Expecting dad with questions

[+Team_FussyPants]

My wife and I are expecting our first child very soon (Sept 8th due date), and I'm very excited about the prospect of my geocaching adventures becoming family outings. I just had a few questions from cachers that had been through the same thing. Like how soon after your child's birth did you start bringing them along to cache with you? I'm in Northern Nevada where we can get some pretty cold winters, so I figured that it would be at least spring before the little one starts to come along. So that would be at least at the 6 month mark.

 

We've received some great equipment to get outside with our baby, but I thought I would ask if there was anything that you had found to be essential, or at least very handy to have along while caching with your baby?

[hoosier guy]

Good to see an active involved father to be. Can not over stress the importance of a dad in a kid's life.

 

It depends on the child to a degree. Our girls were camping at 4 & 5 months and have been outside ever since.

 

Make sure to have a backpack carrier. My girls rode through many happy adventures while I still had my hands free. other than that take the stuff in your diaper bag, just in smaller quantities. Just make sure you can pack out the "refuse"

 

And finally DO NOT forget a camera. These days are going to fly by too quickly my brother.

Edited August 23, 2010 by hoosier guy

[+narcissa]

I regret not having a backpack carrier. It will be at the top of my to-buy list next time I have a baby.

 

I've taken my son with me almost everywhere since the day I brought him home from the hospital. I don't think there's such a thing as "too early" to take a baby out into the world.

 

Of course, the mum might not be ready to hit the trails right off the bat.

[+JBnW]

We got started in this game when our son was less than a year old (check the Avatar). I think its a great way to get out for little fresh air and sunshine. I used to live in the "Greater Sparks Metro Area", and would think that even just a short walk in the stroller would be an almost year-round activity. I did a quick look and see many caches in the parks and trails, should be plenty of the easier ones to keep you busy! Even if you only get one or two per trip, at least you were outside! Certainly something we would be doing if still in the area! As for packing and things to bring, really never got more involved than what you would bring if going shopping at the mall, or running a few errands around town, or for a walk in the park. "What's the weather, how long will you be out, kiddo's current schedule, how long are they gonna last, something to keep them entertained between stops"...that kind of stuff. Oh, and patience, for when the little one starts walking and gets curious about every flower and bug along the way!

 

But I'll warn ya...everytime our now 3-year old hears a text message come through to my cell phone, he yells "CACHE!!!!!" and goes running for his shoes!

 

Congrats, and happy caching!

[+boda]

I took my son out caching for the first time when he was 35. He needed some help, but otherwise did OK.

 

Our daughter-in-law was pregnant at the time, and when we went to Colorado Springs to visit the new addition to our family, they took me to a few caches where I even had trouble with the terrain. They then showed me pics of the 3 week old baby in the backpack carrier - at the cache site.

 

Best of luck with your new adventure in life!

Edited August 23, 2010 by boda

[+Team_FussyPants]

Thanks for all the great replies! Its very encouraging to see so many people that have gotten their children involved so young. I have to admit that I was getting a little down about many of my activities being put on hold or ending once the baby came. It seems that once I tell people we have a baby on the way they always support her, then joke with me how all my hobbies will go away. I know they are only joking and giving me a hard time, but after you hear that so many times it starts to get to you.

 

I'm looking at the baby not as a roadblock to the things I enjoy doing, but as the opportunity to share my interest with my own kid. So its awesome to see people taking their newborns out and making some finds, and to see the kids grow up and love geocaching!

 

We did receive a great stroller (BOB revolution) as a shower gift, and it looks more than capable of doing park caches and even decent trail caches. We have a bjorn baby carrier, and I've been looking at Kelty baby packs as well. Looks like they pop up on craigslist very cheap once kids outgrow them.

 

And to Hoosier Guy: We are definitely set in the camera department now, our arsenal includes a Nikon Digital SLR, Canon point and shoot, and just picked up a kodak playsport waterproof HD video camera. Plus we both have iphones for video and pictures, should be a media overload I'm sure!

[+BulldogBlitz]

whatever you do... you may NOT trade out a dirty diaper for any swag in a cache.

 

sorry... we gotta have standards!

 

[+Bear and Ragged]

But I'll warn ya...everytime our now 3-year old hears a text message come through to my cell phone, he yells "CACHE!!!!!" and goes running for his shoes!

Smart kid!

[+joukkusisu]

Mosquito netting. We take our daughters (2.5 years old and a 5 mo old) everywhere caching, but it can get rough sometimes to go out due to mosquitoes. We spend our time worrying they're getting bitten by mosquitoes since they don't know how to brush them off. If it's too buggy, we don't try. They make netting that can go over strollers. We're trying to find netting that can go over a baby bjorn or a carrier backpack.

[+supertbone]

Congrats! My wife and I are expecting a kid shortly after you.

 

When we had our last one, I would take the newborn out for park and grabs. We found that driving around helped the child fall asleep.

[hoosier guy]

we both have iphones for video and pictures, should be a media overload I'm sure!"

 

Good to hear Bro! My girls probably wold not reconize me w/o a lens in front of my face. LOL

 

Sounds like you have a good head on your shoulders. Yeah, in truth you may have to give up a few things for now. That comes with being responsible for another human being's life (and I am told that never ends BTW.) But you gain so much more; just like you say sharing your interests, watching your child discover new things and just being the center of someone's world, being their hero, and that makes that putting aside some things no big deal.

 

Look forward to seeing your photos. My best to you and to yours.

[+Squirrel N Turtle]

At the last ASP Geobash there were babies as young as 3 weeks old.

Train them how to Geocache young and that will help with other skills later in life!

JMO

Squirrel

[+sbell111]

I took Princess Wigglypants urban caching when she was about six months old. I won't bring her into the woods until she's older as I don't want bugs to get her. I haven't taken her caching since then as it is way too hot for her.

[+speakers-corner]

This is something I did with my children when they were small (not caching, being out in the fresh air). Our youngest was 6 yrs old when she walked up her first mountain (started at approx 600m sumit was 2800m), she loved it all the way up, she was carried down on the top of a backpack. Now they do the same with our grandchildren.

[+speakers-corner]

This is something I did with my children when they were small (not caching, being out in the fresh air). Our youngest was 6 yrs old when she walked up her first mountain (started at approx 600m sumit was 2800m), she loved it all the way up, she was carried down on the top of a backpack. Now they do the same with our grandchildren.

[+JBnW]

But I'll warn ya...everytime our now 3-year old hears a text message come through to my cell phone, he yells "CACHE!!!!!" and goes running for his shoes!

Smart kid!

Could be, but we're not ruling out "Pavlovian" just yet. Either way, he's getting real good at tying his own shoes, so its all good!

[+Leaky Spoon]

Funny, I didn't read the author's name until I began reading the post, thinking "This sounds familiar!"

 

While our kids are too old to have ever been caching as babies, we always took them camping. We always figured that they would be part of our interests, so we should get them out early. Sometimes it was really hard and sometimes we didn't get to go as much as we wanted. But, the more we did go, the easier it became. We even took our first on a two-week camping trip to the World's Fair in Vancouver, when he was a baby - camped the whole way up and back (dog, too!) He doesn't remember it, but we have great memories of that trip --- followed it up by a week on a houseboat. We were kids, too

 

I think kids that get outdoors really appreciate it even more as adults. I think ours do and they have stories and memories that so many of their friends do not. It helps keep you all close and it's really nice to have shared interests (at least, until the point they choose something else )

[hoosier guy]

It helps keep you all close and it's really nice to have shared interests (at least, until the point they choose something else )

 

Alas they may choose something else, but the bonds you have built will keep the relationship close.

[+jennyofthemoon]

Our kids have been out in the woods (backpacking, hiking, camping, caching) since they were days old, depending on weather conditions around the time each was born.

 

Essentials? While backpack carriers are great as the baby gets older, you need a good-quality baby wrap (either woven or MT style...see didymos.com or babyhawk.com for examples) for when they are itty-bitty. Mama can also nurse in those, so there will no need to stop hunting LOL

[knowschad]

I thought this thread was gonna be about your father visiting, and wanting to know what you had been up to with that GPS he got you for your birthday. Boy, was I ever wrong! Good luck caching with a new baby in the house!

[sleeplessinsandiego]

Hello,

 

My wife and I are not the ones to go camping or mountin climbing, but we do like to get out especally at the beaches. However, we have been taking our kids outside to beaches and other places within a week of being born. (I have 4 little ones). We would put them in backpack carriers and off we go. My older 3 are old enough to go out caching and have recently re-conneceted with it after my job got in the way. I have started caching again with my older 3 over the past couple of months and have had a great time. I start a 2 week vacation on Fri. and as long as it isn't too hot will try to go out with them to find 1 or 2 a day if possible. Sometimes I will put the baby in the stroller and push her with the other 3 taking turns with my phone and recently aquired GPS unit.

 

Have fun. Don't let anyone tell you that the kid is too young to go out. The fresh air is good for them!!!

 

Paul

[+debaere]

My wife and I are expecting our first child very soon (Sept 8th due date), and I'm very excited about the prospect of my geocaching adventures becoming family outings. I just had a few questions from cachers that had been through the same thing. Like how soon after your child's birth did you start bringing them along to cache with you? I'm in Northern Nevada where we can get some pretty cold winters, so I figured that it would be at least spring before the little one starts to come along. So that would be at least at the 6 month mark.

 

We've received some great equipment to get outside with our baby, but I thought I would ask if there was anything that you had found to be essential, or at least very handy to have along while caching with your baby?

 

My son was a week old when he first went out (to church), and 4 weeks old when we found our first cache together (in Roanoke VA in November - was chilly!) He's 10 months now. A good baby back pack is essential to remain hands free. It is amazing how little you do need to bring a baby on caching trips. Make sure he's well dressed for the weather. We normally kept him in his PJs, added some gloves, extra socks and a hat, and wrapped him in a baby blanket. He was warm and cozy, even in the snow. A couple diapers/wipes/cream, and some food (either Mom or formula depending on what you are doing food wise for him).

 

The most essential thing is to being extra pacifiers. And put the ones you do on clip-on straps. They get dropped a lot and you never know when he's gonna need it.

 

The one main change for me was that the kid has a schedule which is best kept for your own sanity. This slows down my caching trips as I had to stop every couple hours to feed the kid. Aside from that there shouldn't be a great deal to slow you down.

 

Good luck and enjoy!

[+popokiiti]

Good luck on the upcoming births! I suppose names are already decided upon....but I hope you have caching names ready for the newest seekers. I am betting they will also have caches placed for them too. I wish you happy times with your expanding families.

[+JesandTodd]

I read somewhere on here that a family registered a team name for their newborn baby on their birthday. Then they logged each cache that the baby went to. Cute idea!

 

Congrats!

[+Castle Mischief]

Okay here's the best advice I can give you.

 

Just because the baby has blue eyes and both you and your wife have brown eyes does not automatically guarantee that you should be concerned. Also, ALWAYS OFFER TO CHANGE A DIAPER and never name your kid anything that rhymes with a body part.

 

Congrats and good luck!

Edited August 25, 2010 by Castle Mischief

[hoosier guy]

never name your kid anything that rhymes with a body part.

 

Now that is a very good point.

[robertlipe]

The two logs on May 16 by Monkeybrad and Liam on this cache make it clear that it's hard to start 'em too early. (For whatever reason, Scoot the Frog's (mom) answer is on May 17.)

[+LewisClan77]

My son Urijah, his screen name is LiTtLeBrObRa, found his first cache while we were driving home from the Hospital.

[+Team_FussyPants]

Okay here's the best advice I can give you.

 

Just because the baby has blue eyes and both you and your wife have brown eyes does not automatically guarantee that you should be concerned. Also, ALWAYS OFFER TO CHANGE A DIAPER and never name your kid anything that rhymes with a body part.

 

Congrats and good luck!

 

Haha, excellent point. I have blue eyes and both my parents have brown, so that was a lesson learned early.

 

 

Thanks for all the great responses. We're getting pretty close now and we're both pretty excited.

I picked up a really nice Kelty kid carrier off craigslist the other day, very lightly used and about $130 less than what I would have paid for it new. So inbetween that and the other equipment we have, we're pretty well equipped to get the baby outdoors.

 

Its awesome to see so many people in the community that are so involved with their kids. I've been caching for almost 5 years now, but mainly doing it out on my own. I haven't really gotten involved in the community until the past year or so, and I have to say its one of the greatest groups of people and I'm really excited to get my family involved.

[+redtech]

My wife and I are expecting our first child very soon (Sept 8th due date), and I'm very excited about the prospect of my geocaching adventures becoming family outings. I just had a few questions from cachers that had been through the same thing. Like how soon after your child's birth did you start bringing them along to cache with you? I'm in Northern Nevada where we can get some pretty cold winters, so I figured that it would be at least spring before the little one starts to come along. So that would be at least at the 6 month mark.

 

We've received some great equipment to get outside with our baby, but I thought I would ask if there was anything that you had found to be essential, or at least very handy to have along while caching with your baby?

 

Congrats! My wife and I are expecting a kid shortly after you.

 

When we had our last one, I would take the newborn out for park and grabs. We found that driving around helped the child fall asleep.

 

 

Congrats to both of you!!!

 

My youngest had just started walking when I first started caching. When he got around 2, I had to quit because it was too much trouble to take him. I wish I'd known about caching when they were babies though, a backpack carrier would have been awesome to get them used to it.

[Trader Rick & Rosie]

Get him his own account now!!!

[+bootblackblast]

Best piece of Dad gear I've ever seen that would adapt spectacularly for caching is the Diaper Bag Vest. http://www.dadgear.com/gear_detail.cfm?itemID=14# It's a light fleece vest with pockets for a changing pad and 2-3 diapers in the small of the back, binkie pockets, bottle pockets, wipes pockets, keys/phone/gps pocket. It's downright awesome for any Dad on the go with a baby but even moreso for we cachers.