We took Camilla to her very first concert at 6 months old. I was
nervous .
I'm writing this post to let you know that yes,
you can take your baby to a concert. I've written our experience down here, and toward the end of this post have summarised my tips and tricks in bullet form to make your experience a worthwhile one!
...
I had nightmares that we would be turned away at the door, I fabricated arguments of what I would say if they did so "I'm a breastfeeding mother!!" or how I would react to judgemental onlookers.
You see, we almost had to take her. She is very attached to us and I know that our baby cannot be consoled by anyone other than her mother. She wakes up everynight at 10pm and I knew if she saw the people we were staying with instead of me she would scream her head off. We would get a worried phone call, and we would be stuck in the carparking building and not make it home for another hour. Meanwhile Camilla is wondering where her parents are and minute by minute loosing trust in us. Well. Thats what I pictured anyway. And it was 99% going to be reality. We decided just to take her. It was going to be much easier and much less stressful and much better than the alternatives (not going).
We were so excited to see Taylor Swift live in New Zealand!
We missed the opening act on purpose. I had never heard of them anyway and thought that the more time we could spend doing other things and Camilla not being trapped in the sling would be better (and hopefully making her more tired).
As we approached the venue we put Camilla in our
Moby Wrap on my front. We put her front facing as we thought with so much going on she would probably want to watch everything (we later turned her around so she could sleep). She also had baby earmuffs on which were leant to us by a friend. They definitely block out a LOT of sound (she didn't even flinch later to the noise of fireworks right infront of us).
We arrived at the venue just as the crowd was screaming "Taylor! Taylor!". Everything was dark, the lights were flashing, there was a sea of screaming people, and then Taylor Swift appeared on stage.
I was overwhelmed and so was Camilla. She cried and cried and then she screamed. We found our seats, the ladies next to us gave me a sympathetic yet "why on earth didn't you leave her at home" look. I took Camilla back into the foyer where she quickly stopped crying. We went into the bathroom and she was happy to look at herself in the mirror. We went back into the concert and were met with the same reaction. Graeme took her into the foyer this time and I thought that would just be the way the night was, swapping her between us while one of us enjoyed one song. That all took about 5 minutes. So really we didn't miss much of the concert.
She was swapped back to me and I turned her around in the sling so she was facing my chest. Instantly she was happy. She had a familiar face to look at and she was all smiles. Her eyes drooped so I stroked in-between her eyes and she fell asleep instantly on my chest. I stayed up the back and soaked in that moment. There's something about being in a big crowd that is so exciting. I was listening to great music that we had been looking forward to for 6 months. I had my daughter fast asleep on my chest and I was drinking in the oxytocin (above).
Graeme came up to see me and we stood together. We were happy!
A staff member came and told us we couldn't stay where we were (we were in front of the exit doors, a fire risk apparently, you're supposed to be in your allocated seat) but said she had better seats closer to the stage if we would prefer. Yes please!
We moved around the arena so we were right next to the stage. The lights were brighter, the people were less and it was a much better experience there.
We loved the Taylor Swift concert. It was a full on performance, nothing like I have ever seen live, except exactly like her DVD. I thought perhaps Auckland would put on a half effort show, perhaps because of the budget or venue, but no. It was fabulous! Exactly like watching it in Blu Ray, except we were seeing it with our very own eyes and feeling it in our hearts. Taylor is a fantastic performer. The costumes! The aerialists! The lights! The ribbon confetti! The floating stage! The acting!
Camilla woke up with about 3 songs to go, she stayed in the sling and was a happy little girl. Most of the time she focussed on the big screen or on the stage which was in easy view. She didn't even flinch during the fireworks which were meters away so I know she couldn't hear much.
After the concert as people were filing past us so many people stopped to appreciate and comment on her and us "Good on you!" so many people said.
When we got back to the car while waiting in traffic I fed camilla some more dinner out of a can and she fell asleep shortly after and slept for the rest of the night.
It was such a great time and I really think I had more fun with her there! I didn't need to check my cellphone, we were bonding as a family and its something we will always remember :) We are so glad we took her to the concert at 6 months old.
Here's a summary on taking your young child to a full on concert performance:
- Don't be anxious! No one at the arena ever mentioned we couldn't take our baby, in fact the staff actually helped us and gave us better seats (seats to the side of the stage were much less chaotic than at the back!)
- Have something to hold or carry them in.
- Camilla definitely preferred to be looking away from the chaos - at 6 months old she couldn't make sense of it and it seemed to make her very anxious. She was perfectly fine when she couldn't see it
- Baby earmuffs! These can be found at most hardware stores, they cancelled out most of the noise. I know this because she didn't even flinch at the indoor fireworks only meters from us.
- Indoor concerts get HOT, dress your Bub appropriately.
- If you're holding your baby on your chest sing along to the music! The vibrating in your chest will probably put them to sleep.
- Have food ready for afterwards. They're most likely to wake up when you have to put them back in the car, or your change of scenery affects them (going outside = cold, etc). Whether thats milk or solids, come equipped.
- Leave a little bit early, or hang around a little bit later, try and avoid that full on people and traffic jam that happens after concerts.
- I was worried about the public being cruel to us but they were lovely, many offered to take photos of us and asked all about her afterwards.
Have fun with your whole family! If you take your baby to a concert leave a comment and let me know how it went!
This photo was taken afterwards by the lovely staff member who got us better seats during the concert!
All photos are ours and are taken from different view points because we had 2 different seats throughout the night.
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