Child safety in a prevost

[Kaynjay]

We have a prevost as well as a newborn baby. We are wanting to take a trip to visit family in the next couple of months and I am clueless about child safety in a motor home.
Could anyone shed some light? It seems nearly impossible to attach a car seat in the prevost.. What do people do?

Is it legal to feed, change, play with your child while you are going down the road? I'm assuming the safety rules are quite different in a motorhome verses traditional car travel. We are clueless about this.

We don't use the prevost often, but feel it would be the perfect way to travel with a young child as it would be a home on wheels while we're away.

Any advice??
Thanks.

[JumboJet]

The forward facing dinette bench and the crossways couch in my MH both have seat belts. We strapped the child seat in both positions during our trip with my almost 2 year old grandson.

Years ago, I had a neighbor that was expecting a baby and modified his Corvette to have a child's restraint seat.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

[kaydeejay]

Law or no law the law that DOES apply here is the Law of Physics.
Your unrestrained baby becomes a missile moving at whatever speed your coach was doing if it comes to an abrupt stop.
It's called "The Human Collision".
here
(Reference is a Montana doc, but the same principle applies.)
Think about where your baby will end up.
Hint - it MAY not still be in the coach.
Reduce the exposure by having it restrained whenever possible

[rollingslow]

Only the cab..the front two seats..require seatbelts in most states behind that is house. Different rules thats why you can have open containers in frig and cabinets

[kalynzoo]

Different point of view: You do not have to have a child restraint if the child is not sitting in the drivers cabin. (Don't take my word, check it out). Buses do not have seatbelts. Your what, 50K 60K pounds. That's 10x the mass of a car on the road. Even in my little 38fters, we have always feed the children, changed the children, played with them, let them sleep on the bed and couch. etc. JMHO

[wallynm]

Yes, and some location are starting to outlaw snow sledding.

In our current MH the passenger seat will swivel 180 degrees and lock in place if you want a rear facing car seat.

Science is beginning to find evidence that we as humans need some exposures to get our immune system to kick in. Latest news indicates exposure to small amounts of peanut butter as a baby may prevent peanut problems later. To many wet wipes may not be good.

Let the flames begin.

cbshoestring wrote:

wallynm wrote:
May not be PC but we started in 1978 in a 72 Brave. We traveled all the time with babies and younger kids with out car seats. We even heated food,bottles and what ever while on the road. If we had a Provost We would just get in and go.

We also road in Pickups, with and without caps, rode bikes with no helmets, and got dirty without someone rushing over with a wetwipe and sanitizer. Times are different.

To the OP--- the law is pretty clear on carseats & seat belts. If you care about such things, stay buckled in. If not, do what you want and hope you don't get caught. That is the Amercian Way (and from what I read on here...pretty common in Canada as well).

[2oldman]

Kaynjay wrote:

2oldman wrote:
duplicate. read the rules

Where are the rules? Thats the point of my question.

Perhaps you missed the word 'duplicate'. It means duplicate posting. You posted in two different forums.

[rgatijnet1]

Kaynjay wrote:

2oldman wrote:
duplicate. read the rules

Where are the rules? Thats the point of my question.

There are none that cover Class A RV's. It is not a car and even some states do not require you to be buckled up in the back seat of a car.
As I said, you can get up and wander around, or use the facilities, in a Grayhound bus, which is as close to a Class A as you can find.
Common sense dictates what you do in your own RV. Here is one link that lists all kinds of exempted vehicles for each state. Seatbelt laws

[Kaynjay]

I obviously don't want to put my child in harm. That is why Im asking for advice on how to properly restrain my child in a RV.

[wildtoad]

You will most likely get a variety of opinions on this, so here is mine. Mom and Dad should occupy the two front seats. Wear your seatbelts. Find the belted seat that provides the most secure way to attach a car seat, place the baby in it, and begin your travel. Should you find a need to attend to the baby and it just can not wait, then do so as quickly and safely as you can. It would be best to find a place to pull over.

[Kaynjay]

2oldman wrote:
duplicate. read the rules

Where are the rules? Thats the point of my question.

[cbshoestring]

wallynm wrote:
May not be PC but we started in 1978 in a 72 Brave. We traveled all the time with babies and younger kids with out car seats. We even heated food,bottles and what ever while on the road. If we had a Provost We would just get in and go.

We also road in Pickups, with and without caps, rode bikes with no helmets, and got dirty without someone rushing over with a wetwipe and sanitizer. Times are different.

To the OP--- the law is pretty clear on carseats & seat belts. If you care about such things, stay buckled in. If not, do what you want and hope you don't get caught. That is the Amercian Way (and from what I read on here...pretty common in Canada as well).

[Kaynjay]

rgatijnet1 wrote:
Personally I would contact someone about installing whatever is necessary to properly secure a child safety seat in your RV near your captains seats. The front seats in your coach were not designed for a child safety seat.
As far as doing the things you ask in a moving RV, most of us just use common sense. Legally the laws vary from state to state and most do not cover Class A RV's. Even commercial buses allow people to get up and move around. There are times when it is not practical to be up and moving around, like in a city, twisting roads, mountain roads, inclement weather, etc. There are other times when on a nice straight interstate highway, most of us will allow some movement to use the rest room, grab something to eat or drink.
To move around for any length of time to play with a child, that may be pushing your luck. Again, just use common sense and think about what could go wrong. You are the parents and part of your job is to take care of your children who do not have the knowledge that you have.

Problem is, there are no captains seats. There's a bench seat against the wall and the dinette seats. We will be taking a look to see if there are seat belts in the dinette seats as I just read that's the best place to put a car seat. Seems confusing to me how this all needs to be done since the seats are not like a car. I know thousands of people travel in RV's with children so something can be done. Just trying to figure out how.

[2oldman]

duplicate. read the rules

[polly_sue]

Then there is the safety of your beloved child to consider, whether the law has any special requirements or not. I would not have removed my child from a secured car seat under any circumstances in any moving vehicle, no matter the description. How hard is it to pull over and deal with baby. Not very. The few times I have tried to move in our coach, it was clear that it would not take much to lose control, especially when your hands are not free to protect yourself. We sailed offshore for years and our yacht had grab rails everywhere, securely attached and convenient to use. No motorhome design I've ever seen has taken into consideration safety of a moving passenger. We had regular chairs at our table -- not good. The kitchen counter, maybe, but otherwise you and your baby are missiles ready to be launched with no notice. If you chose to take that chance because you thought you were safe, then you would never forgive yourself if a slight lurch or bump of the coach caused your child injury.

[wallynm]

May not be PC but we started in 1978 in a 72 Brave. We traveled all the time with babies and younger kids with out car seats. We even heated food,bottles and what ever while on the road. If we had a Provost We would just get in and go.