We are fairly new to caravanning and this might sound silly but where do you put a 1year old girl to sleep safely.
We have a 5berth Abbey with L shape lounge at back with sliding doors, but our wee girl is still too small to sleep there without the risk of her falling out of a single bed.
we have a 5 berth and when my youngest was little,i bought a wooden winnie the pooh bed guard(look on ebay).It was taller than all the others i'd looked at and had really long 'legs' on it that went all the way to the back of the undersides of the cushions.she slept on the seat under the side window, not along the back of the van.if your oh is any good at diy, you can make the same thing from an old cot side-just 'modernise' it to fit.
------------- ...as long as it's dry.....
Lisa xx
count your rainbows not your thunderstorms.....
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August-Cornwall
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the one micheal linked to is what we used for our (now 2 y/o) from 6 months, and our now 9m/o from 3 months, with no problem, we just filled in the small gap between the cusion and bad rail with a blanket.
We did find we had to make some shorter rails to go under the mattress, you could shorten the exisiting ones, but we wanted to keep those for family visits.
we have the L shaped rear lounge, smallest goes along the side, 2 y/o on the back, 4 y/o in the bunk.
Our soon is three now and since being 1yr has slept in a Thomas the tank engine blow up bed on the lower bunk, We also started offw ith the cushions off the other bed on the floor, but as of yet hew has not fallen out. bed guards are also good, but cannot commentv on that one really.
Its more myself falling out of bed with the cut off at the bottom of the double bed posing a problem (adria Altea 542 UK)
They will get used to it, cannot keep our little one away from the caravan he loves it.
Had the same problem.We had a 4 berth with a side dinette.Eventually mk 4 conversion was a peice of laminated timber from a diy store that closely matched the interior wood and converted the side dinnette into a permanent cot.It worked fabulously,we had somewere safe to put her with all her toys to play and store and somewere safe to sleep.If you are careful and work it out all screw holes are below cushion level and never seen again when you have to take it out.Worked great for us from about 6 months to 18 months.Now she just gets up and gets in with us and i wake up with a foot in my back and my face pressed against the window.Oh the joys>
Our little girl was 6 months for our first trip. We used the bottom bunk(side dinette) and made a side out of wood and slotted it down the side of the cushions. At about 9 months we realised that our travel cot fitted exactly in the L shaped lounge floor area. So we used the lounge as 2 beds feet to feet, and just the bottom bed of the side dinette. On our last trip when she was just 2 she was getting a little big for the travel cot and it was a pain with it in the way either up or down. We thought we could contain her no more and hubby found it very uncomfortable as he was a bit too tall for the single bed arrangements, so changed the van for one with a fixed bed, losing the end washroom :(
We intend to make up the front double for our 8 year old as well, so they have single each side of the cupboard unit, but with the added middle bit so they don't fall out. Thinking of getting sleeping bags to zip them into as well.
Looking forward to trying it out in the Feb half term. (and not having to make all of the beds up every night. Also will have to just give in and let her fall asleep when shes ready, as don't think she is likely to just go to bed. Think the portable dvd palyer with 'In the Night Garden' should help!
------------- 'Plastic Pig' driver
(got a new plastic Hyundai - Santa Fe)
2011 -
? Mr PP has just gone and bought another business, holiday?...we should be so lucky!
Think Im going to make a cot side about normal cot height and fix it in the shortist side of the L shape lounge, which will then be a permanent cot/play pen. I am a joiner so fingers crossed I should manage that!
I do like the idea of these bed sides mentioned and would be alot less work but am afraid that as soon as our wee girl is awake she would be out over it like a shot!
When our DD was younger, I made an extension piece for the rear bunk, then in our current van one side of the read dinette, that made it possible to pace the travel cot there.
We then moved on to sleeping her on one side of the side dinette.
At three and a half she is now in the bunk, with her bedguard from home, and loves her home from home even more.