Beach babies....

BrookieA

Have any of you ladies taken your LO's to the beach? We are going for seven days in August and Reese will be 18 months old. This will be his first trip to the beach. I am planning on taking a baby pool, a battery operated fan and a canopy. If you have, what things would you recommend that I take? What are the "must haves" and/or things that I might not think of? TIA!

jk382

We are actually at the beach now.  We are staying at a place that is really close to the beach so we are able to walk back and forth as needed.  We just took water cups/bottles, sunscreen, and towels.  Also, I bought Nolan a big floppy beach hat and water shoes.  I'm not sure if you need the baby pool.  Nolan wasn't afraid of the water at all and went right in.  It is still early in the season, so it is cold.  If we were coming back, I would get a leash or something so he couldn't escape from me by the water.  He is really great about holding hands, but it only takes a second!  Also, buckets and a shovel.  Nolen could spend all day digging in the sand!  I read on pinterest that baby power is great for getting sand off of legs.  We didn't need it and just rinsed off with the hose.  Have a great trip!

mkarns

We live at the beach. Don't overdue it. Carrying a toddler and a while heap of junk through the sand isn't easy. We take our backpack beach chairs, a blanket, sunscreen, a mesh laundry bag with toys, and a cooler bag with drinks and snacks. We bring an umbrella if we plan to be there for awhile.

suitern

I agree with others. Don't over due it-I can't imagine dragging a baby pool all over the beach.  I bring a large towel, an umbrella, snacks, drinks, LOTS of sunscreen, and that is about it.  There would be no way L would stay in a baby pool while at the beach.  His favorite thing to do is sit in the sand and let the waves wash up over his legs.   He also like to run around and stomp in the water.  We plan on spending alot of time at the beach this summer as well. Hope you have fun.

2chatter

The only gotcha we had is swim diapers are not the same as regular diapers in terms of catching profuse quantities of poo.  Bring an extra swimsuit or pair of shorts just in case.  For some reason a water worthy change of clothes did not occur to me.

Ds will only wear hats that velcro under his chin.

OleMissBride

We just got back from a week at the beach and it was a pretty stressful trip- This was our second beach trip, first was at 9mo and she enjoyed the beach and resort pool just fine.  This time Brooks hated the sand, didn't want to walk in it, sit in it, get sandy- she really sent happy being at the beach at all.  She would tolerate the water for a few min when DH was holding her.  In short, we spent the first 4 days trying to enjoy and get her accustomed and it got a little better each day but was a challenge.  Day 5-6 she finally returned to her normal self and we finally had the days we had imagined.

Here's what we learned...

- we had a half moon shaped sun shade but it was a little small to give her room to play, nap, etc and have one of us sit in there with her.  We are considering bringing a larger tent next time- so many people had 10x10 tents set up and we were a little envious.

- on day 3, we did try the baby pool idea- it kinda saved us and was worth the $7 at Walmart.  It's small and was easy to blow up so we just deflated everyday.  It filled up with 4-5 buckets of water with a beach pail

- our condo had a small pool and we wished we'd considered a place with a nicer pool since that was what we tried when DD wasn't enjoying the beach early in the week 

Based on the above responses, it does sound like we went overboard- but we never imagined that Brooks wouldn't enjoy the beach from day 1.  Hopefully you won't have that problem- but just in case these are a few things well think about before our trip in Sept.  Good luck!!!

slv0606

We're going in August too! We're bringing the little blow up pool, it's maybe 2.5' around and since it blows up its really easy to store/bring. I've seen so many young families with them in the past and figure it could be a total lifesaver and since its easy enough to bring, why not?! Kev has a beach chair his size but I'm not wasting my time lugging that because as soon as he sees mine or H's he wants our big chairs. Other than that we're staying bayside so running back to the house really isn't an option so I'll be bringing; sunscreen, hat, soft cooler, umbrella, towels, an old blanket, bag o beach toys and other absolute essentials. 

goldenleaves

Spray on sunblock! I took Lauren and used regular sunblock the first day. I think all that happened is that she got exfoliated. I am a psycho about reapplying so I like the spray on kind.

mkarns

goldenleaves:

Spray on sunblock! I took Lauren and used regular sunblock the first day. I think all that happened is that she got exfoliated. I am a psycho about reapplying so I like the spray on kind.

Yeah. I stopped using the cream except for a zinc for babies on Colton's face. I use a regular baby spray pre-beach and I reapply with the spray sunblock for wet skin since the other stuff just runs off once they're wet. Applying cream properly to a toddler at the beach is pretty much impossible.

BrookieA

Thank you all for the suggestions/advice! We are staying at a condo that is ocean front and you step off of the elevator onto the sand. It is a little bit of a walk down to the water. I have a beach buggy that rolls really well on the sand so I will put all of our things in it and roll it down. As far as the baby pool, it is very small and inflatable and can be blown up in about three minutes and only takes a few sand pails full of water to fill. I am taking it just in case LO hates the sand. He will literally spend hours in the one that we have at home so I am hoping that if he hates the sand maybe he will at least play in the pool so that we can have some beach time. I am a TOTAL beach bum and when we go to the beach we wake up, eat breakfast, pack our cooler and head down to the beach. We pack our lunch and eat on the beach and we generally do not go back to the condo until time to get ready to go to supper. I know that this year will be different with LO so I am just trying to cover all the bases so that it can still be enjoyable for everyone!