Babies on Board

[Charlie]

I just read in "Cruising with Children" written by ??? Cornell (Jimmy's wife) that you need to take fresh waterput the diapers in a bucket with a lid and fill it with fresh water and add some chemical (i'll look it up later if you ask nice) and let them swirl around in there and it cleans the diapers. By the way it seems like before laundry services and disposable diapers kids used to have to learn to go on the pot at a younger age. Perhaps b/c of all the work involved.

[jzk]

Our kids are 12, 8, 2 and 1. We are planning on leaving in 3-4 years. Firstly, we would like to maximize our earning ability over these 3-4 years, as each year worked will translate to many years cruising.

But, another very important reason is that if we go now, our younger ones will not be able to full appreciate all the things we will see and places we will go.

[Talbot]

It is a good point hat if the kids are too young, that they will not remember any of the exotic places you take them, on the otherhand, you need to get the teenagers to sea before they turn into monsters (slight exageration - perhaps )

[Charlie]

While I agree that they will learn/remeber more when they are older I was just talking to my Mom the other day and we were discussing a trip that our family took to El Salvador when I was about four years old. It was amazing how much of the trip I remebered some 39 years ago. The beaches, the wildlife, the people, lots of different things. I think that that trip was the turning point in me for a life of travel.

[2divers]

JZK, I know right where you are... Trying to get everything ready in the next 3 years more or less set so I can go and bring my one (soon to get here kid) and if we have a second with us. We are planning on spending probably a year or two costal cruising and then take off for parts beyond.... What kind of other plans are you making to get there?

2 divers

[sailor12]

Hi again Chanda. I just replied to your post about "your big plan"! Anyway, we have kids and are moving on board in a couple of weeks. We have spent a lot of time cruising the Puget Sound (Washington) with our friends and their children. A couple of activities that really work for us are...a bucket of water with a bunch of toys on deck (their imagination soars!). Playdough, or modeling clay is always a hit with our kids. Maybe flying a kite off the the stern while underway? Or trailing their own little boat on a string behind the boat. The boat we have spent a lot of time on has a lot of deck space and the kids would have a lot of fun bouncing on the bumbers (they are really big on this boat). I know their are a lot of other things to do, but my mind has gone blank!

Shari

[2divers]

As far as diapers and babies, Everything I've read so far says to prevent diaper rash allow for several hours a day of diaper free activity on deck. The air dry activity seems to prevent diaper rash from occuring... not tested yet personally. I understand that in several places in the world kids are potty trained at 6 months more out of economic and cold weather necessity than anything else. I'll be planning to potty train before we get on the boat so diapers are not a necessity item.

The last articale of practical sailor (october 2006) had a section on life vest for very young kids <30lbs.... Any practical experience with kids and vests out there?

2divers

[schoonerdog]

My wife and I have been aboard before our son was born and now he is two. We have simple rules like a life jacket whenever he is out of the cockpit or on the dock. We are as consistentant as gravity on it, so he's not fighting us. As a cat owner, I think you'll like the cockpit. It's wide and when he's sitting on the edge of the cockpit looking out he still has another 3 ft to go before he can get to the water.

We do cosleep, and always have, it makes a bit easier for mom to breast feed (btw, the note on breastfeeding is pure gold, think of an instant comfort switch). There are lot's of alarmist sounding things that every parent has in the back of the mind and cosleeping also helps make sure he doesn't wander somewhere he shouldn't.

Boats tend to be a bit more child friendly in ways as inner surfaces are curved, 12volts is the rule for electricity, and everything is immovable. The cabinets with pop out nobs he still doesn't have the finger strength to open on his own. We keep all toxics far away from prying hands. Regarding life jacket's, we have the west marine kids life jacket, the type with the flap on the head. We pool tested it with him and found that you definitely need the flap to turn him right side up and the loop on the top of it is great because it's what you hold onto as you walk with him around deck. You'll find the very small ones under 18 months will need to be held while wearing their life jackets as they become top heavy. A clip on tether to the adult is really invaluable (we use the "dog tether" at west marine), especially for dingy rides when they are very small. One last thing is to use an ergo baby carrier and wear them when boarding and deboarding, leaves your hands free and ensures you can't drop them.

For us, the clock is set to leave beginning of October, 2010.

Cheers!

On the issue of how young is too young to benefit from cruising, there is no limit. Children learn by interaction. Even pre speach children learn how to interact with people through contact. Exposing them at a young age will teach a broad and open attitude towards other people. The more diverse those people are, the more broad that child's ability to interact with people will become. The heart of a child's learning and development is not in the words that are said to that child, but in the attention, body language, and general environment that child is exposed to.

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by Charlie

I just read in "Cruising with Children" written by ??? Cornell (Jimmy's wife) that you need to take fresh waterput the diapers in a bucket with a lid and fill it with fresh water and add some chemical (i'll look it up later if you ask nice) and let them swirl around in there and it cleans the diapers.

We too have our first little one coming soon and I just finished Cruising with Children last night, fantastic book. The chemical Gwenda refers to is called Napisan.

My wife and I are also hoping to avoid using disposable diapers. Hard to find in many more remote places, expensive, bulky, and horribly environmentally unfriendly...

Living in a disposable culture its hard to find advice on the matter especially if you are also trying to conserve water as you would on a sailboat. I found that my grandmother had some great advice seeing that she raised many kids using terry cloth diapers.

Two tips she gave me that sound great in addition to using Napisan when washing cloth nappies in a bucket...

1. Add vineagar to the bucket.

The vineagar lowers the ph of the solution by neutralizing the ammonia released when the Napisan breaks down the waste. By keeping the ph close to 7(neutral) the detergents work better. This in turn requires the use of less water. It is also an additional disinfectant.

some info here Article: Vinegar in Diaper Care

2. After washing the diapers hang them in the sun which is a further sanitizer and also acts as a bleacher whcih saves additional water since there is no need for extended soaking.

Dont have kids yet but have a smart ol' grandma!

Have any of you tried these?
Does it work?
What additional water consumption would you estimate for a single baby per day for nappies?

thanks

-jc

[GordMay]

Great thread, /w great advice & comment.

Diapers, and other heavily soiled items, can be pre-scrubbed by towing them (in a mesh bag) behind the boat (when underway).
It’s not generally worthwhile pre-soaking fabrics in salt water, as it requires considerable freshwater to remove the salt.

[Cruisingdad]

Cruising with children is one of life's most fantastic expereinces you can be involved in. Do it. We had ours on board at 5 days. It is awesome.

[WinchWench]

We bought a 20' Mirage 5.5 sloop when our son was about 8 months old and sold it when he was about 2 years old. We only day sailed, so I can't give much advice on long term cruising, but I will say he loved it! When he started crawling and then walking, he was fearless on the boat. It was also great for mom's sanity, not only because of the relaxation of sailing but also because it was the best way to get the kid to nap for any length of time! Here's a picture of Fletcher Christian snoozin' in the v berth.

[schoonerdog]

This is actually Schoonerdog's wife chiming in here while he and our son are snug asleep together down below.

I think all the advise here has been spot on. Our son is almost 3 and we have been aboard fulltime for just about 10 years now.

I want to EMPHASIZE getting some sort of hands free baby carrier. You can forget a stroller. Bulky and pointless. As babes you need something like ergo baby carrier and baby sling backpack -- this way you can have the baby (or now toddler!) securely attached to you and you have 2 free hands to get in and out of the dinghy or from dock to boat. And as a parent your hands are ALWAYS full, and most accidents happen when people are trying to get on and off boats. So you can have a hand for yourself, a hand for your groceries, baby bag on your back and kid on your front. Or as they get older they go on the back. Yes, you are an underpaid sherpa. But TRUST ME - it works! You need to get used to making several trips (good exercise) and / or get a dock cart.

I also want to emphasize cosleeping and breastfeeding. No wasting water on washing out bottles. No sleepless nights. No worry. And a kid who never gets sick. Instant happiness for owies and tantrums. All warm and snug and happy together. This is still our arrangement and we're very happy and comfortable with it, letting our son choose when he's ready to move to his own cabin. When he was crawling and toddling and not a confident climber we netted in the family bed at night and for naps to keep him fro going over the long drop down. It wasn't long before he could climb up and down with confidence -- and climb everything around here for that matter!

As for diapers. We did disposibles b/c I thought the use of water and high cost of laundry at marinas/ laundrymats was a bigger negative than storing and tossing large amounts of sposies.

That said -- you can start researching EC, also called Elimination Communication. The idea is that in other cultures and ancient times when and where people had no dipes -- they read their baby's cue to see when they had to go and held them over a hole (a toilet) and let them do their thing. Thus they can get potty trained much earlier. We did not start this when he was a baby b/c I was too deep in babyhood. But I did start when he was about 13 months old. It was CLEAR when the big poo was coming I would sit him on the potty. He got the idea very fast and before he was 2 we were 80% potty trained. Then his strong will came into play and we're back into trying to coax him on to the potty. But he's KNOWS the drill and is dry all night. Most baby girls I know who are "EC'ed" catch on much faster and are done with dipes by age 2.


I am so happy to hear about so many planning to have little ones on abord. It is SUCH a great lifestyle and the closeness to nature combined with the ability to have kids be TRULY useful and helping in their environment = one truly happy child and family!

[schoonerdog]

About 2 months old here...


Netting on family bed before he could climb -- that crawling stage.



This is when he was one week old... our bunk is walled in on three sides - makes it very secure!







I Love my "floatie" -- HAVE LOTS of spare child sized PFD's for the gang of toddlers you will be no doubt regularly hosting. (all just barely age 2 here)



Out sailing - Age 2. When he was yonger we used a life jacket and just held him. We would bring friends out with us as extra hands for the boat and the babe. Glad to be past that stage now!



A catamaran with a bath tub is a BONUS!