Guest blog: Camping with Children

If you've ever wondered how you'd survive camping with a baby or young children, read the experience of one mum, Corinne, who shares her top tips for stress-free camping here:

I have been on camping holidays since I was a baby, when we were kids my parents would pack up our small caravan and head off to places like the New Forest for a week at a time. Often we would team up with another family for a holiday, which as children we loved as we had ready made friends with us.

Looking back I remember these holidays with great fondness and most of my strongest childhood memories are from these times. It can’t have always been easy for my parents, there are 4 of us plus there were often young foster children added to the mix so they must have been busy trips for my Mum and Dad. Despite this I remember my parents being at their most relaxed on holiday.

As an adult I continued to camp, on holiday or at festivals and have always been happy in a 2 man tent with a roll mat and a sleeping bag. As I’ve got older and sleep has become more of a necessity I like a bit more comfort on my camping trips, but am always happy to rough it in terms of site facilities. I like a basic campsite and tend to avoid ones with ‘facilities’, a toilet block will do me.

This year we have really embraced camping again and purchased a beautiful bell tent in the hopes it will provide us with a lovely camping space for the next 20 years or so. We have just returned from a camping and baby naming weekend we organised for our youngest, we found that even friends who don’t do camping loved it. These are my top tips for camping with children:

1. If you are going to be a regular camping family invest in a decent sized tent. It does not need to be HUGE or posh or canvas but you should be able to stand up in it. On a wet day when you are stuck inside for longer than usual you will be so glad of this. Modern 4 man tents often have a porch or central area which are tall enough to stand in (the bedrooms do not need to be tall), these are ideal for a family of 4. The central area is also useful for storing stuff that doesn’t fit in the bedrooms.

2. Buy airbeds or camp beds. Do not think you’ll be warm and comfortable on the floor, you really won’t be. We had some friends staying at the campsite this weekend who decided they would leave theirs behind as their car was rather full, but then they got no sleep. It gets very cold at night and an airbed helps with warmth and comfort. If you have lots of room in your vehicle consider a memory foam mattress topper for the airbed, I’ve just got one and it is utter bliss, better than my bed at home! I always use duvet and pillows when camping, sleeping bags are fine if there’s less room but make sure they’re warm ones, even in the summer it gets cold at night. Take extra blankets if you can, they’re also useful for wrapping up in if anyone gets cold or wet.

3. Camping stoves are great but think about what and how much you’ll be cooking. I used to use a small stove but only ever heated up tins of beans and sausages. When I wanted to cook better meals I bought a single ring stove which the bottles slide into, it’s fine but the gas quickly runs out. We might upgrade to a bigger stove with separate gas bottle. The gas bottle is initially expensive but is worth it in the long run for us as we’ll get lots of use out of it. Boiling water uses lots of energy so consider getting a Kelly/Storm kettle if you drink lots of tea (like I do). It’s also ideal to get the water boiling for pasta/rice/vegetables. They are easy to use and rely on twigs for fuel so reduce costs long term. If you will eat out most of the time a basic stove will do. We like sites that allow camp fires, these are perfect to cook over but you will need to educate children on safe behaviour around campfires and barbeques.

4. Get ready for getting cold and wet. Layers are the best thing for adults and children as they can be easily added to or taken off. Even at night I wear pyjamas, socks and a jumper. All in one waterproof suits and wellies are perfect for toddlers, our toddler wears his most of the time, even if it’s dry as his favourite game is pouring water from pots. Once you get wet and cold camping it is hard to warm up again, something we struggle to get our 12 year old to understand!

5. Be prepared for late nights and early mornings. Especially at the beginning of a trip children will be excited. Forget the usual bedtime but do keep a routine (teeth brushing, story, bed, type of thing). We generally keep the children up until its dark on the first night or they don’t settle, generally they go to bed earlier as the week goes on as they’re tired out. They still get up with the sun, but again this settles down. If they are small try and plan a walk or a drive at some point during the day so they can get a nap in their buggy or car seat, it makes the evenings less stressful! When we put our toddler to bed he would get upset if we went outside the tent so we stayed inside until he went to sleep, however, this did mean pretending to be asleep for 10 minutes while he went off to sleep and ignoring his attempts to get our attention.

6. If you are bottle feeding a baby, a bowl and some sterilising tablets is the easiest way to sterilise bottles while away, they can be purchased at the chemist or supermarket. Other baby essentials (while trying not to take too much were folding changing mat, disposable nappies, baby wipes, nappy cream and a sling or buggy.

7. At night we put the baby and toddler in lots of layers. They wore a vest, babygrow, baby sleeping bag and a hooded cardigan. I also had blankets close by for really cold nights. This seemed to be enough to keep them cosy, they are less likely to wake up if they are warm. Our toddler slept in a travel cot and the baby either in the pram or with me, but on top of the covers.

8. Have a canvas bag with wash stuff in. It’s a small annoyance but morning and evening I would get asked where the toothbrushes were and there’d be a big search as they’d never go back where they started. This time I put everyone’s things in a canvas bag (possibly separate for boys and girls if using separate loos) and it was by the door of the tent and ready to go. On cleanliness, we are scruffy/smelly campers and the most we manage is teeth brushing, hair brushing and a strip wash. Our ‘wash bag’ contains toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrush, small quick drying towel and a toilet roll. I sometimes take more things but they never get used!

9. Plan for points of stress. These would typically be the journey at either end of the trip, trying to put the tent up and cooking. Make sure there is entertainment for the journey, especially if it's a long one, even if it's being ready to play I Spy with them for 5 solid hours. When putting up the tent give the children 'jobs' to do, it could be collecting kindling for the campfire later on or getting sleeping bags ready. Our toddler loved banging the tent pegs in even though they were already in place. We were a little worried about our toddler getting burnt while we were cooking or using the Kelly Kettle, so ended up strapping him into his buggy while we did those jobs, it wasn't ideal but it was the safest option.

10. Go prepared with activities. It could be a football and a pack of cards but think ahead of what you might need to entertain your children and what is or isn’t on site. We have a wonderful book called Nature's Playground: Activities, Crafts and Games to Encourage Children to get Outdoors. It’s full of great ideas and can really help when trying to entertain children outdoors.

So those are my top tips, I hope they are useful. Most of all enjoy being in the outdoors, go with friends if you can and make the most of creating those special memories.

Find out more about Corinne and her family on her blog Motherhood Journeys or follower her on Twitter @MotherScuffer

Planning a staycation? Check out our guide to the top-scoring baby-friendly holiday parks

If you're planning a last minute get-away to wrap up the summer holidays or are organised enough to be planning for next year, then check out these top scoring baby-friendly holiday parks, which received a 2010 Loo of the Year Award (baby change category).

The Loo of the Year Awards has a stringent judging criteria to ensure that parents and babies' needs are met. These include the provision of unisex facilities, adequate space for a twin buggy/pushchair and whether the area is clean and doesn't smell, among other things.

It's stressful enough organising a holiday, but with baby in tow, it can tip our stress levels over the edge. So finding a holiday park that goes that extra mile to meet parents' and babies needs gets a big thumbs up in my book. So here's the roll-call for the top-scoring baby change facilities in Great Britain, courtesy of the Loo of the Year Awards:

England

Lickhill Manor Caravan Club (5*)

Stourport-on-Severn

Worcestershire

Scotland

Skye Camping and Caravanning Club Site (5*)

Loch Greshornish, Borve Arnisort, Edinbane

Portree

Isle of Skye

Wales

Pencelli Castle Caravan and Camping Club (5*)

Pencelli

Brecon

Powys

Northern Ireland

Carnfunnock Caravan Site (4*)

Larne

County Antrim

Have you been camping with a young baby this year? Please get in touch if you'd like to write a guest blog for Bring the Baby and share your tips stress-free camping with babies. Email: justine.pannett@gmail.com

The T word that leads to the F word

I'm convinced that the people who live next door think I'm a monster mother. I think this because although lovely and friendly to my face they must hear me when I lose my rag. Also, I can hear them from time to time - our walls aren't exactly sound-proof!

I do my absolute best to be a calm, collected mum who can rise above anything. Some mornings I wake up with a new mantra in my head and a big smile on my face to become that perfect mum once again (although I'm not sure I've actually met her). This normally occurs after an arduous bedtime routine the night before. But I'm afraid it's often short-lived and the yelling-like-a-banshee fish-wife returns stronger than ever (particularly at a certain time of the month).

And then I feel utterly wretched that instead of speaking in a calm but authoritative tone to cut through the tantrum as demonstrated by the lovely Supernanny, I find myself roaring in competition with and at the same pitch as the little miss. Out of interest, does Jo Frost have any children of her own? Don't get me wrong, I think she's amazing and have frequently imagined her flying in and sorting out naughty steps and reward charts all round (for me included), but I too am a whizz when it comes to other people's children's tantrums. I just can't deal with my own.

But I do count myself lucky that I've only got the one six-going-on-sixteen year old to deal with. Yesterday I found myself taking pity on a poor mum who was trying to peel a starfish-shaped toddler off the ground while her baby yelled on. And I could sense her stress levels rising as she marched past me with gritted teeth and firm jaw, armed with a reluctant toddler, no doubt suppressing the urge to have a loud outburst of Tourettes.

So considering we're all in the same boat and not living the life of the Stepford Wives, isn't it strange that we worry so much about what other people think of us?

I think it's fair to say that at times kids can be positively horrid and so if I want to scream and scream and scream until I make myself sick, then I bloody well will. OK, more likely you'll hear me muttering the F-word under my breath while trying to find a way to compose myself to deal with the tantrum being drawn out in front of me.

Incidentally, muttering under my breath negatively in response to something the OH said landed me in big trouble today as the little miss heard exactly what I was saying and, thinking that OH probably hadn't heard what I'd said (yes, that was the point), repeated it. Thank you madam. Lesson learned.

Do events like World Breastfeeding Week really work?

Today is the start of World Breastfeeding Week.

I recognise that World Breastfeeding Week is a hook to raise awareness of the benefits of breast feeding but I have this nagging feeling that it will only be preaching to the converted – one week of awareness raising cannot change the world overnight.

I did breastfeed my daughter but that doesn’t mean I’m a preachy breastfeeder. I believe everyone should make the choice that’s right for them and right for their baby. In my antenatal group there were six mums, three of us breastfed, three formula fed, but it was everyone’s personal choice and today we’ve got six very happy bouncy children to show for it.

I do think it’s a shame however that the number of mums in the UK who choose to breastfeed are on the decline or give up early because they say they did not receive enough support or information to help them.

I know there’s a particular issue with young mums preferring the bottle over the boob and this is where I think campaigns like Be a Star really work. They’ve been developed having first gained an understanding of young people’s barriers to breastfeeding and this campaign sets out to glamourize it - it’s positive reinforcement rather than criticism for those who don’t, and I think that’s important to remember for all first-time mums, whatever their age.

I remember my own experience of having a baby who was a sleepy feeder, wouldn’t latch on, I was exhausted, she was exhausted and starving and I could so easily have given up. Fortunately, a very close friend who is also a midwife helped me and gave me the support I needed. But that support hadn’t been available to me at the hospital as the poor over-stretched midwives raced from one mum to the next and it’s probably in that first hour after giving birth when mums really need help, not days later when they’re exhausted and feeling completely useless (as I was!).

One thing I really have a bug bear with though is that mums are told breastfeeding doesn’t hurt. And that’s rubbish. I don’t know any breastfeeding mum who has escaped pain free and I for one had a few absolutely excrutiating, tear-inducing days when I would have been much happier chopping off my legs without an anaesthetic than go through with another feed.

Even though I breastfed I wasn’t terribly happy to get them out in public so was very quick to hunt out the places I could go when out and about to discretely feed my baby. Today I've seen lots of mums using baby nursing shawls to provide that extra bit of privacy for the not-so-bold mums like me – I do wish they’d been on the market six years ago.

To wrap up, I had lunch at a fantastic café called Ethel’s Kitchen in Hove yesterday and on their menu they state that mums are welcome to breastfeed. It’s lovely that they want to be so welcoming to mums but I think it’s a sad indication that other places aren’t so welcoming, as was highlighted in an example just last week by BrightonMums.com on their blog.

Mums have a right to feed their babies anywhere. Maybe if more businesses worked on welcoming breastfeeding mums, coupled with the availability of the nursing shawls for that bit of extra privacy, more mums may feel confident about breastfeeding in public?

Letting go of the baby reins…just a little

Three nights last week were spent living in a tent on a campsite nestled in the heart of the New Forest.

One of the things I love most about camping is the sense of freedom and the way it forces you to leave behind modern day living – although it took us three adults a little bit of getting used to the fact that not only were we without internet connection, we simply had no phone signal at all (note for reference: if you do want to stay in touch with the outside world, mix up your networks a bit – three people on 3 with no signal just didn’t work!)

So, free we were to throw away responsibility for four days, let the kids run wild with filthy feet and matted hair as they made new best friends for five minutes and didn’t stop playing from dawn until dusk. Although I did start to question my newly-adopted laid-back approach to parenting when I discovered my six year old making herself a crisp sandwich for breakfast!

Camping was real adventure for S and a perfect opportunity to give her a little bit of the independence she longs for (she’s going through the six going on 16 stage right now). I remember my own childhood experiences of camping, roaming around the campsite with my new friends and not actually being aware that my parents were there at all!

So when she asked if she could go to the shop on her own I decided to let her and watched tentatively as she disappeared from sight just briefly and then returned with the correct change and two ice packs and a grin from ear to ear full of tales of her brief entry into the world of grown-ups. And from then on there was no stopping her. She wanted to do the washing up, walk to the toilet block on her own, fill up the water bottles…I could very easily have taken full advantage of my daughter’s enthusiasm and let her get on with the cooking too!!

Leaving camping behind and returning to normal life (and normal height – you spend a lot of time bending over when camping unless you’ve been sensible and invested in a proper camping stove!) I felt saddened by images in this week’s newspaper of Sarah Payne and Madeleine McCann, two little girls whose tragic tales are a reminder of the world we live in today. I want my daughter to grow up without fear of the outside world but balanced with an awareness that normal life isn’t like one big happy campsite, where parents look out for each other’s kids, and you can just pop to the shop on your own at the age of six (oh – and that it’s the only time when you will find grown-ups in the shop in their pyjamas!)

What this camping trip has taught me is that I need to use my imagination to find ways to let S have a little bit more independence , but in a closely supervised sort of way. Eeek – letting go of those baby reins is definitely not an easy thing to do…

Bring the Baby recommendation:

Highly recommended for baby-friendly camping is Red Shoot Campsite in Linwood in the New Forest. It’s clean and very well maintained and the staff are extremely friendly and welcoming. There’s a dedicated family wash room in addition to the spacious toilet and shower blocks, plus there’s a pub on site for those nights when you want a night off from cooking sausages and beans. 10/10

The toilet and the absurdities of UK law

I’ve been in touch with the British Toilet Association this week to find out more about the law and the provision of public facilities.

I was really surprised to discover that they fall under one of the absurdities of UK law, in that there is no legal requirement for public toilets or baby changing facilities to be provided. But they are covered by guidelines within a British Standard. In reference to baby changing it states that 'adequate baby changing facilities should be provided in all public toilets'.

So I’m not sure whether to groan at the government here or raise my hat to the local authorities and businesses who have taken the initiative to include baby changing facilities where public toilets are provided.

The good news, according to the British Toilet Association, is that most planning departments will consider these recommendations in planning applications for new developments so there's opportunities for improvements in baby changing and feeding facilities. Ealing Council for example have really considered parents' needs in their planning guidance for baby care facilities, including separate baby changing and feeding facilities and enough space to manoeuvre and park pushchairs.

The British Toilet Association has long campaigned for legislation to be introduced regarding the provision of public toilet facilities. Unfortunately, this has fallen on deaf ears at Westminster and the problem has been further compounded by the local government budget cuts. And here I was thinking Mr Cameron was a family man! But their work doesn't stop there and they continue to lobby on behalf of our's and our baby's bottoms.

On the plus side, the British Toilet Association supports the Loo of the Year Awards which includes a category for baby changing facilities. Last year’s national award winner was Asda. Their criteria focuses on the provision of such facilities but I don't think it addresses issues such as whether nappy bins are emptied and if separate feeding facilities are provided, so that's where we come in.

As an aside, the urban myth that if you’re pregnant and need to pee, your need will be accommodated by a policeman’s hat is in fact...true. Another absurdity of UK law perhaps? I wonder if anyone has put it to the test…

What the baby books forget to tell you

Six years ago tomorrow I became a mum.

I’m sure I’m not alone in having read every single book I could get my hands on, scoured the internet obsessively and attended my ante-natal classes and listened and learned like an A-grade student in preparation for being the perfect mum.

I envisaged whiling away the hours with friends, drinking tea and eating cake as we cooed over our babies, relaxing with a glossy magazine while my baby slept, enjoying long hot summer days strolling through the park, sun kissed and contended (me and my baby). I mean that’s how it is isn’t it?

Wrong! My moment of realisation came as I found myself battling with an every-two-hours feeding schedule. I was determined to breastfeed but my little baby was a very sleepy feeder, which meant that one feed could take an hour and a half, with a half hour break and then off we went again. I barely had time to get myself in the shower let alone out of the front door!

I felt quite a failure during those early weeks – the highlight probably being when the health visitor came round two days after we’d come home from hospital, for a weigh-in. Having just fed and changed, I laid my baby on the sofa to undress her and at that moment she projectile pooed a stream of yellow stickiness on me, the walls and the cream sofa (fortunately missing the health visitor). As if that wasn’t enough, this was followed by a big wee and then she was sick. I didn’t know what or who to clean up first and I just stood there, mouth agog, holding up my naked baby. By now I was convinced the health visitor would see right through me as a total fraud who simply couldn’t be trusted to be in charge of such as small, fragile being.

Fortunately, things started to improve. I eventually managed to get out of the house and plan my power-walk dash to the shops or the park in between feeds or bundle us both into the car and drive as fast as I could (safely) to our destination before my daughter woke up.

As an aside, trying to fathom out the supermarket with a baby in tow was another story altogether – no one tells you about the special trolleys that enable you to shop and have your baby with you at the same time. I only found out about these trolleys after my first trip when I’d taken my mum along to push the baby in one trolley while I ran around pretending I was a contestant in Supermarket Sweep with another!

I also got to enjoy some of the summer during my maternity leave drinking tea and eating cake with my friends – although my sun kissed and contented look was definitely replaced with a sleep-deprived pasty complexion and stress.

Six years on – in spite of all the stresses and strains of parenting, it’s been the most amazing experience watching my daughter grow from being a little baby into a beautiful, sweet, happy little girl (even if our lives are still dictated by her need to eat little and often – some habits never change!). Happy birthday little S!