. I was so jealous of my husband, he got to go rock climbing and mountain biking! (His version of our Tahoe Trip is very different from mine) Even though my kid may be having a hard time adjusting, I'd make sure to have a little me time and do something away from the baby next time. A few hours away won't hurt the baby.
4. Bring a manual breast pump. Lesson learned!

*On a positive note, I got to spend lots of time with my baby girl! She really is a funny girl and even though I was tired and a tad bit grouchy, I had tons of fun hanging out with her. Better to start em young. Hopefully with age Erin will get better with adjusting to new environments and people. Camping in Tahoe is a must!
 
We'll have to see how our next camping trip turns out.