This is our first camping trip with our own stuff. When we packed away this morning the top of the beds had a wet patch. We had a fleece blanket on the floor underneath the beds and 3 fleece layers on top - we were toasty warm in bed! The damp didn't come through to the top sheet.
Did this happen because it was a particularly cold night? Or is this always the case?
Its condensation, warmth from your bodies hitting cold air in airbed. Worse if it's a cold night. If it happens just leave bedding folded back to dry during day.
This always occurs if you do not have sufficient insulation under the air beds, the ground absorbs the heat from the air bed then the moisture condenses on the cold bed.
If you have decent insulation under the bed then the bed will remain at the same temperature as the air in the tent and any condensation will be minimal.
That's the main reason we switched to good self-inflating mats. Doesn't happen any more, although not everyone gets on with them. We love ours. No matter what I did, I couldn't stop the condensation. Hope you find a solution.
You can use cardboard, an easy and cheap solution and all you have to do is ask at a shop for a big cardboard box. Most shops will give you one if they have any and is a great 'plan B' solution if you forget to take foam mats etc.
There are Yellowstone foam mats with a reflective side on Amazon which are ideal.
Any foam mat will do however. Even under laminate floor insulation is pretty good. If you've got nothing else a plastic backed picnic blanket is not bad.