Awesome RV Travel With A Newborn

Plan a dream RV vacation? Check! 

Put together a trip plan? Check! 

Unexpectedly find out you’re pregnant? Check! 

Do you move forward with your plans or put the brakes on? Obviously, that’s a really personal decision for each family to make, but, if you’re anything like G6, we moved forward! If I’m being completely honest, my knee jerk reaction was to postpone it for a few years. But my, wise-beyond-her-years colleague, convinced me that it was the perfect time to take the trip. Following her advice made for one of our best and most memorable RV travel adventures with our newborn!

Here are our FIVE takeaways of RV travel with a newborn:

1. JUST DO IT! Again, this isn’t intended to encompass every baby and every family, but, for the most part, babies mostly just eat, sleep and poop. And they can do that in any venue! Will it be the same trip? Probably not. It certainly wasn’t for us. We like to do a lot of hiking on trips. But 8 weeks post-fourth-C-Section with a newborn did not really allow for a ton of that. But, with some planning and flexibility, it really did not impede our travels all that much. We took shorter hikes. We did scenic drives. We did a lot of picnics and parks. It was beautiful. In some ways, it may have been even better. It forced us to move at a little bit of a slower pace than we’re used to. If it happened again (but it better not!), I would not think twice about newborn RV travel!
2. PLAN BUT BE FLEXIBLE. We had no idea what to expect when we were planning our trip. When we are traveling to a destination, we generally push through the drive as quickly as possible with minimal stops. For us, driving from the Cincinnati area to our first stop in the Badlands, we would have about a 17 hour drive that we would push through in as close to one day as possible. But, would that be possible with a newborn? We honestly had no idea. So we opted to not have any camping reservations for the first leg of our trip. Instead, we chose to boondock on dispersed public land overlooking the Badlands (AMAZING, by the way). We did make camping reservations at the places we knew we had to, such as Custer State Park and at a campground near Yellowstone National Park, but, for the rest of the trip, we stayed very flexible. It gave us extra time where we needed it and led to some really awesome camping spots that we might not have otherwise experienced.
3. DON’T OVERPACK THE NEWBORN GADGETS. It’s really easy to overpack when it comes to newborns. In reality, they don’t need all the things. The key is to be truly thoughtful as you are packing for an RV trip with a newborn. We really kept it simple for our trip with our newborn. As far as baby-specific items, we really kept it to the 3 B’s: bed, bouncy seat, and baby carrier! We had a portable pack n play that she slept in, which was very compact and perfect for her. There are many options, but this is the one we had, and it worked great for her. We took a portable bouncy seat, which we used both in the camper and outside while we were eating or even relaxing around the campfire. The one we used was discontinued but it was similar to this one. The baby carrier was invaluable for all of the exploring we did. I loved this one. Obviously, we also took clothes, diapers, and some baby meds to have on hand. Even with these items, we were careful not to overpack. I knew I could do laundry at the campgrounds or a laundromat. And we could pick up additional diapers and meds as needed. I will add that I nursed so we did not have to worry about taking bottles or formula. If you are not nursing, you would need to add a few additional items to your packing list. But they really don’t need as much as you might think.
4. YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL AND THAT’S OKAY. As I mentioned, we were not able to take as long of hikes as we are used to. But we focused on shorter hikes and were able to get a pretty good feel for the parks with those shorter hikes. And my husband would take the older kids for longer hikes here and there while I rested with the baby at the camper. The National Park Service really does a pretty phenomenal job with respect to providing beautiful scenic drives and stunning stops along them. We also found fun places for the kids to blow off steam at picnic areas, playgrounds, and even the campgrounds themselves. We made note of the things that we were unable to do that we thought we might want to fit in on a future trip, which is great because it gives you something to look forward to! The slower pace, gorgeous scenery, and the close living quarters of the camper was a perfect way for our family to truly connect and fully transition from a family of five to G6!
5. NO, THE BABY WON’T REMEMBER IT, AND THAT’S OKAY TOO! My first real vacation that did not involve going to my grandma and grandpa’s house out of town was not until I was 15. 25+ years later, there are very few moments from that vacation that I truly remember. Whether you take the trip when they are five weeks old, five years old or even 15 years old, they may not remember much of it. Our youngest has traveled to 36 states plus Washington D.C. in her short four years of life, and she has no clue! But we have taken some of our best family vacations since she has been born. She likely won’t remember any of them, but she has enjoyed every single one in the moment. Plus, it gives us a reason to go back to some of our favorite places when she is older! We really lean into the idea of living for today without worrying about whether any of us will remember all the specific details. Our hope is that our kids will look back and generally have fond memories of our family travels. 

The initial thought of RV travel with a newborn may seem overwhelming and intimidating, but I encourage you to embrace it. It can definitely be done and done well! You can always find a reason to not take the trip. Despite any of the challenges and obstacles that have come up, we have yet to regret a single trip we have made in our RV. Get out there, explore, adventure and make memories – newborn and all! We’d love to hear from you. Have you traveled with your newborn? What was your experience like? For more adventures from G6 Adventures, click here.