We Took my Daughter to an Overnight Music Festival

And you can too!

Ramona and her dad

There’s often a lot of conflict between altering your life completely when you have a baby, and keeping your identity. The trick is to find a good balance. How I see it is that you can still do most of the things you did before you were parents, you just have to be safe and plan well.

Spontaneity is rarely an option when you have a young child. You have to account for everything; weather changes, diaper explosions, sudden sickness, and so on. Here’s how we managed to bring our three-month-old to a music festival and camp overnight with her.

We didn’t attempt to pack light. We made sure we had supplies and extra supplies for every possible scenario. We brought about a third of her wardrobe and I don’t think she wore more than two pieces of clothing, but I was glad we were prepared.

We were able to get a spot in Family Camping so that when Ramona woke up in the middle of the night they would (hopefully) be more understanding. We took turns setting up the tent while the other one held her. We had two air mattresses on either side, and our sleeping bags on top of those. Then in the middle we built a little nest for Ramona. We put down two towels and three of her blankets. I built up her bed to the same level as mine so that I could easily sidelong nurse her overnight (which turned out to be quite difficult, but we’ll get there)

We got there around 5pm, so the hottest part of the day was over. (It was actually a three day music festival, but we opted to just stay one night for our first attempt at babycamping) Ramona’s usual bedtime is 8pm, but we didn’t want to settle into the tent then so we strapped her into the front pack and explored the campground for the next couple of hours while she slept.

When we were ready to go to bed we brought her back to the tent. She woke up when we took her out of the front pack and I nursed her to sleep. (One of the things I regret not bringing is a lawn chair or beach chair or something. I would highly recommend some sort of back support like that for nursing moms while camping)

Overnight was a little rough. Ramona’s schedule was the same as it is at home (waking up to eat once at 4:00 and once at 5:30), but sidelong nursing was really difficult while sleeping on the ground, even with the air mattress. Next time I plan to buy one of those much thicker air mattresses, the ones that are about as thick as a regular mattress.

We woke up pretty early the next day because as soon as the sun rose it got very hot in the tent. (My only other regret is camping in the clearing instead of the woods where it would have been nice and shady). 

Morning stretches!

The day was filled with loud music and sunscreen at hot,hot baby wearing. Ramona was mildly fussy in the heat all day but we did our best to keep her cool and in the shade and it never got too bad.

As far as the music goes, they sell wonderful baby earmuffs, but since we didn’t learn about that until after, we mostly just stayed a little further from the stage. Ramona loves music and enjoyed kicking and smiling on a blanket in the grass.

There was a creek by out campsite and we visited it periodically to dip Ramona’s toes in and hang out on the shady edge between the beachy part and the woods.

Overall I’d say our experience was lovely. I would highly recommend trying it, and I would advise bringing lots of sunscreen (for everyone), water (for you), and toys (for baby). And don’t forget that you’re there to enjoy yourselves, if you’re happy, your baby will be happy.