Hiking with a baby

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,Â 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.