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Glastonbury with a 3 month old?!


Jennarae
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Hi!

Ive been lucky enough to get Glastonbury tickets this year but am due to have my baby in March. Has anyone ever been to Glastonbury with a baby this young (he will be 3 months)?! He will be my first child so I’m possibly slightly naive to the effort that will be required! We will be taking him regardless but any tips / advice / things you wish you’d have known will be much appreciated! There is a huge group of us going, including my partner, parents, brother and good friends, so we will have a lot of support!

Thanks :)

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35 minutes ago, Jennarae said:

Hi!

Ive been lucky enough to get Glastonbury tickets this year but am due to have my baby in March. Has anyone ever been to Glastonbury with a baby this young (he will be 3 months)?! He will be my first child so I’m possibly slightly naive to the effort that will be required! We will be taking him regardless but any tips / advice / things you wish you’d have known will be much appreciated! There is a huge group of us going, including my partner, parents, brother and good friends, so we will have a lot of support!

Thanks :)

Congratulations.

Are you tenting or campervan?

Youngest I took my kids was about 2yo,really wouldn't recommend for that ages,the amount of stuff they need jeez!!! My brother took his son at just under a year old,went in on the weds and his wife took babe home Thursday as it was too much,admittedly a horrible year weather wise

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4 hours ago, glastolover19 said:

Congratulations.

Are you tenting or campervan?

Youngest I took my kids was about 2yo,really wouldn't recommend for that ages,the amount of stuff they need jeez!!! My brother took his son at just under a year old,went in on the weds and his wife took babe home Thursday as it was too much,admittedly a horrible year weather wise

I think we will be tenting, have considered renting a camper van though but not sure it will add much. We have a lot of family who want to help carry our things. They would go Tuesday night to get in early and set up in the family field and we would possibly bring the baby later, maybe on the Thursday when the queues wouldn’t be so big. We are a pretty “hardy” couple, weve camped and traveled a lot, I’ve done wild living for a while, so roughing it doesn’t phase us. We (possibly naively?!) want to continue our adventures with the little one in tow! I’ve just read a very encouraging blog from a couple who took a 8 week old, I could link it here if useful for anyone else. Admittedly it won’t be the same festival experience we’re used to, but I think it will be brilliant in a different way. 

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1 minute ago, Jennarae said:

I think we will be tenting, have considered renting a camper van though but not sure it will add much. We have a lot of family who want to help carry our things. They would go Tuesday night to get in early and set up in the family field and we would possibly bring the baby later, maybe on the Thursday when the queues wouldn’t be so big. We are a pretty “hardy” couple, weve camped and traveled a lot, I’ve done wild living for a while, so roughing it doesn’t phase us. We (possibly naively?!) want to continue our adventures with the little one in tow! I’ve just read a very encouraging blog from a couple who took a 8 week old, I could link it here if useful for anyone else. Admittedly it won’t be the same festival experience we’re used to, but I think it will be brilliant in a different way. 

Good luck and you right it's awesome with the kids. Tbh I think it will be weather dependent,if it's dry it should be absolutely fine so I keep my fingers crossed for you

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9 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

We visited the festival with both kids when they were nearly 6 months. Sling, ear defenders, sturdy (rainproof) buggy all essential. 

We will be getting a hardy buggy for sure. Did you have any issues queueing to get in? I’d imagine when they are so young they just sleep and it doesn’t bother them too much. 

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Congratulations ? ... both on the pregnancy and getting a ticket !

We took our daugher at 8 months old, we stayed in a cottage nearby but wished that we had camped as we had always done before and which we continued to do every glastonbury since with our daughter.

Good advice and reassurance from Wooderson, especially the ear defenders. The weather will have a big impact and you are right that as a first time mum ( as I was) you wont know what to expect. 3 months is quite young but your camping experience and help from family and friends will help a lot.

There are some very baby friendly areas of the festival, particularly in the Kidz Field where there are areas geared up for baby feeding and changing and generally a more gently pace, and less mud even when the weather is poor. Also the green peace kids area towards the back by the ancient oak tree.

If you are particularly concerned about the queues getting in to the site perhaps a word with the stewards might result in you being guided in a bit quicker.

I hope all goes well and you have a very happy festival.

 

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58 minutes ago, Jennarae said:

We will be getting a hardy buggy for sure. Did you have any issues queueing to get in? I’d imagine when they are so young they just sleep and it doesn’t bother them too much. 

Queue wasn’t too bad. Trust me get a sling. Will sleep for hours at 3 months. Most of the day. The ladies in the tiny babies tent at the back of the kids field will help with bath, changing etc. 

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1 hour ago, tigertoo said:

Congratulations ? ... both on the pregnancy and getting a ticket !

We took our daugher at 8 months old, we stayed in a cottage nearby but wished that we had camped as we had always done before and which we continued to do every glastonbury since with our daughter.

Good advice and reassurance from Wooderson, especially the ear defenders. The weather will have a big impact and you are right that as a first time mum ( as I was) you wont know what to expect. 3 months is quite young but your camping experience and help from family and friends will help a lot.

There are some very baby friendly areas of the festival, particularly in the Kidz Field where there are areas geared up for baby feeding and changing and generally a more gently pace, and less mud even when the weather is poor. Also the green peace kids area towards the back by the ancient oak tree.

If you are particularly concerned about the queues getting in to the site perhaps a word with the stewards might result in you being guided in a bit quicker.

I hope all goes well and you have a very happy festival.

 

Really lovely stuff here.

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1 hour ago, tigertoo said:

Congratulations ? ... both on the pregnancy and getting a ticket !

We took our daugher at 8 months old, we stayed in a cottage nearby but wished that we had camped as we had always done before and which we continued to do every glastonbury since with our daughter.

Good advice and reassurance from Wooderson, especially the ear defenders. The weather will have a big impact and you are right that as a first time mum ( as I was) you wont know what to expect. 3 months is quite young but your camping experience and help from family and friends will help a lot.

There are some very baby friendly areas of the festival, particularly in the Kidz Field where there are areas geared up for baby feeding and changing and generally a more gently pace, and less mud even when the weather is poor. Also the green peace kids area towards the back by the ancient oak tree.

If you are particularly concerned about the queues getting in to the site perhaps a word with the stewards might result in you being guided in a bit quicker.

I hope all goes well and you have a very happy festival.

 

Thank you this is all amazing advice. The Kidz field sounds like a dream! I’m excited to see areas of the festival I’ve never seen before! 

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1 hour ago, Wooderson said:

Really lovely stuff here.

Absolutely agree,the kids areas are absolutely brilliant,really lovely places and staff are absolutely fantastic,even when wet stays pretty mud free(helped 1 of the guys few years back dump some straw down to soak up rain) only downside is I'm now too fat and old to play on the pink climbing frame myself?

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 It is definitely doable but you must consider it carefully. If you are a first time mother it will be much harder. Maybe very hard depending on the circumstances, over which you have very little control....the demands/needs of your baby, how you find/adapt to motherhood, the surroundings/mud of Glastonbury. Each bring their own dimension which is very difficult to predict at this stage.

On balance, as health professionals and parents, my partner and I would advise against taking one so young to Glastonbury. It really does depend on how you take to motherhood.

Good luck and enjoy being a parent.

 

 

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It's a long time since mine were babies but I actually think it's easier with a baby than with a toddler.  They tend to only be concerned with sleeping, eating and shitting so as long as you have those bases covered you'll be fine!  Eating obviously is much easier if you're breast feeding.  Yes, it will be a different festival to pre-children but he/she won't need entertaining so noise permitting (ear defenders essential) you will still be able to go to a lot of places more "adult" unlike when they're 3 or older and want to do things that entertain them.

As others have said too, it will be much easier if the weather is more 2017 than 2016!  But again, a sling is easier than a pushchair! But if it's a dry year you can take the pushchair to put him/her in too.

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10 hours ago, Lycra said:

 It is definitely doable but you must consider it carefully. If you are a first time mother it will be much harder. Maybe very hard depending on the circumstances, over which you have very little control....the demands/needs of your baby, how you find/adapt to motherhood, the surroundings/mud of Glastonbury. Each bring their own dimension which is very difficult to predict at this stage.

On balance, as health professionals and parents, my partner and I would advise against taking one so young to Glastonbury. It really does depend on how you take to motherhood.

Good luck and enjoy being a parent.

 

 

Thank you.

The surroundings shouldn’t be too much of an issue for us personally, but I’m a doctor myself and appreciate I can’t predict the babies behaviour and as awful as it is to say, his health. We will definitely play it by ear. I think the worst case scenario in that everything is going wrong, we can just go home. I guess we aren’t trapped there for the weekend! They do say that you’re closer to health care providers in Glastonbury than you would likely be down at your local park!

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9 hours ago, Beerqueen said:

It's a long time since mine were babies but I actually think it's easier with a baby than with a toddler.  They tend to only be concerned with sleeping, eating and shitting so as long as you have those bases covered you'll be fine!  Eating obviously is much easier if you're breast feeding.  Yes, it will be a different festival to pre-children but he/she won't need entertaining so noise permitting (ear defenders essential) you will still be able to go to a lot of places more "adult" unlike when they're 3 or older and want to do things that entertain them.

As others have said too, it will be much easier if the weather is more 2017 than 2016!  But again, a sling is easier than a pushchair! But if it's a dry year you can take the pushchair to put him/her in too.

The sling is a brilliant idea. I did think that he would possibly spend most of the time sleeping in which case he should be pretty happy doing whatever we’re doing. I will hopefully be breast feeding so eating shouldn’t be an issue! We just need to work out the best eco friendly way to manage this shitting lol. 

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My friends brought their then 3 month old in '16 - the year of the mud. It was tough and quite stressful for the first few days and due to the weather we got onsite too late to get into Cockmill which really didn't help. I guess it was a baptism of fire. It's tricky enough to get everything done that needs to be when you're at home with all the conveniences - in a tent up to your lugs in mud is a whole different boss level. But they got there. Watching Mama come striding towards us through the Other stage mud with a big 'I got this!' grin and kiddo in a sling was a sweet moment. :)

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14 hours ago, Lycra said:

 It is definitely doable but you must consider it carefully. If you are a first time mother it will be much harder. Maybe very hard depending on the circumstances, over which you have very little control....the demands/needs of your baby, how you find/adapt to motherhood, the surroundings/mud of Glastonbury. Each bring their own dimension which is very difficult to predict at this stage.

On balance, as health professionals and parents, my partner and I would advise against taking one so young to Glastonbury. It really does depend on how you take to motherhood.

Good luck and enjoy being a parent.

 

 

I would agree with this - you just cant predict where you will be when the baby is 3 months old. I had an expectation of jhat it would be like involving me wandering about with a sling and a relaxed baby and my first screamed pretty much non stop for a variety of reasons until he was 6 months - we couldnt take him to the supermarket let alone a festival.

I think if you are breastfeeding and have a relaxed baby then all is good, if you are bottle feeding and have a screamer then it is much more difficult. 

Congrats and wait and see.

 

 

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1 hour ago, giantkatestacks said:

I would agree with this - you just cant predict where you will be when the baby is 3 months old. I had an expectation of jhat it would be like involving me wandering about with a sling and a relaxed baby and my first screamed pretty much non stop for a variety of reasons until he was 6 months - we couldnt take him to the supermarket let alone a festival.

I think if you are breastfeeding and have a relaxed baby then all is good, if you are bottle feeding and have a screamer then it is much more difficult. 

Congrats and wait and see.

 

 

This is good advice. Breastfeeding an infant in a sling at Glasters is far easier (obvz) than bottle feeding. 

 

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Congratulations on your pregnancy and on your decision to take little bub to Glastonbury! Both are brilliant news.


My hub and I took our 10 day old daughter to Glasto 17 along with our 4 year old and we would massively recommend it, as long as you're prepared and ready for all weathers it'll be amazing.

A baby can feed, sleep and poo just as well in a field as it can at home...

A few top tips:-

  • Breastfeeding would make it so much easier - just take a comfortable chair / cushion / blanket. 
  • Green fields and kids fields are little havens of peace
  • Ear defenders are a must - most of them on line are for 6 months plus which would be too harsh for a little skull. I found a pair where the defenders clip onto a band.Works great especially if you're cuddling them, protect one ear against you and the other ear with one of these. (FYI Ems for Kids)
  • Baby carrier / sling - so its not just you doing the carrying! 
  • Take bin liners for putting on the ground for change time 
  • And an umbrella if you need to feed / change in the rain
  • we customised a garden truck: big wheels, waterproof covers, some shade and shelter from the sun and built a little cot into it. Our older daughter slept in there as well though so maybe overkill for just the little one! But it meant we could transport chairs (see breastfeeding!) and change stuff easily

Just be prepared for a different but equally amazing glasto experience

PS it definitely didn't put us off - we also did IOW festival with them both last year and will be doing Glasto 19 too!


 

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Been really good reading this...my second child is due on the 3rd of April and we have been lucky enough to get tickets....In the past we have always used Glastonbury as a chance for our first one to have some dedicated time with his Nan (as she lives in Spain) and a chance for us to cut loose...as the new addition will be so young and the effect being away would have on routine and breastfeeding etc we are planning on taking the full troop....now I just need to weigh up the best way to do it...we have always camped with a large group of friends (who were all lucky enough to get tickets again) so do I stick with them or try for campervan tickets (if I can find a campervan) or possibly family camping?? 

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We took our 4 week old back in 2010. It was his first festival and he’s been lucky enough to come along to every one since. I wore him in a sling for the weekend and made sure I carried an umbrella as it was a scorcher of a weekend, so that gave us both shelter from the sun. We did take his pram but used it as a cot in the tent as I was too nervous to actually bedshare with him, and believe it or not we camped in Oxlyers right by the dance village! We were in general camping again in 2011 when he decided he was going to take his first steps. That was fun!

 

life then got a bit silly for us as I fell pregnant with twins, and in 2013 at 8 months old they experienced their first Glastonbury. They also decided they were going to master the art of crawling that weekend. We’ve still not experienced the family camping areas. Since 2013 we’ve taken either a caravan or campervan. I want to get back to camping to be honest. 

Its definitely different with kids. We spend a lot of time in the Kidz Field, circus fields and up in the green fields. My eldest says it feels like home and his only ever concern has been whether we would get permission to take him out of school (we make a full week of it). But last month I deregistered him to be home educated. The twins are still at school for the time being but we know full well that whether their absence is authorised or not, they will be coming with us for as long as we get tickets. They learn so much during that short time at the festival; much more than any school can ever teach them. 

 

At 3 months old your baby will be coming to the end of the 4th trimester, which will be fantastic for both of you. Some really sound advice from TeamRodg above

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Can’t answer your question but will follow this thread as we plan to take our 1 year old next year.

He has just turned 4 months whilst we have been travelling around Florida for a few weeks. He is bottle feeding which would make Glastonbury more difficult but not impossible if in camper/caravan.

I guess it’s about being prepared and ready to have a different experience. Our son is relatively chilled out, at the moment doesn’t throw paddies, sleeps and eats. I think we could have done a festival with him. He has been to little local day festivals after 6-8 weeks.

my work colleague took her son as a small  baby in arms to the festival in 1990’s and survived.

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23 hours ago, Upside down frowner said:

Can’t answer your question but will follow this thread as we plan to take our 1 year old next year.

He has just turned 4 months whilst we have been travelling around Florida for a few weeks. He is bottle feeding which would make Glastonbury more difficult but not impossible if in camper/caravan.

I've done Glasto in a tent when bottle feeding a baby (at about 9 months old).

It meant having all the stuff to sterilise bottles and warm milk, plus a travel cot (so he couldn't escape), toys, bigger tent, etc - which meant about double the stuff we'd have normally taken.

And because it was a very muddy year (1997), it mean the crawling kid only had our tent to crawl in, and no push-chair (it was impossible to use in the mud).

We arrived on Wednesday. We ended up calling granny on Friday morning to come and rescue him, who we'd put on standby just in case. It didn't feel fair to him to keep him at the fest.

It can be done if you want to, but it's not necessarily easy. 

He went to Glasto the next year (and the next 15) but we upgraded to a van which did make things much easier, as you can easily take everything you need.

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13 hours ago, eFestivals said:

I've done Glasto in a tent when bottle feeding a baby (at about 9 months old).

It meant having all the stuff to sterilise bottles and warm milk, plus a travel cot (so he couldn't escape), toys, bigger tent, etc - which meant about double the stuff we'd have normally taken.

And because it was a very muddy year (1997), it mean the crawling kid only had our tent to crawl in, and no push-chair (it was impossible to use in the mud).

We arrived on Wednesday. We ended up calling granny on Friday morning to come and rescue him, who we'd put on standby just in case. It didn't feel fair to him to keep him at the fest.

It can be done if you want to, but it's not necessarily easy. 

He went to Glasto the next year (and the next 15) but we upgraded to a van which did make things much easier, as you can easily take everything you need.

Fair play to you and the Mrs- sure you’re lad is better person for the festivals he has attended!

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