Kayaking With A Baby

Our Adventurous Family 

Since we bought a house with easy access to the water, that of course led to us wanting to buy tons of water sports items. We eventually narrowed it down to a kayak and a Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP). The next step, as is common for us now, was to figure out how in the world we would do any of those activities with a baby. SUPing with Jellybean was out of the question, at least for now, so, I googled "kayaking with a baby." With the right equipment, and a capable husband who can paddle for three, it's actually pretty easy! 

I went on trusty old Amazon to find sunscreen, a bathing suit that provided good UV protection, and found a good infant life vest at Bass Pro Shops. I didn't even know they made life vests for kiddos that small. They come with a special attachment on the neck piece that keeps babies heads afloat in the water. Since we already had a sunburn experience at the baseball game, I was pretty adamant about keeping my little man protected on our kayaking adventures, to include a long sleeve/long pants bathing suit and pretty awesome sunhat. 

From the pier in our neighbor's back yard, we put the kayak in the water. I hand Jellybean to Matt, get in the front seat, Matt hands me Jellybean, then he gets in the back seat. Done! We keep two sets of oars on the boat just in case I need to help, but we haven't had to come to that and Dad just does all the paddling for us. Good thing he's in shape! He took us to the beach across the bay, which according to the fancy Garmin I got him for his birthday, was 1.3 miles from the backyard. The nice thing about that beach is that if you want to access it by foot, you have to park 3 miles away and hike the rest of the way. Needless to say, it's pretty secluded unless you have a boat, or in our case, a kayak. Despite it being late September, the water was still warm and we splashed around for a bit before making the 20 minute trek back. 

Safety first! Sunscreen, life vest, glasses, sunhat . 

Covered up but keeping that baby skin protected is so important! 

Tips and Tricks

1. Safety first! I refused to do anything water related until we had that infant life vest. Now that Jellybean is six months old, he'll also be going to baby swim classes. 
2. Trust your gut- like Olivia Pope would say. People might be appalled at us attempting to kayak with baby, but, I'm going to trust my mama instincts. Jellybean's safety is always at the forefront of my mind but that doesn't mean I'm going to shelter my son in a padded room for the rest of his life. I want him to experience LIFE. He loved watching the waves crash on the shore, hearing the seagulls screeching, and feeling the breeze on his face. 
3. Trust your hubby! Or whoever is taking over the paddling job in the kayak. First of all, it's an exhausting job kayaking for three in a kayak made for two people to work. Second, well, there's a baby in the kayak! But, his first born son is pretty darn important to him, so I knew we were in good hands. 
4. Do your homework. We looked at the tide tables and kept an eye on the wind. There were a few times that we didn't even risk going out just in case the tides would be too low when we got back or the water looked to choppy between the backyard and the beach. Goes back to trusting your gut, it there's any doubt at all, just don't do it. Calm waters will come eventually! In the case of the windy day, Matt just took the SUP out to the bay himself, and of course...fell in the water. Better him than my Jellybean!