Many families with young children cite worries about sleep as one of the major barriers to tramping. It’s hard enough getting a baby to sleep through the night in their own cot, let alone in a shared hut full of snorers, rustling sleeping bags and 2am ‘popping out to the loo’ door slams.

As new parents who love to tramp, we agonised over what to do. Many comments on internet forums were critical of parents who took young children into huts. So, we decided to aim for a gradual introduction for our little girl into hut life.

Our first overnighter was on the Old Ghost Road when Skye was three months old. This track suited us because of bookable sleepouts. We could test our girl on a lumpy DOC mattress, expose her to rustling sleeping bags and Dad’s snoring, whilst knowing that others’ sleep needn’t suffer if we had a rough night. 

After an 18km walk, we were all tuckered out. After Skye had cuddles with her new hut-friends, she was put to bed in her Merino Kids sleepsack, Mountain Buggy sleeping bag and with the white noise machine on the lowest setting – we tried to recreate her home conditions. We then jammed our packs in around her in case she rolled in the night. And, after a good night’s sleep, we woke next morning, all happy and well-rested. 

This first foray gave us the confidence to step things up a level. By the time Skye was five months old, we started keeping an eye on a nearby bookable hut. One Sunday, we could see the hut was still free by lunchtime so we locked in three beds and walked in. The night wasn’t as successful as our first trip. Skye was older and more inquisitive, and it seemed that the excitement of being in a hut, wanting to roll out of bed to crawl around and see mum and dad in the torchlight, was a bit too much. Breastfeeding calmed things down, and once we were in our sleeping bags and the lights were off, things improved. She woke three times during the night but I was able to breastfeed her and send her back to sleep. 

When she was seven months old, I set off with Skye to walk the Abel Tasman Coast Track. Although I had intentionally booked mid-week and mid-winter, it was inevitable that other people would be in the huts. At Awaroa Hut, several ‘hut-mates’ were unable to disguise their dismay at finding a baby crawling around. The hut environment was frosty and I was paranoid about the experience of other hut users. Skye is inquisitive and she quickly crawled up to everyone, inspecting their shoelaces and giving them big smiles. People thawed out quickly.