Sailing with a baby

[Thall]

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has sussed out best way to sail with baby onboard (one year old). Obviously not looking to sail in rough weather, wife and other child onboard. Probably looking at using some ropes and car seat to secure as required but would like to hear what works best for others.

Thanks
Andy

 

[Laurin]

Car seat strapped in down below, high chair booster seat thing on deck, baby activity mat think and lots of cushions on cockpit floor if weather good enough. Not too much upwind sailing. PM me if you want any more details, we did a 1 and 3 year old on board last year.

 

[skip50]

One of those bouncy seat things hung from the end of the boom. Very popular with daughter (now 23years old), she first crossed the Channel under sail at 5 months of age. Car seat fixed somewhere, but possibly easier at 5 months than 1 year.

Anyway, back to the rugby!

 

[boguing]

When I have a working computer again, I'll try and remember to put up pics of some of my solutions.

 

[bedouin]

We had a carry cot that could be used as a lie-flat car seat (so the baby could be secured in it) That was very useful because we could secure it below and the baby could sleep in it and be totally safe. Once he grew out of that we went for a car seat that could be secured either in the cabin on on deck.

Sailing with a baby is really pretty easy- it gets harder as they get older.

 

[Colvic Watson]

Car seat strapped in down below, high chair booster seat thing on deck, baby activity mat think and lots of cushions on cockpit floor if weather good enough. Not too much upwind sailing. PM me if you want any more details, we did a 1 and 3 year old on board last year.

Similar set up. Plus a pop up type cot - Littelife Arc2 - makes a safe cot and playpen. Having had three as little nippers on board we confirm the prediction that age 1 & 2 are the easiest years; age 3-5 are the hardest when they think they can do everything but still fall down a lot! Bad weather is no problem, they sleep a lot or sit in their high chair. It's hot weather that's the biggest pain.

 

[johnalison]

Sailing with children is probably the best way of establishing family dynamics, and a great privilege. Our youngest was two years old when we started cruising and there were certainly some trying times, but a lot of fun. As a rule of thumb, I used to reckon a child can enjoy a sea trip of about one hour per year of age. Don't expect them to be always interested in the same things as you.

Sea water is a wonderful cleaning agent.

 

[Xcinquemila]

http://www.weliveonaboat.com/category/baby-on-board

This is a nice reader

 

[snooks]

The biggest thing I would say it to not be too ambitious to start with, your sailing has changed, the sooner you realise that the easier life on the water becomes. You can try to go out in weather you used to, try to fight it and come back with a unhappy crew which inturn makes you unhappy. Or you can just tailors all your sailing to your little ones needs, not going out when it's rough, no beating to windward for long periods of sailing, sailing during their nap time, or in between feeds to make it easier to go sailing. We limit time in the car seat to no more than two hours, which usually means sailing no more that 2 hours. We have one bunk in the saloon with the leecloth permantly rigged with a mobile hanging from the deck head, toys cushions etc where she happily plays in port.

Before our daughter was 6 months things were much easier, as she would happily sleep in the carry cot part of her pram, as she became more mobile, it became more challenging. She's now 14 months and on the cusp of walking. In harbour now she can get into lockers and get stuff out so needs constant supervision. We got our sail maker to make a 5ft square cushion cover (£70), in blue acrylic - sail cloth material - not that our cushions are worth covering, but it makes baby lead weening less stressful for me, he suggested eyes in the corners so can be rigged as a sun shade, hammock, probably even a paddling pool/bath in the cockpit this summer. Uses are endless.

Even if you don't use it, take the car seat with you, you never know when you'll have to take a trip to the local walk-in centre, and a Taxi there and back is much easier and quicker than negotiating public transport in a unknown port. We use our pilot berth for storing the pram or pushchair (pushchair takes up much less room) and car seat when not in use. Also worth thinking about sleeping arrangements before hand. My wife sleeps with our daughter in the forepeak, and I sleep in the saloon. This is mainly so my wife and I can use the saloon after our daughter has gone to sleep. It also means that hopefully my wife will wake up before our daughter falls out of the berth

 

[Searush]

All good ideas, and another one is - can you set up the forecabin as all bed plus a "lee-cloth" arrangement across the doorway? Makes a great playpen - just throw a few cuddly toys, books & crayons (NOT FELT TIPS!) in with 'em & they can entertain themselves safely for quite a while.

Passages are not generally the problem & babies & toddlers can be cuddled to sleep in the cockpit, but you will need somewhere SAFE & secure out of the way to fasten them when you need to handle sails, anchor or moor up. You also need loads of balls, fishing nets, armbands, big towels, buckets & spades etc. A bilge or lift keeler is best as you can simply park on the beach.

 

[Colvic Watson]

As a rule of thumb, I used to reckon a child can enjoy a sea trip of about one hour per year of age.

Seems a bit random to me; we've been across the North Sea with children from 6 months to 12 years old and without exception they've slept a good deal of the way. It's going in and out of marinas they seem to find difficult! Lots of toys, safe place to play, safe cot type bed, not too many days on passage one after the other. Plus make sure the boat is set up for singlehanded sailing - when the baby really needs mummy she's not available to crew. But the eldest crossed to Holland at 6 years old, the next one was on board from 7 days old and the little one was 18 months old last summer when we spent six weeks cruising the East Coast. I think baby-on-board is make or break time for SWMBO going sailing and it being a family rather than just Dad's thing. Dial down the sailing element, get a boat that doesn't tip too much and a bl**dy good tender that is 100% safe and a bit over large.

 

[sighmoon]

Oldest slept in a carry cot in the foot locker. As he got bigger, he slept in the forepeak, with an infill bit. He evidently slept pretty solidly, because he stayed asleep as we tacked all the way up the Cleddau, bouncing around, and sliding from side to side when we tacked, but didn't stir until the boat stopped moving. Even now, he prefers a bit of a chop.

Different boat for number 2 - she slept in a double cabin, shared with some sails.

Both of ours are clipped on the whole time they are on deck.

We didn't do the car seat thing - wherever we put it, it was in the way.

Long passages are best attempted when the youngest is asleep.

 

[johnalison]

Seems a bit random to me; we've been across the North Sea with children from 6 months to 12 years old and without exception they've slept a good deal of the way.

Very random, but we all have short attention spans in my family. Small babies are much easier.

 

[CC@GTY]

For babies when they are awake we've used a car seat wedged in the companionway with suitable wedging jig - easy to poke bits of food in when they are in this position. When asleep, wedged in pretty much anywhere down below, still in the car seat.

Once they start moving around it's difficult to keep them in the seat and until they inevitably fall asleep somewhere down below we would simply allow them to crawl around the cockpit. Sometimes clipped on, sometimes not, depending on the circumstances. We've got full netting around the guard rails too which is excellent. Our 4 year old can at least move around the aft area safely, even out of the cockpit - without risk of testing the safety line.....

 

[TeamSpirit]

We have used in the past for our kids and now for grandchilden a car seat for security with webbing straps clipped into locker and rail to ensure non slip, we have a 'high chair' one thats sits on a normal chair, below for mealtimes and if it's orrible rainy etc, we have toy story series on DVD to keep them amused below and have harnesses, straps (always connected) and lifejackets for security in the cockpit (supervised always). Sleep time is a challenge but have a travel cot in the back cabin and we move around silently ( or try to? after bed time). Never go out unless weather is good and sea state flat at first, No beating or out in F5/6+ and slowly built confidence and an understanding of safety on every outing. Have fun.

 

[binch]

No serious worries if you use common sense. In 1953, wife and I took our 6-month old daughter in a 30 sq metre sloop without an engine.
She was 30 ft overall sloop rigged, no cockpit, just a foot well. No WC, it was bucket and chuck it. Cooking was by primus. No FW tanks, just two large jerricans.
She had four berths. daughter had a carricot between saloon berths and seemed pretty happy.
Cruise lasted 4 weeks during which we circumnavigated Sicily without seeing another yacht, and daughter learned to stand up on her own.
We have met dozens of yachts with small children on board. With one exception (there was an accident ashore) the kids developed fast, they could all converse, and ccould fit in.

 

[SAWDOC]

We do have a community group here accessible via the community tab on the menu above "Sailing with Kids" - nowadays inactive but lots of good stuff there from a little time back

 

[dunmor]

i hear they make good flotation aids

 

[Woodlouse]

Netting around the guard rails has already been suggested and is invaluable. At a certain age children will seem to do all they can to get over the side.

When I was very small when on board my parents used netting to keep me in my bunk as well. I've sailed on other boats with small children where their bunks were modified with bars to keep them in. I think it's quite important that there is somewhere they can be put where they cannot harm themselves without being supervised especially in rough weather or when sail handling.