teaching 19 month old to sleep in a sleeping bag

We are hoping to do some camping in early Jan (down south, so shouldn't be too cold). Little boy has a sleeping bag, one that cinches up to match his length. Any tips for helping him adjust to sleeping in that (versus in his crib or pea pod, a personal tent sort of thing)? We hope/plan to camp out in our back yard a time or two before going camping, but though someone might have a few additional ideas.

Thanks!
Rachael

I gave up trying to keep my boys inside of bags on there own. My 18 month old goes into a wide bag with me and my 4 year old goes into a double bag with my wife. That way you can hold them and check to make sure their temperature is regulated throughout the night.

Depends on the kid, my son has used his own sleeping bag since he was 2. I have to admit the first few trips I slept very little as I was constantly waking and checking that he was warm and sound asleep. He loves sleeping in his bag now.

I have never been able to, so if you find a way...tell. All my kids have just slept between mom and dad, sharing one of our bags. They seem to grow out of it by 4 though.

When our kids were that young, we only went car camping and brought a lot of blankets.

When the kids were still in diapers, we did not go anyplace there was bear activity. The reason is, diapers and wipes are often scented and might smell good to a bear.

Kids like to get wet, so bring extra clothes.

So, an update. We left the sleep bag out so that Little Boy could just play on it. When Daddy got his sleeping bag, we left it out, too, and Daddy would climb into his and Little Boy could climb all over Daddy (that was a ton of fun and made for some great video). It took a couple of weeks, but Little Boy will willingly get into the sleeping bag and lay there a bit and play peek-a-boo. We have plans for a trip end of March, so I'll know then if any of this prep actually helps.

We did end up canceling the Jan trip due to colds all around, and then it snowed where we were going, so double glad we didn't go.

Great! Sounds like he's on his way to becoming an avid outdoorsman!

One thing no one has mentioned is having an "accident" at night. My daughter, who was never a bed wetter, had one her first night out at the age of 3. Basically we had to clean her up and throw her between my wife and myself (our two bags zip together) to warm the little one up. We figured we were safe as she had already "let loose" earlier ). Anyway, might be good to be prepared for such an event. Have fun!

Chris

Which is why kids should have synthetic sleeping bags until they're several years past the "accident at night" stage. Depending on the kid, that could be as high as age 12. Genetics has a lot to do with the age of "bladder maturity."

Oh yeah, no kidding on that. I went through that with my oldest. First trip in a tent he threw up after the sun went down. Spent all night in a cold car...lol. Backpacking went great, then he had an accident (thankfully just pee) middle of night. I think he had gotten too cold and didn't wake up in time. Got him dried up and we slept under bag, quilt style. Was a cold night for both of us...but we were OK. Thankfully his bag was synthetic, cleaned easily.

You guys will probably tell me I am a bad parent or something. But, in a high probability situation we throw on a diaper to a newly potty trained kid. That would be a long car ride, or sleeping in a bag in a tent, etc. New environments bring new fears, which can throw off a kid and make them forget, or not want to, to continue with their potty training routine.

A preemptive strike, eh. You ARE bad!

I remember thinking after my daughters accident that I wished I had put a disposable on her at bed time. But we were not destined to get much sleep that night anyway.

So nothing wrong with doing that!!!! Better safe than sorry.....

I'm proud to announce that our now 22 month old slept in his sleeping bag last night. We camped out in the back yard. Here is the poetic version:

http://mamarachael.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/camping-plans-and-preparations/

The long and short, though, and left out of previous blog post, we figure he just can't warm up the bag all that well, which is why he climbed in with me. For our camping trip at the end of this month, we will have his bag in the car just in case (we plan to car camp a few nights and backpack in for 2), but we plan for him to sleep in my bag.

Just spent the weekend car camping with 2 and 5 year old grandsons. The kids and I slept in a tent. Grandpa slept in the truck (he snores so loud that we always make sure we are far from him!) Unknown to me the 5-year-old is extremely scared of dark. We went to bed 8PM when there still was light. Midnight he awoke and screamed! I had to find a small flashlight and he slept with it on. I cannot sleep with light so there went my night's sleep. The little one managed to get his wrist caught in a hole in the mesh pocket of the tent. He awoke and screamed. The little one then awoke every 15 minutes, sat up, and wondered where he was. 5-year-old has asthma, so I was concerned if he were to get all worked up over the dark, so every time he awoke I would have to reassure him. It was warm enough that we all used our sleeping bags as blankets. Come morning, I discovered I had left the coffee in the kitchen! The kids slept all the way home. Other than the poor night's sleep they did great.

With kids, it is practice, practice, practice. Do not take your kids backpacking until they regularly sleep well in a tent. Lots of backyard camping and kid-friendly car camping are needed first.

Last summer I found out that backpacking with two tents and one adult can be an issue. I put my 11 yr old and 10 yr old in a tent by themselves and our big malamute. I slept with the 5 and 6 yr old in another tent. It took my 11 yr old a few reassurances that the malamute is better than dad for protection.

Incidentally, I always bring a glow stick for the kids for each night. One stick for the tent for each night. It is extra weight, but the kids sleep better with it. It does bother me a little, but eventually my mind ignores it.

Love the glow stick ideas. The dollar store had them 5 for a buck, so I got a few packs for the upcoming camping trip.

We discovered something we'd never thought about. Little Man tends to sleep on his front, with his knees pulled up under him. In the sleeping bag, the material is slick and he can't keep his knees under him. Makes for a rough night of sleep with him unable to find his favorite sleeping position. I'm pondering how to deal with this as we plan our next trip (next week!) We plan to camp several different nights. Its all car camping (road trip to visit family), so I'm wondering about putting a sheet under him to give him some traction (or some such).

Our last trip did go great. We had a great time, Little Man and Daddy (and Mom-mom, but to a lesser extent) loved all the time outdoors. We've discovered naps are about impossible, but that just makes for a better night.

Our first time out backpacking with our then 2 year old bestowed upon us a looong crazy night!

Despite not being able to nap, once we got in to go to bed around 9 for maybe 2 hours she just giggled and said, "Sleeping in the tent!" After that finally died down it became a game of give mommy a thousand kisses! It seriously took hours! No kidding!

Our little one just can't sleep still. It's quite hard to keep her in her bag or ours, which is what we had done when she was smaller. She's almost 5 now, but we dress her warm and check on her fairly often. Funny how that sits in the back of your mind while you sleep! Maybe part of it is how she kicks and rolls all over you too...

I've often felt I should bungee cord her in there!!!

Hold on to those memories. They are absolutely precious.

My little girl was a chocolate lab and we used to take her in the tent with us and she was the one giving kisses. Those were some of the best times of our lives.

jimmyb