If you’re planning on going camping with your newborn baby you might be feeling overwhelmed about what to bring to keep them safe and comfortable. There are a lot of considerations to keep in mind, including safe sleep, bugs, and fluctuating temperatures, so it’s natural to feel this way (I know I did!).

We took our son on his first camping trip at 5 weeks old and by 11 weeks he had spent 11 nights camping under the stars. While I’m still fairly new to camping with a baby I wanted to share the gear that has helped make all of our camping trips a success so far. I’ve included 10 pieces of gear that I consider to be essentials when camping with a newborn to help make your life (and theirs!) easier.

Shop Essential Camping Gear For Babies

1. Baby Bouncer

The number one piece of baby gear that I recommend bringing with you while camping is a baby bouncer. Not only will this help keep baby entertained, it also gives you a safe place to put them down while you set up camp, cook, or build a fire. Any baby bouncer will work, but I’m personally a fan of the Baby Bjorn bouncer because it’s easy to clean after a camping trip.

Kate Outdoors Recommends: Baby Bjorn bouncer

2. Portable Sound Machine

If your baby sleeps typically sleeps with white noise at home, I highly recommend getting a Hatch GO sound machine to take with you on camping trips or while traveling. It comes preloaded with different sounds, including waves, a fan, a lullaby, heartbeats (my baby’s favorite), water, wind, a dryer, and more. We typically get 2 nights of continuous use out of a single charge.

Kate Outdoors Recommends: Hatch GO sound machine

3. Travel Bassinet

I’m very anxious when it comes to safe sleep, so finding a setup that worked with out existing camp setup was essential. We typically camp in our Hiker Trailer, which is a small teardrop style trailer (you can read my full review of the Hiker Trailer here!). It was a great trailer for camping as a married couple, but the downside is that you can’t stand up inside of it and space is very limited. It basically only fits a full-sized mattress with a little extra room at the foot of the trailer.

The Baby Delight snuggle nest is a travel bassinet that fits perfectly with the limited space we have. It should hopefully get us through the rest of the summer camping season before our baby starts sitting up (truthfully I don’t know what we’re going to do once he outgrows the bassinet because there’s no room for a travel crib). The travel bassinet also works well for tent camping, but depending on the amount of space you have you can also use a travel crib.

Kate Outdoors Recommends: Baby Delight Snuggle Nest

4. Warm Sleep Sack

One of the trickiest considerations when it comes to camping with a newborn is making sure that their temperature is regulated at night. Depending on the time of year and where you’re camping you may need to make sure that baby isn’t too hot or too cold. I haven’t been able to find any baby sleeping bags that come in a newborn size, but ErgoPouch sleep sacks and swaddle sacks come in a variety of TOG ratings so you have options that can fit your needs depending on the nighttime temperature at camp.

We use ErgoPouch swaddle sacks at home, so I was very excited to learn that they have a 3.5 TOG option (this is the warmest options I’ve been able to find in a 0-3 month size). We also have 0.2 TOG and 1 TOG swaddle sacks. While it functions like a traditional swaddle that keeps baby’s arms tight to their body, it also has snaps that can be opened to convert to a regular sleep sack with their arms out so you can keep using it once baby starts rolling over. 

Kate Outdoors Recommends: ErgoPouch Swaddle Sacks

5. Fully Stocked Diaper Caddy

Bringing a well stocked diaper caddy is essential anywhere you go with a newborn, but it’s extra important to keep things organized so you’re not scrambling during middle of the night diaper changes. I use cloth diapers at home, but bring disposables when camping to have one less thing to worry about. My diaper caddy is stocked with diapers (my baby and I prefer Freestyle), wipes, diaper cream (we love Tubby Todd Sweet Cheeks diaper cream), extra burp cloths, hand sanitizer, and dog poop bags for dirty diapers.

Kate Outdoors Recommends: My mushroom diaper caddy is from TikTok shop, but I also like the KeaBabies diaper caddy.

6. Carrier

A solid carrier is one of my favorite pieces of baby gear. It helps keep baby safe and secure while allowing you to have your hands free to do tasks around camp. It’s also helpful to have if you’re planning on hiking during your camping trip. I have a Wildbird Aerial carrier and love how it fits and how easy it is to get it on. It also comes in a bunch of really cute colors and prints (I have the Parker print, which is a pretty green gingham).

Kate Outdoors Recommends: Wildbird Aerial carrier

7. Picnic Blanket

We like to bring a picnic blanket on camping trips so that we have a safe place to put our baby down without having him in a container, like the bouncer. Our picnic blanket from Little Unicorn is not only soft and comes in a variety of cute pattern, but it’s also easy to clean. It also folds up into it’s own carrying case that has a strap and zippered pocket on the outside so it’s convenient to bring on the go.

Kate Outdoors Recommends: Little Unicorn outdoor blanket

8. Insect Repellant Stickers

Dealing with bugs at camp is never fun, but it can be especially stressful when camping with your newborn baby. You obviously don’t want to spray your precious baby with DEET or other harsh chemicals, so I’ve found that insect repellant stickers are a good alternative. They contain geraniol, which is safe for babies, along with other natural ingredients to keep bugs away like peppermint and citronella. Just make sure to stick them somewhere where your baby can’t grab them and put them in their mouth.

Kate Outdoors Recommends: Quitch bug repellant patches

9. Portable Fan

Camping during the summer can get hot, so bringing along a portable fan can help keep your baby cool. I got a cute bear shaped fan from Itzy Ritzy that comes with 3 speeds and can be attached to pretty much anything. It’s not only great for camping, but also for keeping baby cool on stroller walks.

Kate Outdoors Recommends: Itzy Ritzy breeze stroller fan