UK Road Tripping

Our travels with a baby

Jessica Ley 12.08.16

The campervan trip seemed the perfect fit for our new little family. We could take everything we needed with us, had access to the car for feeding, changing and cleaning. Nights were able to be spent by the campfire, baby asleep in the car, a much easier way to enjoy a place than stress about getting out.

While it certainly had its challenges, we loved the experience of traveling with our cheeky 6 month old. The time with her (even if I wasn’t so keen at the time to sit in the back seat with her) was priceless. While she won’t remember the places we visited, if was a good age for us to take her with us to enjoy the trip and have time together.

• Feeding. I express pumped milk each day and used formula to bottle feed during car trips. We tried to use these the driving for feeding and nap time to keep baby happy and maximise stops. The van had a small fridge in it. She was starting out on solids, and for the majority of this I used organic packet food.
• Get the bigger van if possible. We couldn’t, it was a tight squeeze.
• Be flexible. We didn’t know exactly which van we were getting and how everything would work until we picked it up! Sometimes you may need to stay a little longer somewhere or miss some things. Some days, especially in poor weather it might be worthwhile staying in an hotel.
• Be brave- sometimes you have to have a go at taking the baby with you to know that it will work. Everyone was very accomodating to us bringing ours with us. Most places provided a high chair and were family friendly. Again, we usually brought a bottle with us to keep baby happy while we ate.
• Get a mirror for the back seat (we got ours from Boots).
• We picked up a car seat easily from Argos.
• The Yolo travel pram was amazing to take sleeping baby to dinner during hotel stays and give her somewhere to sit while setting up camp. It is very compact and fitted into the car with ease (as well as in overhead locker storage on the flights).
• I used a Tula carrier. I had tried the ergo baby and baby born and this worked best for me, and baby was happy in it.
• Nights were cold. Plenty of layers needed for baby out of the van. In the van, things were pretty warm most nights.
• Baby adjusted to time zone change well, but again, flexibility was needed when some days bedtime just happened later than usual. (Time zone change coming back to Australia at 7 months was not as easy!)
• The logistics of bathing the baby were sometimes difficult in a campground. In hindsight a blow up bath could been useful. I took her in the shower, easiest when there was a disability access shower with room for the pram. There was one campground in Yorkshire (Bayview, Hooks Bay) with a dedicated unisex family shower with bench tops and even a baby bath. Some days were quite cold by the time we arrived, and we settled for baby wipes!
• Extra things to have for baby: dishwashing liquid, bottles, bottle brush and dedicated bag for all of this equipment to be easily accessible. We bought a fold out nappy change kit and kept a good supply of baby wipes, nappies and plastic bags. Clothes washing detergent ready to hand wash or use machines and dryers wherever possible! We have a spewy baby and go through so many clothes. Bibs helped this. Layers were best for the cold weather and a 2.5 tog sleep suit for nights. I bought a thermometer for peace of mind and Panadol. A day pack was useful for longer excursions away from the van, but we tended to come back regularly for nappy changes etc.

• Our little one settled into a routine fairly quickly of going to bed around her usual time (despite the 8pm daylight), then we could have dinner, wine and sit by the fire planning the next day.