Get out into nature! Hiking with your baby is easier than you might think. Oh sure, you’ll need to be prepared just like when you go practically anywhere, but the exercise and fresh air are a little bit magical.
Your challenge for this week is to find a pal (or a whole moms’ group), choose an easy hiking trail, put your baby into your favorite carrier, then just go!
Hiking doesn’t have to involve a lot of incline, a long drive, or even an unpaved path. If you prefer a stroller-friendly trail around a local lake, do that.
Pro tip: Search on Facebook for a group called Hike It Baby that has chapters all over the U.S. It’s an opportunity to go hiking with others who are also toting babies. While no one will be surprised when your hiking companion has a crying fit, you may find that the fresh air and different smells of a grass or wooded area soothe your baby.
Rookie Mom Dana, a hiking enthusiast, developed an oath for hiking with babies, centered around three “B”s: beverages, blankets and bumcover disposal methods:
- I promise to pack beverages – Milk for me [the babe], in whatever form I prefer, and water for mom
- I promise to never leave the house with out the blanket- on which to sit, with which to cover, and to share
- I promise to be responsible with my bumcover- always pack out what they packed in. A ziploc bag is your friend.
Heather’s hiking confession:
We were gung ho to hike with our two-month old baby. It was one of those stubborn “we can do anything we want, even with this baby in tow” beliefs that drove us to plan a short, easy hike with friends. After getting out of the car, I put on a day pack, and my husband put the baby in a BabyBjorn front carrier. We were doing it!
Fast forward 20 minutes, our tiny son had a poo’splosion so massive, it required an outdoor stripdown, shower in a water fountain, and a full change of clothes. Ahh, but those memories are priceless.
This is your sixteenth challenge. How are you doing? Did you complete this challenge? Love it or hate it, tell us how it went:
- Comment below and spill the details.
- Share a picture with us on Facebook.
- Name your destination on Twitter or Instagram and use hashtag #rookiemoms.
- Or, link in the comments to your own blog post about this challenge.
Not the outdoorsy type? Hit a fabric store or a cafe while your baby is still wee. Trust us.
I don’t have any babies anymore, but when we did, we loved hiking with them. It is so easy to pop them into a carrier and head out, plus carrying the extra weight makes it even better exercise.
We’ve always hiked with our babes. Now we have a 3.5 year old and a 20 month old, so they want to hike on their own (No more packing for the most part) but it’s still very enjoyable for us! A perfect way to tire them out too. 😉
i love hiking with my toddler, and have been doing it since he was pretty small. the more he weighs, the better a workout it is for me when he’s strapped to my back 🙂
Just an FYI, I can’t click through to the Treehugger site on the post that you link to…
Five and a half years and three kids into my life as a parent, I have yet to take a hike with any of my kids. What an excellent suggestion.
I cringe to think of doing this with all three, at least alone anyway, but with one it would be great. Perhaps I’ll inspire my husband to take our older two out this weekend and give me some alone time…perhaps an even more exciting option! 🙂
Thanks @NicoleT, you’re right. The great treehuggers in training site that we profiled a few years back seems to have disappeared. Maybe they’re all off hiking?
That photo is hilarious! Libby’s first hikes were in utero, as we went to the Smoky Mountains when I was 3 mos. pregnant. We also took her to Mammoth Cave when she was 9 months old. She loved her Kelty backpack. Still does most of the time, even though at 19 months, she is an accomplished walker (and insisted on walking an entire 1 mile hike a couple of months ago).
Were you reading my mind??! I was just having this conversation a week ago. Can anyone suggest a good carrier for my kiddos? We live in the mountains of Wyoming, and have a 25 mo. old and a 5 mo. old. My former Marine of a husband thinks we’re going to spend every weekend this summer hiking into the National Forest (He has yet to see how whiny and cranky I get when made to walk long distances!). I’ve looked at the Ergo carriers and the Kelty kid packs. The terrain we’re on is a lot of up and down hill, and I don’t see our 25 mo old hiking in 5+ miles over rocks, streams, trees….yah. I was trying not to spend a fortune on this little dream of hubby’s but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen 🙁 I have a Moby and a Bjorn, but neither one seems like it’d be up to the task. The Bjorn is just plain uncomfortable, and the Moby is too stretchy!
My family likes hiking, usually under my hubbies supervision. We haven’t been for a while, with baby #4 on the way, I’m not much up for it. Thanks for the picture of your “poo’splosion”!! That is awesome. 🙂
@Audrey, Are you looking for a carrier that allows you to wear BOTH kids at once? Or will your former Marine of a husband be up to carrying one of the kids as needed?
Heather – HAHAHA oh you BEST believe he’ll be carrying one, if not both!! LOL!!! Seriously though, he’ll probably carry the 5 mo old and a pack, and I’ll take the 25 mo old when she doesn’t want to walk. Unless she wants to be carried alot then he’ll get her AND the pack 😉 If he’s going to make me do this, he’s going to paaayyyy…hehe.
I have a Kelty that I still use for my 27 month old (although he is TALL and I fear his feet will be dragging on the ground soon). I love, love, love it. Got it on Craigslist.
I never had an Ergo when he was little, but have read many many rave reviews about them.
Happy hiking!
@Audrey I have the REI piggyback in addition to the standard around-town carriers (I prefer the Mei Tie). I think a hiking pack for the kids works better when you’re doing serious hiking.
We can’t live without the built-in hydration system, external frame for setting on the ground when we’re resting, better lumbar support, etc.
It sounds like the Kelty would offer all of those things. Plus, with a hiking backpack, you can usually zipper a day pack to the back of it so you don’t have gear on your front and back as you would with a babybjorn+backpack situation
that picture is AMAZING!!!!!!!! I love it!!!!!!
Hiking is so hard in NY, but we will take this plan on the road with us this summer 🙂
We have a used Kelty Kids pack that we LOVE. My husband digs wearing it – to the point that when we go out and think we may need to walk a bit (like to church from parking on Palm Sunday, or to a basket ball game – we set it in the space of his seat, so he had somewhere to sit) he actually suggests that instead of the stroller. And the bonus is that the kiddo gets to see everything at our level.
@Audrey I bought the Ergo carrier for our now 2 1/2 yr old a year ago so I could use it to carry our oldest on my back. Now I use it for our 5 month old carrying on the front. I LOVE it. For short hikes it’s great — no pressure on your back and it’s a fabulous hip workout for you, but best of all no horrible marks on your baby’s legs. I only hike/walk what my 2 yr old can do though, so that’s about one mile. I haven’t tried a Kelty or more serious hiking w/ the kiddos yet.
Thank you all SO MUCH for your input and experiences! It is so nice to have suggestions from those who’ve been there. Makes all the difference 🙂 I think we’re going to try to hit up an REI this spring (we’re 4 hrs from the nearest one) and try on some of the Kelty options. Happy hiking to y’all and thanks again!