5 essential items for caravanning with a baby

Even the tiniest of babies quickly outgrow the bathroom sink in a caravan. Rather than try to fit a rigid baby bath into Tin Box we spent a couple of quid on a Flexibucket*, which fulfils the job of bathtub brilliantly.

It was also a perfect fit for our circular shower tray and provided extra storage while not full of bubbles and ducks.

2. Storage baskets

These were ideal for sorting out our girls’ extensive wardrobes of tiny garments when they were little. Storage baskets* are a must if you want to make it easy to find clean vests and sleep suits in the middle of the night.

We bought four baskets of about 20cm by 30cm, which fit snuggly into one of the overhead lockers.

3. Sleeping bags

You can never have too many baby sleeping bags*. Tin Box Tot and Baby used to go through two the first night of every trip. It must have been something to do with the change of environment!

We usually opted for 1 tog in the summer and 2.5 in the winter. Grobags always seemed to work best for us because they were so easy to fasten, even when Tot and Baby were fast asleep.

4. Cold water bottle steriliser

The majority of our weekends away are off electric, even now we have a camper van. So even if we could find a steam steriliser small enough to fit in our tiny microwave, we wouldn’t have been able to use it.

Our cold water steriliser* was the answer. It was also light weight and simple to use.

5. Floor seat and tray

Caravan seating and gangways aren’t designed for highchairs or the travel equivalents. We got around this by putting our girls in a floor seat*.

It isn’t the most social of options at dinner time when we’d be at the table but when space is at a premium a full high chair just isn’t an option.

NB:floor seats should not be put on raised surfaces. In the summer we could roll out a picnic blanked in the awning or use our full size Ikea high chair.