Everything You Need to Know About Traveling in a RV with a Baby

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT TRAVELING WITH A BABY IN AN RV?

You are in the right place because  We have traveled in our RV since 2010. We started traveling in our RV with a baby when our youngest Sage was six weeks old.

In her first year, we lived in our RV for much of the year. She visited 11 national parks and 15 states. Along the way, we learned a lot about the best way to travel with a baby in a RV.

Here are our best tips and tricks along with must-haves to bring along.

Table of Contents

When Can you Travel with a Newborn?
Can You Take a Baby in an RV?
RVing with a Baby – Baby Proofing
Sleeping in an RV With a Baby
Feeding in an RV With a Baby
RV Living with a Baby – Bathing

When can you travel with a newborn?

Our best advice on when you can start RV camping with a baby is whenever you feel comfortable. We left on our first long road trip when Sage was six weeks old, and I would not have wanted to leave any sooner.

I needed time to recover from delivering a baby and get everyone used to having a baby join our family. It was nice to have this time to do all that.

You may adjust faster or slower depending on your family and circumstance, but the six-week mark was a good milestone for us. In fact, we went to Portland to buy our motorhome when Sage was about four weeks old, and it was rough. I still did not feel that great and we were all so tired.

when can you camp with a newborn?

I think camping fits in the same scenario as traveling – whenever you feel comfortable. It was nice to have everything that we needed for our baby in our RV though. Rather than packing everything up to move to a different hotel, we had everything we needed contained in the RV.

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can you take a baby in a RV?

The question if you can travel with a baby in an RV is a valid concern. If you are traveling in a towable RV, you won’t have to put the car seats inside of the RV. If you are traveling with a motorhome, you will either have to put the car seat in the motorhome or drive another vehicle.

The next question is if you can install your infant car seats in the motorhome. The legal answer is, yes you can. There are no state-specific laws in the United States that say you cannot take an infant on board a motorhome.

Just as in a vehicle, be sure to obey car seat safety laws and install your car seat per the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Where you put babies in the RV while driving will depend on the layout of your specific RV. Taking your baby into account should be part of planning your RV road trip. Infants should be rear-facing and do not install the car seat in the front of the motorhome.

Also, make sure the chair is secured to the chassis rather than the interior of the motorhome. If there are overhead cabinets, do not store heavy things in them that could come out if the cupboard accidentally opened during driving from a hard turn, brake, or accident.

Babies, and all children, should be safely buckled in their car seats when the vehicle is moving.

Overall RV travel with a baby is safest if you can buckle the baby in the tow vehicle and tow a trailer. If you are traveling in a motorhome, be sure to follow the safety guidelines to ensure overall safety.  

The best rv for a baby

If you do not already have an RV, making sure you are picking one of the infant-friendly RVs will really set you up for success in your family travels. There are a couple of different aspects to consider when finding an RV that will cater to babies and as they grow. This will make RV living with a baby a lot easier.

The first is finding the right layout and space. Especially with older kids in the RV, having a place where the baby can sleep is important. We have a bedroom in our motorhome, giving us two different living areas.

The baby sleeping in the RV can do so with less distraction than being in the same room as everyone else.  

Another huge thing is having slide-outs. Babies require a lot of stuff and having the extra room is so nice. As she moved out of her bassinet and into a pack and play, the extra space is amazing. Without a slide-out, we wouldn’t really have space for her pack and play.

The next thing to consider when looking for the best RV for babies is the storage space available. When RV camping with a baby, they will need all the same supplies they need at home – bottles, formula, a pump, diapers, wipes, clothes, toys, swings and the list goes on. If you have a place where everything can be put away, it will make your RV feel much bigger because you won’t be tripping over everything.

The last important factor when settling on your RV is safety. If it is a motorhome, is there a place where you can safely install the car seat? If there are stairs inside, are you comfortable finding a way to prevent a fall down them?

RVing with a Baby – Baby proofing

A portion of babyproofing an RV is already done for you. Cupboards and drawers are designed to be harder to open so they don’t open during transit however it is a good idea to make sure you secure loose cabinets. Everything is smaller in an RV, making a lot of things within reach that normally aren’t.

Here are the steps to baby proof an RV:

1. Install a pack of outlet covers in all reachable outlets.
2. Add knob covers to prevent older babies from accidentally turning on the stove.
3. Keep a stove guard on hand to prevent older babies from reaching up for hot pots and pans.
4. Install an oven lock to keep a hot oven closed.
5. If you have stairs inside the motorhome, install a RV baby gate.
6. Install cabinet locks if you have found your baby can still open the cupboards.
7. A toilet latch will keep kids from throwing things down into your black tank.
8. Keep a first aid kit with baby specific products in your RV.

This by no means is an all-inclusive list as each RV is different and poses different threats to your baby. Keep a close eye on your baby during your first couple of outings to see what adjustments you need to make. Repeat this as your baby becomes mobile.

sleeping in a RV with a baby

Finding a sleeping arrangement that works for everyone is one of the hardest parts of RV travel with a baby. Where your baby will sleep in an RV will depend on the beds and space you have available. We are fortunate enough to travel in a 35-foot RV with a slide-out so finding a place for the bassinet and later pack-n-play wasn’t too challenging.

We started our baby sleeping in the camper in a foldable bassinet. She took her naps in the back bedroom and then slept out in the main room with us at night. The foldable bassinet made it really easy to move between rooms, take down while we were driving, and even take outside for her to lay in while she was awake.

It is small enough to not take up a bunch of room in the RV but big enough that she was able to sleep in it until she was getting big enough to sit and pull herself up.

Check Prices for Foldable Bassinet on Amazon Here!

From there, we moved the baby’s RV bed to a pack-n-play. The pack-n-play is bigger and harder to move around the motorhome but was better than putting her in one of the normal beds because she was contained.

Check Prices for Pack-n-Play on Amazon Here!

RVing with a Baby – Other sleeping ideas

If you have an RV with a bunk room, you can easily turn one of the bunks into a space for the RV baby bed. You can either take out the lower bunk and add a crib or you can add a hinged gate across the front of the bunk to create a makeshift RV baby crib. If you are adding a crib in an RV, there are smaller cribs available that won’t take up as much room.

Another thing to keep in mind when planning for the baby sleeping in the RV is the added noise from the close corridors. The doors closing, people talking and noise from normal life all seem louder in the RV. One thing that really helps everyone sleep better is using a white noise machine.

We love using this white noise machine in our RV because you can use it both on battery and electricity. If you are RV camping with a baby and do not have hookups you can still use the white noise machine. These are some easy steps to take to ensure RV living with a baby is a smooth transition.

Check Prices for White Noise Machine on Amazon Here!

feeding in a RV with a baby

As your baby grows, your feeding needs for your baby in an RV with change. If you breastfeed your baby, there really isn’t anything different than feeding your baby at home. This makes RVing with a baby really easy.

If you pump, you will need to be mindful of storing the milk. RV freezers are quite a bit smaller, so you won’t have as much room for storing milk. Also, consider how the pump you use is powered. If you have a hand pump you won’t have any difficulties. If your pump is electric, you will either need to be plugged into power or use a generator.  

For formula-fed babies, there really isn’t anything that different other than if you need to heat the formula. This would require the use of the microwave which means you will either need to use a generator or be plugged into power.

Most RVs do not have a dishwasher so you will be washing bottles if you use them. We use this scrubbing brush, and it does a great job of cleaning the bottles. Combine it with soap and hot water and you are set.   

As your baby graduates into baby food and solid food, you will most likely want to use some sort of camping chair. There are foldable high chairs as well as compact high chairs. We just use one of the compact high chairs on the floor when we feed Sage. If you are short on space, the folding one will save you some room.

These high chairs are also convenient for feeding babies outside.                   

Check Prices for Foldable High Chairs on Amazon Here!

changing in a rv with a baby

Changing a baby in a RV is not that challenging. I would not take up space in the RV with a changing table or designated area. There are usually benches around a dinette, bed, or floor space available.

One thing to keep in mind is that when you are RV camping with a baby you will go through more clothes and have limited access to a washer and dryer unless your RV has one in it. If you are staying at an RV park, most of them will have laundry facilities available. It is best to bring your own soap as well as quarters.

RV Living with a Baby – Bathing

Our motorhome has a small bathtub in it. Having a bathtub is kind of a double edge sword. It is nice to have one, but motorhome hot water tanks are very small. We can only fill our bathtub up maybe three or four inches before we run out of hot water. Unless your RV has an instant hot water heater, you more than likely won’t be able to fill your bathtub very full. This is something to keep in mind when RVing with a baby.

Another option that has worked well for us is to have the baby shower with an adult. One of us will give Sage her shower and then the other one will get her out and dressed. This does require the baby to get used to a shower, but Sage did not have a problem adjusting to them.

There are also blow-up bathtubs for babies that you can use if you want to avoid the shower route.

Adventuring in a rv with a baby

One of the best parts of RV camping with a baby is all the fun adventures you get to go on. We spent a lot of time hiking with Sage when she was a baby in our motorhome adventures. It is also nice to have carriers when you explore the beaches because strollers can be difficult to navigate in the sand.

When Sage was a newborn, we used the Ergo 360 baby carrier with the newborn insert. The carrier is very customizable worked great for both my husband who has large shoulders and myself. We also use this carrier now that she is older when we fly because it is smaller.

Check Prices for Ergo 360 on Amazon Here!

As our baby was able to hold her head up more, we transitioned to the Osprey Poco child carrier during our hikes. There are some storage pockets that work great for diapers, wipes, water bottles, and snacks.

Overall these carriers have worked well for us during our RVing. Having a reliable and comfortable way to take our baby on our adventures has made everything so much easier.

Check Prices for Osprey Poco Carrier on Amazon Here!

RV living with a baby is a lot of fun. It does take some planning and preparing but it is well worth it. We think the baby stage is one of the easiest times to travel with your kids because babies sleep so much.

Let us know if you have any questions about going on an RV trip with a baby in the comments below or you can always reach out to us on Instagram @csginger.

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