Little Red 20°

I brought my son backcountry camping at 2.5. He has the big Agnes little red (available in a variety of sizes for different ages. It has no insulation on the bottom, just a sleeve for a sleeping pad. It sort of holds him in place. Weighs about 1.75 lbs for the 48 inch size. You are also hiking in changes of clothes and diaper changing stuff, and snacks. I recommend lots of cheeses and the yoghurts that don’t need refrigerating. Anyways we only hiked in a couple miles. He walked/was carried on my shoulders. My dad and I hand carried an osprey poco (kid carrier pack, you will get one) along for day hiking from the campsite. It was painful but fun. I have seen another couple where it looked like mom was carrying the kid and some other odds and ends in a poco and dad was carrying a giant pack with all their camping gear. I talked to them about the idea of going super ultralight and packing everything in a poco, using it as both kid pack and carry pack. Apparently there are people who do it on YouTube! In the end if you have yourself and a spouse outfitted with ultralight gear already, you are in a good position to make it work more than I have. One person with a poco and one person with a full pack, using the lightest 3p tent you can get and a big Agnes little red should be totally doable. Just mae sure you get the “poco plus” model since it has more storage area. I would wait until the kid is past the newborn stage though, think that goes without saying. And what others have said about new emphasis car camping, day hikes, etc definitely holds. I would add canoe camping to that list if relevant to your area. For inspiration on camping with kids, check out the Jim Baird Adventurer YouTube channel if you want to see someone get into serious backcountry stuff with 2 kids in tow, one even disabled. I wouldn’t go as far as he does but it sure gives perspective on what’s possible.

Yep that's what we did. REI adjustable childs sleeping bag. A Big Agnes little red 20 kids is what I bought for our kids.

Might consider cross posting at r/hikingwithkids My kid uses an older big Agnes kids bag that has a sleeve for a standard 3/4 pad. My quilt is lighter than his bag, but his pad is lighter than mine. I like that he can't spin in circles and bump into me at night and he sleeps in it fine. I've been using it for car camping and would consider going for Morrison if I didn't get a great deal of this bag but I really do like that he stays on the pad and doesn't wake me up.

I've used and kinda liked the Big Agnes kids' bags. They've got a pad sleeve, which mostly solves the "kid curled up in the corner of the tent" issue. The ones I bought aren't available anymore, but they were 15F rated and okay down to freezing (maybe lower -- didn't try it). The weight is slightly below 2 pounds, which is in line with the current offerings. That would be heavy for an adult's bag, but my kids tend to carry their own bag, their pad, their own puffy, and that's about it. I usually used CCF with the pads. For colder nights, ALPS makes some super-bulky, very thick CCF that worked well, although it winds up strapped to the top of my pack. I wouldn't trust any of my kids to sleep properly in a quilt. The 14yo, maybe.

I would go with a quilt, they are great for moving around. Zenbivy is most peoples favorite, I really enjoy my Big Agnes.

If your biggest concern about a sleeping bag is room for your legs to move without feeling constricted, I would try out Nemo or Big Agnes sleeping bags. Both tend to have wider profiles. Definitely go for a bag that is rated at least 10 degrees lower - preferably lower - than the temps you expect to sleep in. Theres multiple problems with layering with clothing like this, one of which is not the warmth specific factor but the breathability. One or two layers is one thing, but with all the listed clothing and then something like the picture on top, you’re going to build up humidity near your body you can’t get rid of, and you’ll become even colder. Next, a sleeping bag basically creates a warm pocket of air around you. The insulation in the bag helps create and maintain this pocket. The more compressed this insulation, the worse it performs. With layering clothing, you compress the insulation, making it less effective. On top of that, insulation is minimal if not nonexistent at the seams. Some puffy jackets and “extreme temp” clothing gets around this by minimizing seams but there’s almost always a few somewhere, which means no air pockets and no warmth. If I could recommend the best case scenario for you, it would be this: find a sleeping bag you can tolerate rated to a temp appropriate for your conditions, 15F at a minimum, best scenario a 0F. Dress in only your smartwool layers, and make sure you have a good pad/sleep set up underneath you. Sources: avid outdoorsmen, backpacker in sub 20 degree temps, and former REI employee who specialized in camping gear.

A Big Agnes sleeping bag with down that fit me correctly. I was iffy on the price at first, but it turns out I had basically used ill fitting, non insulated sleeping bags for years of wilderness camping. Getting a good nights sleep anywhere, especially away from home, makes a huge difference.