Infants and truck campers

[Cummins07]

Its just about time for us to start camping again for the year, now we have a 3 month old little camper with us. Just wondering if any of you have experience camping with babies in your TC and what kind of sleeping arrangements worked best for the little one? thanks

[wnjj]

We just put blankets on the hamper next to the window in the cabover for our littlest one. I put a piece of cardboard by the blinds so the kid doesn't kick them. A large duffle bag near our feet serves as a wall. The older 2 have graduated to sharing the dinette bed with one of those under-mattress fold up nets.

[Dave_Pete]

Hey cummins, I haven't taken the time to read through all the replies so I hope I'm not re-stating, or that you're not after additional suggestions.

Here's an idea, although ours applied to an old canned ham travel trailer, you may be able to rig something similar in a truck camper bunk.

Our infant/toddler bed was the upper rear bunk over the sofa bed (our bed). The bunk was simply a canvas sling with two pipes on it's lengthwise edges. Those pipes fit into holders at all four corners, making a "close enough" fit at the ends and along the back wall. This was the original bed. It was the front opening that needed "bars".

I thought in terms of "playpen". I made a wooden frame across the front that pivoted (hinged) along the top (pivots at either end of the frame top fastening to the side walls). It was built in such a way that it couldn't swing open by pushing out on the bottom. So the baby could push on it safely and it wouldn't open.

To open it, you had to push the bottom back in toward the bed, then the whole frame would pivot upward and fasten horizontally. We stored pillows up there during travel, in essence giving us the frame, and the bunk to use as two bedding shelves while under way. The enclosure made for a nice safe sleeping place, and a great daytime playpen out of the way.

The frame was made of: 1x2 top and bottom, and on each side, filled in the middle with appropriately spaced wooden dowels of an adequate diameter.

When we sold the trailer we removed the frame. DW still uses the it today as a drying rack for her herbs in the basement.

[RichandLiz]

EARLY DAYS
We started with the pack and play on the dinette bed. I have a popup and was able to leave it open when closing the roof.

TODDLER DAYS
I screwed a bed rail onto the dinette and used the crib mattress. Crib mattress was better for midnight accidents.

[gbw]

I liked those clamp style high chair when we were at campsites or restaurants but we often boondock in the boonies and we didn't have nice sturdy picnic tables to use. We just had a folding camp table and I had to use a water just as a ballast on the other end just to hold the kid up. The table only weighted about 10lbs. We used a chair similar to this style when tables weren't always available. I recall is was pretty resonably priced too.

http://www.magmarcolony.com/theportablehighchair/

[MKish]

The Bob Revolution is great. It can carry two older kids too in a pinch (on a good surface). 3 months might be a little young for it without the infant adapter. For little ones like that (also bigger ones), an Ergobaby baby carrier is really good, and a regular old Graco type stroller is good for parking the baby at the camp site. It packs smaller than the Bob and you can plop baby into it in the car seat or not.

We slept with the baby in the camper. Ug. I still do, come to think of it. Working on the bunk bed this spring...

[BigBlockFord]

+1000 on the all-terrain stroller & clamp on high-chair! It's time to load the family up and roll!

BBF

[msiminoff]

Congrats Cummins07 on the birth of your child!!!

My wife and I have been traveling with our kids since each of them born and it has been a absolutely fantastic experience for them and us too. We used to have a VW EuroVan Camper and when our son (now 10) was 8 mos old we took him on a 5-week road trip across the western US. We're co-sleepers, but the van bed was way too small for that, so I made a custom foam pad/mattress (with its own waterproof & washable mattress cover) for him which fit at the head of our bed. It worked like a charm.


We bought the TC right before our daughter (now 😎 was born, and used the same foam pad that I'd made for my son and just tucked it tightly between the side-wall of the camper and our queen mattress. I also picked up a basic children's bed rail which I placed at the foot of the bed to keep the kids from accidentally rolling out. It turned the bed into a nice playpen area as well.


Now that the kids are a bit bigger, my son sleeps in the bunk over the dinette (he LOVES it!!!) and my daughter either sleeps in the bed next to my wife or on the dinette.


There were a few other items which we discovered made traveling with infants much easier for us; a) an all-terrain stroller that can carry some of your stuff as well as baby, b) a comfortable and compact baby carrier, and c) a portable clamp-on high-chair.

Cheers!
-Mark

[H2oSprt]

anutami wrote:
My bro's Pack n play Works great on the dinette in his Lance.

This is what we did, but with twins, and a two yearold on the bunk above. We shortly after bought the lance with a fold out tent

[KD4UPL]

We first took our son camping when he was about 6 weeks old. We used a big cardboard box for a bed. We put lots of padding in it and put it on the sofa in our TC. The sides of the box kept him from rolling onto the floor.
When he got big enough to crawl out of the box we moved him to the overhead bunk. Now his little brother "sleeps in the box". It's kind of funny to see people's reactions to "where does he sleep?, in a box."

[lizzie]

Our first VW transporter had a canvas hammock that attached to the front doors on either side and hung over the front seat. When we went to a TT we built a crib over the dinette. There are so many great fold up cribs and play pens on the market now that you shouldn't have a problem. You are going to have so much fun! lizzie

[tonymull]

We lived in Alaska when my youngest was born. I invested in a tent with a higher ceiling and a rocking lawn chair 🙂

[buta4]

anutami wrote:
My bro's Pack n play Works great on the dinette in his Lance.

Oh Yaaah....Snoozesnoozesnooze.

WHAT? You guys wanna EAT at this Dinette???:B

You want to Wake me up..go ahead, Make My Day!!!

Meet my Little Friend!!! Namely, my vocal chords!!

:B

[anutami]

My bro's Pack n play Works great on the dinette in his Lance.

[garryk6]

Cummins07 wrote:
Its just about time for us to start camping again for the year, now we have a 3 month old little camper with us. Just wondering if any of you have experience camping with babies in your TC and what kind of sleeping arrangements worked best for the little one? thanks

We started camping in a TT when our oldest was two weeks old. He is now in Marine Corps Boot Camp. Sometimes he would be with us, later with the other kids, we would place them on the dinette, and wedge them in with pillows or blankets. Whe I was a kid, my dad rebuilt an old 1960 TC and had it on an old 58 Apache PU. He built a little crib type bed at the foot of the E-W cabover for my little sister, since my little brother and I were sharing the dinette. It worked until my sister outgrew it, and my mom got pregnant with number 4. Then dad found a TT to give us more room.
Hope this helps!
Garry