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Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please!
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krisswanberg
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:00 am    Post subject: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

Just bought an 84 Vanagon and it's currently in the shop getting ready for a 5 week cross-country road trip. We have a five year old and a 10 month old baby. We are planning on putting the five year old up top to sleep, but I'm wondering if anyone has set up a portable crib in the van... There seems to be quite a bit of space in the main area even with the bench seat down.

Has anyone done this? What type of portable crib/pack 'n play have you used? Any other advice for starting a cross-country road trip with little ones? We are very excited but have never done anything like this before!
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Terry Kay
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 9:02 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

Playpen midships.
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MsTaboo
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 11:22 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

You might consider one of these.
https://www.amazon.ca/Portable-Carrier-Kennel-Trav...S1TXPVDK6B
They fold up into a fairly small bundle. And before anyone yells at me about whether it's appropriate to put a small child in a animal pen consider the idea, it's soft and enclosed to protect the baby and has mesh sides to protect against bugs and mosquitoes. They come in many sizes, and when baby has grown you can always use it for pets!

Here's ours being used as a cat carrier, you can see it's quite large, but folds up easy. At night we put it across the reversed passenger seat and ice chest/portable fridge to free up the lower bunk.

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warrenmzz
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 12:11 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

This is the crib we currently use for our 1 year old, and once used for our 5 year old. Fits real nice at the end of the bed, and is very easy to setup & T ear down.

https://www.amazon.com/BABYBJORN-Travel-Crib-Light-Silver/dp/B00IM8G038

Suggestion. If you've got a westfalia, don't forget to remove the knobs from the stove at night so that they are out of reach of the little one.
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VWinVT
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:28 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

Terry Kay wrote:
Playpen midships.


Yup, that's what we did.
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Wellington
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:37 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

I would not let a 5 year old sleep up top alone.
Kids tend to move a lot in their sleep, you don't need someone falling down in the night.
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ThankYouJerry
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 1:55 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

krisswanberg wrote:
...We are planning on putting the five year old up top to sleep... We are very excited but have never done anything like this before!


Wellington wrote:
I would not let a 5 year old sleep up top alone.
Kids tend to move a lot in their sleep, you don't need someone falling down in the night.


^^^^That is solid advice.

Shocked Read this Shocked : http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=561304&highlight=top+bunk

Then consider this: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=469327&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

We've always slept 1 adult + 1 child in the bottom bunk and 1 adult + 1 child in the top bunk (with extension mod). Works well for us. Very Happy
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VWinVT
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 2:59 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

ThankYouJerry wrote:
krisswanberg wrote:
...We are planning on putting the five year old up top to sleep... We are very excited but have never done anything like this before!


Wellington wrote:
I would not let a 5 year old sleep up top alone.
Kids tend to move a lot in their sleep, you don't need someone falling down in the night.


^^^^That is solid advice.

Shocked Read this Shocked : http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=561304&highlight=top+bunk

Then consider this: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=469327&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

We've always slept 1 adult + 1 child in the bottom bunk and 1 adult + 1 child in the top bunk (with extension mod). Works well for us. Very Happy


Our 2 kids are 2 and 3 1/2 now and both sleep up top. I built a bed extension that lengthens the upper bed almost the the front window. I left a gap of about 5 inches. It works great and we feel confident when we put them up there they will sleep safely...when they eventually fall asleep...which is a different thread entirely!
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djkeev
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:04 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

Be sure that your canvas is good, people have torn through rotted canvas and woke up on the ground!

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VWinVT
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 4:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

djkeev wrote:
Be sure that your canvas is good, people have torn through rotted canvas and woke up on the ground!

Dave


That would be terrible!! Thanks for the heads up. Luckily our canvas is <4 years old...good warning for others with little kids...especially since our 2 kids do bounce around up there
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RBRTRCKSR
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2016 8:51 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

We use a standard pac n play and move our arb fridge outside. We also have a foam camping pad that I cut to size and covered with a crib sheet that works really well, and doesn't take up much space.
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Abscate Premium Member
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 4:21 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

You can put the playpen outside too, unless there are dingos around

You know your kids best. I have six and some were restless and others you could put a chalk line around them and find them there in the morning
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 5:02 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

We used a front hammock for awhile and my daughter loved that!

Our youngest was 4 when we got the van so had no need for a playpen.

I have heard people leaving the bench seat up and using the area over the engine like a crib. Adults up top and a hammock up over the seats for the 5 yr old and life is good!

I'm still chuckling over the "chalk outline" image...

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chachi
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 6:44 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

yeah our graco pack n play worked great at the end of the bed. also my wife ordered one of those folding crib walls that fits great for keeping potential rollers from tumbling out of the top. but the 13 yr old nixed the 2 year old from the top bunk so she is just sleeping downstairs in the main bed.
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Easywind1975
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 7:54 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

Abscate wrote:
You can put the playpen outside too, unless there are dingos around

You know your kids best. I have six and some were restless and others you could put a chalk line around them and find them there in the morning


LOL, I don't know how my daughter ever gets a good night's sleep, she is practically breakdancing in her sleep. The boy on the other hand..... once he's out he doesn't move. I feel asleep with him at Wanee when he was 18 months old, he was in the the same exact position that he fell asleep in the AM.
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Rjhdog
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 11:02 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

Always park on on incline so kids can't fall out of top bunk easily.


We use a small travel sized pack n play made by gracco. Fits nicely in weekender interior.
I have shots of it here and there if you search the forum. Cheers
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krisswanberg
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2016 5:19 pm    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

Thanks everyone for the advice! I think I'll try the fold down bed rails and mini pack 'n play!
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buspor63
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 5:24 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

VWinVT wrote:
Terry Kay wrote:
Playpen midships.


Yup, that's what we did.


Yup, thats what we did too. You probably already have one. It does get more complicated if you wind up with a toddler and an infant though.
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:13 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

When the girls were little I had a wide lightweight board that fit across the opening. It blocked about 1/3 of the opening and had cross-peices to position it in the middle. They could still get up & down with added effort but would be difficult to fall past. And we could pop a head up or they stuck their heads down thtu the gap. Later on when we thought they no longer needed it, one girl (who scoots around in her sleep) fell out!!! Shocked Shocked Shocked I suppose she was about 5. Luckily there was a cooler there, reducing the fall distance. She wasn't hurt, her mom was closer to crying I think. I counted the lucky stars.... Shocked

One thing I did was add a handhold strap to the poptop strut. It gave them a focal point to grab onto climbing up or down. It's still there, I can't bring myself to take it off.

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VWinVT
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 27, 2016 7:22 am    Post subject: Re: Camping with a baby in a Vanagon- advice please! Reply with quote

^^^

OP...Do your self and your kids a favor. Take the time to build a upper bed extension that covers 85% of the opening. It the real only way to be sure they wont fall out. A head injury/traumatic brain injury is forever. Do it.

It stores.perfectly behind the folded potion in the upper bunk, drop the top and done. Do it.
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