Camino de Santiago with a baby - Preparations

Thinking about taking your new family member to Camino de Santiago (or any other hike)? Here is how we prepared

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If you are like us, love to hike and travel and have a kid, your world is not over. You can still travel with your precious new family member, it's just a bit different.

So what do you do?

Research

A good chance that you are not the first. Try to find information on the subject, ask people that did it before (maybe read a specific blog :D). We found plenty of people online that shared their experiences, and we even found some among our friends. We researched the route as well to see what is possible. If your research gets you results you're not happy with, it's a good enough reason not to do the hike.

Consult professionals

No, your cousin that says that it's not safe for a baby to be carried around doesn't count, especially if that cousin's only travel was to stay at an AirBNB in the closest town. We consulted our pediatrician and our physiotherapist. The pediatrician advised to wait until our son holds his head and to limit the time in the carrier both per day and at once. The physiotherapist gave us some exercises we can do with our baby to help him develop on the go.

Plan your trip

Once you get your research done and the green light from the doctors you can start planning. We decided the following:

• We are going to go for 6 weeks

• We are going in April, when our baby is 7 months old, the weather is not too warm and the trail is not full of people yet (as it is before the official start of the season)

• We will walk about 10-15km per day (about half of the speed of normal people doing the Camino)

• We will walk for about 4 hours per day

• We will be making a stop every 1.5-2 hours to let our baby out of the carrier and give him time to play and exercise

• We have enough time, so if we need a rest we can take a day off

• If at any point either of us feels that it is too much for us, we pack up and go for vacation in the closest city and from there home

We downloaded and used the Buen Camino app to plan our stops on the go.

Choose your starting point

You can start walking almost at any point, even from your own home, as long as you have your pilgrim credentials (yes, people do that). Based on our time and speed we chose to start at León, and got our credentials at the Association of friends of the Camino once we arrived.

Choose how the baby is walking

The obvious answer is a carrier, which is what we did. But there is also an option to do the Camino with a stroller. Some of the terrain is not very friendly, so a stroller would have to be doing the bicycle route - on roads and highways. So, doable but I wouldn't recommend it.

Which carrier to choose?

• One that is comfortable for the baby

• One that is comfortable for you

In that order. We opted in for a Moyo carrier. It was comfortable for all 3 of us, and as a bonus I didn't feel extra pressure on my shoulders when I tried it together with my backpack (yes, I brought a full backpack to try on baby carriers)

Pack your stuff

You are carrying an extra person, and equipment for him, so keep it light!

Leon's stuff:

Thule alltrail 45 backpack	Flip flops	Pocket knife
Lowa Renegade hiking boots	Kuhl fleece jacket	Sunblock
2 long sleeve t-shirts	Columbia rain jacket	Toothbrush and toothpaste
2 short sleeve t-shirts	5 pairs of socks and underwear	Beef jerky (for tough times)
Hiking pants (can be made into shorts)	Traveling towel	A few instant soups
Shorts	Boll Karma Plus sleeping bag	Medications

Our son's stuff:

Winter hoodie	3 pacifiers	Baby spoon
Warm fleece jacket	Sleeping sack	Baby bottle
3 pairs of pants	Package of diapers	1 bag of purridge
3 onesies	3 changing mats	Small titanium mug (for warming baby food)
4 pairs of socks (take more!!)	Package of wet wipes	Breastmilk pump
Pijama	Bepanthen cream	Moyo carrier
2 hats	2 chewing toys	Sunblock
Picnic blanket	Medications	Small umbrella

Lucy's stuff:

Ortovox Traverse 28 S backpack	Odlo thermal shirt	Boll Karma Plus sleeping bag
Sketchers	Rain coat	2 pairs of pants
Flip flops	Warm jacket	4 shirts
La Sportiva hiking boots	5 pairs of socks and underwear	Shorts
Flip flops	Winter hat	Cap

Final verdict: Leon - 14kg, Lucy - 8kg, baby weights 8kg.

Final thoughts

Remember that this is your choice, don't let these words convince you to do something you are not comfortable with. It is not an easy thing to do, and the purpose of these posts is to show you that it is possible to walk Camino de Santiago with a baby, not to make you do it. The important part of walking the camino with a baby is to prepare.

We enjoyed our walk, and our baby seemed to enjoy it as well.