sleeping pad with infant

[Sheepdog23]

Hi everyone! We have finally booked to join my parents (staying dvc at Wilderness lodge) for a week in february. I will be camping alone with my 6 year old and 6 month old and am now getting nervous. We usually sleep on air mattresses but I am now co-sleeping with a very active baby which means no air mattress. I am looking into buying a nice sleeping pad since we need one anyway but am totally lost. I had a mastectomy a few years ago, so it has to minimize pressure on my operated side if possible, which makes it very difficult. Any recommendations? I had thought about just booking what I could through dvc and cash reservations, but the 6 year old really wants to camp because he loves the campfire movie and sleeping in his tent.

 

[ilovedisneymm]

As a mom who camps with kids and our last trip included a baby, I must say that you camping alone with a small child and a baby makes me very nervous and worried. I say this cause camping is very much a great deal of work (the set up of the tent alone is work) so so much work, and the time it takes to do that work. My husband basically had to do everything on our last trip as I had to take care of the children and nurse the baby. You can't do both. I'm sorry, I can not recommend anything here because I just don't see how this would be possible to properly care for two small children and do all camp duties required.

Please have someone go with you! I read two separate articles this summer about a child going missing while camping with family. The outcome was not good.

Why not just go over to the movies and campfire and then go back to the lodge and pitch a tent in the room alongside your parents???

 

[2goofycampers]

Here is a thread that has some pads listed.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/winter-tent-camping-what-to-use-under-sleeping-bag.3647408/

 

[Sheepdog23]

I have camped many times alone with my kids (i have 4 ), as well as travel internationally, and I am not worried about that. My sister will most likely join us on most nights. There is no room for us in their room at the lodge, no dvc rooms available for the week unless I switch every night, and I do not have the money to pay for a cash reservation at 500 per night. I understand it is a lot of work to set up a site and to camp as I have done it many times alone with my kids and even backpacking. I can set up my tent by myself in the dark in just a few minutes, so that shouldn't be a problem. My family was going to set it up with me and the only thing we would be doing without them is sleeping. That is not the question I asked. I thank you for your concern but I am not worried about my child running off as we currently live in a large city and my husband works most of the time, leaving me with all 4 kids to wrangle. I was merely asking about a new camping pad as the one I currently own will not allow me to sleep without pain and an air mattress is not an option.

thank you 2goofycampers for the link. I appreciate it.

 

[tobikaye]

If it is concern about the baby rolling off the air mattress, could you still do an air mattress and create a child railing? I know I have seen inflatable ones online that just go under a fitted sheet.

 

[Sheepdog23]

Hi Tobikaye! THanks for the tip. My 6 year old always rolls off so i will have to look into that. I am more concerned about her suffocating due to the mattress deflating and creating a pocket but she is incredibly active already now at 3 months so that is another issue...

 

[KristinU]

Super heavy, but what about a nice thick memroy foam mattress topper? I would think one would be firm enough for the concerns of co-sleeping but forgiving enough under your tender side. I'm thinking you could buy one locally when you get there.

 

[DLorBust]

You might be able to cosleep with a 6month old in a "wide" sleeping bag with a "wide" self-inflating pad. I've found that 2.5 inch thickness is minumim for me and I much prefer 3.5 inch. REI is a good place to look, their kingdom pad is really good. Exped makes a 4 inch which is amazing, and very $, but cheaper than a hotel room!