How to keep baby warm while camping in tent

[Plarka]

We're going camping in upstate NY, at a campsite in the mountains, in the woods in a couple weeks with our 4 month old and 2 year old, for 2 nights. We don't normally co-sleep, so I'm worried about keeping the baby warm with blankets, since we don't usually do that. I'm paranoid about the whole baby suffocating thing. It's chilly at night there. I thought I'd put a long sleeve onsie, jammies, a grobag...but if it's colder, she might need blankets on her too. I guess we'll have her on top of a foam camping mat. Please reassure me we can keep her warm and she won't suffocate from the blankets going over her face!

[Starflower]

Do you feel comfortable co-sleeping in sleeping bags? If you zip two together (the regular kind, not the mummy type bags), they'll make a king-sized sleeping bag. Then the baby can snuggle with you and stay warm.

[marinak1977]

If you decide to have her sleep next to you, your body warmth would be great for keeping her warm if you both snuggle under a blanket. FWIW DS and I slept skin to skin since day 1 and I was paranoid about the blankets so I would pull them low and tuck under my body. Because I was aware of DS and the blanket as I slept I never had an issue with the blanket riding up - it happened maybe twice in 5 months and I quickly woke up to correct it. Most of the nights (even chilly ones as we keep our house cold and DS was born in January) we both are plenty warm, and occasionally it gets hot. Never cold though.

[dislocator3972]

I just got back from camping in Alaska for a few days with my 9 month old. We zipped together 2 mummy bags, and kept the baby close to me. Popped a hat on her, kept the sleeping bag no higher than shoulder height, and kept her in 2layers of jammies. No biggie.

You can do it! Bring a couple of extra layers for the babe, and keep the carseat handy. Kiddo can easily be bundled warmly in the carseat if you can't sleep with the babe in your bag. That's my theory anyway.

[just_lily]

If you are really worried about it, bring a snow suit.

Last year we camped with my then 1yo DD and we put a onsie on her under warm jammies, wrapped a couple of blankets on her and tucked her into a double sleeping bag with me. Throughout the night I had to haul her back into the sleeping bag as she kept crawling away in her sleep.

But this last weekend at nearly 2yo she just would. not. sleep. in the tent. We haven;t coslept since around Christmas so she wouldn't settle down to sleep with me in the sleeping bag. She screamed and yelled and flipped out so much that I finally took her home by myself after midnight, left DF behind in the tent, and went back the next morning. Luckily we were only 35 minutes from home. I am not sure what we are going to do about camping for the rest of the summer now. Ugh!

[sunnygir1]

Originally Posted by just_lily

If you are really worried about it, bring a snow suit.

Last year we camped with my then 1yo DD and we put a onsie on her under warm jammies, wrapped a couple of blankets on her and tucked her into a double sleeping bag with me. Throughout the night I had to haul her back into the sleeping bag as she kept crawling away in her sleep.

But this last weekend at nearly 2yo she just would. not. sleep. in the tent. We haven;t coslept since around Christmas so she wouldn't settle down to sleep with me in the sleeping bag. She screamed and yelled and flipped out so much that I finally took her home by myself after midnight, left DF behind in the tent, and went back the next morning. Luckily we were only 35 minutes from home. I am not sure what we are going to do about camping for the rest of the summer now. Ugh!

Our 3yo couldn't fall asleep with me either, so we put her alone in a tent and she was asleep in no time...maybe you could try putting your 2yo to bed before you on her own.

To the OP, we cosleep with our 8 month old, so he was in the bag with us last weekend, and 3 weeks before that in northern Wisconsin. I second the car seat idea; it was great to have a place for him to sit off the cold, wet ground. And you can have your babe sleep in it too.