Hiking with a Baby


Fall is the perfect time for cool hikes that don't involve sweating to death! I've talked about why hiking is a great vacation activity--hello, it's FREE--but it's even more fun when you can do it all together as a family. I want Aiden to get used to seeing the great outdoors and going on adventures. (But by the same token I don't want him being TOO adventurous...no rock climbing, no bouldering, no tree-climbing, 2 feet safely planted on the ground at all times....jk. Sort of. 😉)

Over the summer we hiked a LOT in Colorado (and being from PA that lack of oxygen was TOUGH!!) and recently we went hiking again here in Pennsylvania. (In Colorado, Aiden was 6 months and when we went more recently Aiden was 7 months, if that helps your frame of reference.)

Here's a few of my suggestions for how we had successful hikes with a baby, broken down into 1) how to wear/carry the baby, 2) what else to bring, and 3) how your trip might end up.


Babywearing/carrying

1. Baby wrap
I loved this option on both hiking trips. I used this carry method. You can't just stop hiking because it's naptime, so by carrying him close to me, all snuggled up, he could just nap while we hiked. Also it's easy to hand him food when he's in front of you like that. I was bribing him with Cheerios until he fell asleep during one hike, haha. Full disclosure: I carried him like that for 2+ hours and bruised my hip. Less than 2 hours/doing the wrap correctly helps.

2. Baby Bjorn
Devin crushed it at this method in Colorado! This allows lots of back support. Just remember the baby's face is lower and make sure not to walk through brush without holding back all the branches.

3. Hiking backpack
This was Devin's preferred method here in PA (because we didn't want to bring this all the way to Colorado). I've used this while volunteering at church events, and it's great support-wise and your baby gets to see the world from high up. The only downside was that you can't see the kid/they can screech in your ear with delight. Sorry, Dev.
(Baby-wearing)
Baby-Bjorn


Hiking backpack 
What to bring:

1. Bring food options
Cheerios, handheld foods, and mashed up baby food in a jar is what we brought so we'd have options. Also, still nursing! So that's another option.

2. Bring only diaper-changing necessities--changing mat (or just a raincoat!), diapers, wipes.
Leave everything else at home so you don't weigh down that backpack, which leads me to #3....

3. Put it all in an actual backpack with wide shoulder straps. 

How your hiking trip might end up:



Do you like hiking? Have you ever tried it with a baby?

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