We’re SO excited to head to the beach this weekend! Since we’re kicking off summer and I’m sure many of you have upcoming beach trips, I figured I’d share a bit of our planning for hitting the beach with 2 crazy toddlers and a baby. My experience is that the needs are pretty different for babies vs. toddlers, so I’m going to speak to each!
Babies
My main concern when we took Hudson to the beach as a baby was having shade (#palepeopleproblems) and a place I thought there was a decent chance of him napping. In the baby stage you really don’t need a bunch of toys. So I made sure to have access to a tent or umbrella (if I wasn’t somewhere that I knew would have them available, I would bring), and a few towels/muslin blankets to create a comfortable place for him to nap. Another option for napping for us was his stroller, since he was quite the stroller napper when he was a baby. You’ll also want a good hat to protect baby’s face and neck from the sun (especially under 6 months before ou can use sunscreen on them). We like these because of the tie under the chin (to help prevent him from ripping it off) and the back flap to cover his neck. Another key item for us was this clip-on fan. It’s battery operated (charged through a USB) and is such a lifesaver for beach or pool days, or even just walks on those hot summer days!
I was pretty intimidated by the whole swim diaper situation at first, but we decided to go with disposable swim diapers when we’re in the ocean and a disposable with this reusable swim diaper over it when we’re in a friend’s or hotel pool (and we want to be extra cautious that there are no leaks). My preference with the disposable ones is that if they do have a dirty one, that’s really not a mess I want to be cleaning up. I much prefer to just toss it. One thing I did learn is to definitely go with the Huggies brand disposable swim diapers if you go that route because they have tabs you can peel open on the sides (just like a normal diaper) to take off. Other brands I’ve used didn’t which means you have to shimmy a dirty diaper (and all of it’s disgusting contents) all the way down their legs (learned this the hard way).
Once Hudson was sitting up but not super mobile yet, a plastic tub/bin was awesome to have! You can put water in it next to where you’re sitting and basically make a little baby pool for him to sit/play/splash around it while you relax. Ahhhh those were the days!
Toddlers
If your toddler is anything like mine, there will be no relaxing once they’re walking (read: running) around. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a TON of fun (and he really seems to enjoy it even more now), but relaxing (or even sitting) at the beach is a distant memory. It would be a complete waste now to bring a tent or umbrella to the beach – there’s just absolutely no chance he would be still enough to actually be under it. Of course, I still worry about protecting his skin so we use a combination of sunscreen, rash guard and sunhat. I like this sunscreen for him – clean ingredients, good coverage and goes on/rubs in easily. As for rash guards, I quickly learned that you definitely want one with a full or half zipper. Without that, they are really difficult to get on and off, especially when they’re sticky with sunscreen and sand. And of course, I always get long sleeves for maximum skin coverage. We still use the same sunhat from when he was a baby (will probably have to get a bigger size soon, but will get the same style because of the tie and the flap in the back to cover his neck).
Some beach toys are always great to have, but honestly, at almost 2 years old they really don’t hold his attention for that long…so I wouldn’t go crazy. He mostly just loves having a big open area to run around and explore. A ball and a truck are good to have on hand (as they always are for this guy). Also, now that he’s bigger, we bring these swimmers. They have the vest part over their shoulders, so much more difficult for them to slip off. This is his first summer using these, so we’ll see how they go!
Overall, I think the key is to go into this with different expectations than you maybe used to when you thought of a day at the beach. When they’re this little, it’s highly unlikely you’re going to be able to just be out at the beach all day long – they get tired, they get hot and they just need breaks. So for us making sure we are either on the beach or within a 5 minute walk from it is key. That way it’s easy to hit the beach for smaller chunks of time and head in for naps, etc. This is even more critical when you’re dealing with multiple kids on different schedules to make it easier for everyone to just come and go as they need to. If you do have a short walk to the beach, a wagon is really helpful to toss all the gear in.
As much as I do miss relaxing, long days at the beach, I truly love getting to experience one of my favorite places through Hudson’s eyes!
What tips do you have for going to the beach with babies or toddlers?
Xo,
Shannon
