Travelling with baby & toddler

Hi Guys

We've been travelling / camping around OZ on and off with our now nearly 17 year old since he was 1 month old. Sometime his similarly aged cousin tagged along. Never been a problem. Start them early and it will become the norm for them (and you).

Once they start having ideas of their own on what they want to do for the day it can become a clash of wills. For us it was usually the young fella deciding he wanted to play at the first playground we drove past each day. We simply stopped let him have a play for half an hour and he was then happy enough to drive all day and roll along with whatever we had planned.

Go for it you'll have a ball. And if you it doesn't work for you no big deal, simply turn around and go home. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Cheers and have fun.

Dodgin

It depends a lot on the kids. We have done many camping trips with our kids, our youngest went on her first trip when she was about 4 months old in a remote part of the goldfields in WA. She loved it.

I think the worst age for her was about the 18month age. She's 2, nearly 3 now and for the most part she travels really well. Just ensure that you have Phenerngan (spelling) in the first aid kit. I know it sounds aweful to drug your kids, but if you are in the middle of no where and they get really unsettled and will not sleep, sometimes its best for everyone if you just knock em out with a small dose.

We had to resort to this once when we were camping. She would not sleep, had not slept for about 24 hours and we were just pale with frustration. I still don't know what was up with her that day, but one tiny dose of Phernergan and she slept all day and when she woke up she was as good as gold.

Make sure you have good communications (radios, sat phone etc) and a good first aid kit. You should have those anyway, but it's even more important when traveling with young kids.

Make sure you have a backup plan. Yes you might be able to travel 1000kms in a day when you 19 years old and with your mates, but with your kids you might only get 300kms in a day on the highway in if it's not going well. So make sure that if you plant to go from A - B make sure theres somewhere in the middle you can stop at if you have to, even if it's just a rest area to camp overnight.

And my biggest bit of advice. Just go with the flow. Don't expect to much from them and you should be good as gold and I'm sure they'll love it!

Make sure you check out the Site Link Trips with Kids section.

We took our 8 month around oz for 4 months until he turned one. As he could not walk, we found it fairly easy when setting up camp as one of the first things we would do is lay out a picnic blanket and then a playpen. Throw in a few toys and he was happy for 30 minutes whilst we set up.

Many toddlers who could walk that we saw wandered off and got fairly grubby whilst their parents were setting up, cooking , packing down so we were glad ours was at the age he was.

Yes, he slept a lot.

I have taken my lot camping and fishing from about 2 years and If you think you have problems in a car try a 13 foot tinnie :) ........ The best was when they got restless I just made for the bank and let them run around on the sand chasing crabs and yabbies etc etc we pumped yabbies and they learnt from an early age which end to pick them up from :)

So I figure it be the same in a vehicle if they get restless stop and let them out for awhile keeps them happy and parents sane let them get a bit dirty it will not kill them :)

Enjoy the adventure and just take it easy you will have a ball.

Brian

A portable dvd with some of the 2yo fave movies will help no end. They're around 200 dollars now.

cheap cyalume sticks for him to play with at night time will ensure you can still find him in the dark - put it in the fridge/esky at end of play then pull it out again tomorrow - you'll get a few days out of them.

We bath ours in a 20l bucket on some shadecloth just before bed time when the water is available.

If the older one is difficult to put to bed - a movie in the tent after dinner works wonders. A mate of mine needs to do this - I'm lucky my boy goes till 1930 then lights out.

Hope this helps.

Karen&Adrian,
just do it. Don't worry about it just do it. If you worry, you will never do it.

Seriously, we have been doing it for years. We now have three at ages 6, 5 and 6 months. To put it quite simply, just be prepared to change your approaches to traveling on an as needs basis. You will manage I am sure.

When we need to stop to breast feed teh little one, I use it as an excuse to set up a cricket pitch and have a game with the other two and get a bit of exercise.

Toytruck