We're fairly new to the folding camper life - but the last two weekends we've had we've had a nightmare trying to get our 3yr old and 1 yr old to sleep even though they are great at home. They wind each other up in the shared room and even putting them at separate ends of the camper doesn't stop them. We've had to revert to driving them around in the car to get them to sleep which kind of eats into your 'wine' time! I reckon two things that could help us get more sleep would be a sleep liner that was designed to divide the bedrooms in two with separate zips, and then if it was made of blackout material so they didn't wake so early in the morning that would be even better! Does anyone know if you can buy these or has anyone tried making your own? Be really keen to hear any shared advice on ways to tackle this?
Cheers
Wendy
do you put them to bed at the same time? I would try putting one down earlier and as short term solution you and hubby taking seperate beds with 1 kid each for morning solution. Karyn.
Do you try to stick to the home routine for bedtime? if so - don't! Let the kids stay up running around outside (weather permitting) until they are virtually falling asleep on their feet. Then into jammies, quick cuddle on knee for a quiet story to settle them and they should be too tired to wind eachother up (might even sleep later in the morning!). My daughter started camping at 4 weeks old and never had a 'bedtime' in all the years she was in a field (she's 20 now).
What Scampi said. Our 2 are a bit of a pain on the 1st night but after a day of running/jumping/swimming in the fresh air they take themselves off to bed when they're tired.
couple pints of lager and some sleeping pills will do the trick ,you'll have a cracking sleep and no doubt the people in the tent next door will come round to look after the kids
A fixed bedtime doesn't work for us - either when we're camping or even at home! I have a duracell child who needs little sleep and has boundless energy. When we're away she's sometimes still up and about until we go to bed, but more often than not she takes herself off to bed when she's ready and that means less fuss and no tantrums. She rarely sleeps beyond 6.30 in the morning, even in the winter when it's pitch black outside!
As above - 3 and 1 is still pretty young so ensure plenty of fresh air and some calm time before bed. Also having a few items from home such as nightlight and cuddlies may help
If they have a regular bed time at home then just make it later than usual whilst camping. IMO they still need some boundaries and routine whilst camping and also lack of sleep next day usually means grumpy and potentially naughty children (does in our case anyway!).
You'll get there, don't forget its all new to them as well as you, so excitemnt is bound to reign for now!
Ours are older than yours by a few years and despite some arguments share the rear bed and hopefully will for another couple of years (one of each so will want own space eventually!)
Our 2 yr old is the same. Great at home but a nightmare in the Conway. We've resorted to letting her watch her DVDs in bed until she falls asleep. She generally ends up on our bed taking up all the room and on our 2 week tour a few weeks ago we woke to find her asleep on the floor.
------------- September 27th. I'm going away. Don't care where. Just going!!!!
Im afraid we had the same problem, and in the end realised we were some way off being like the campers that sit outside with a glass of wine, chatting and chilling out quietly. We do as all of the above and just wait til they are ready to drop, but to be honest thats about the same time as us, so we all end up going to bed about 10, or 10.30pm. As for the early mornings, my youngest wakes up at 5 on the first night camping, but soon learns that we are not getting up til 7 at the earliest. Little kids = No lay in! sorry!
Thanks all for your suggestions. I've always been a bit stubborn about accepting there's just no chance, even though that pretty much is the case - but it is comforting to know we're not alone - thank you!
In case anyone is interested I got a reply from the tent making place someone recommended and they will make us a blackout pod for the Conway with divider built in for £150 (it is a custom make they have not done before) - we are considering it...! Of course it may not solve the problem and that's a lot of bottles of wine...!!
But if we do go ahead with it, will let you know if it helps.
x
I'm not a folding camper, camper (if that makes any sense) so don't know if this is possible but have you thought about putting up an old sheet to split the sleeping area in two yourself? You could pin it (with safety pins) to see if it works before spending all that money. Also, aren't the sleeping pods generally fabric so could be died a darker colour?
Hi , we have two kids that don't sleep well. Returned yesterday fro a week away with a new modification that helped. Not being very good with a sewing machine it was simple is best.
We bright 8m of white blackout liner and turned it into curtains by just folding over the top and stitching it. We have fitted these curtains in replacement of the old curtains in the whole of the camper. They slide on the wire and poles in the same way. We then pinned two old black sheets to the top of the pods to darken the roof. This did not blackout the unit but made it a lot darker quicker in the evening and kept the sun out in the morning ( on the 1 day we did have sun) which kept the kids in bed till about 7.30. Not quite as nice as purpose made curtains but under £50 it was perfect .