Sleeping arrangements when tenting?

[curiouscanadian]

When you go tenting with your toddler, what are your sleeping arrangements?

I had one mom tell me her 2.5 yo slept in a playpen in their tent, but we'd need to upsize to a MUCH larger tent for that to work.

While we don't normally co-sleep, I was considering it but can't see how it would work with a mummy-type sleeping bag.

We have a queen-size air matress that fits in the tent we have now and I'm pretty sure we could all sleep on it with DS in the middle, but do I get him a full-size sleeping bag for himself or what? I just can't quite sort this out and we're supposed to be going camping in a couple weeks!

(Oh, and I'd really like to try and avoid shelling out a whole bunch of $$$ for a new tent this season if at all possible. The tent we have is a three-person tent ... so acutally fits two adults comfortably, lol!)

[Marsupialmom]

We did not use mummy bags. We made a mat on the floor each had their own blanket but these blankets were large enough to cover at least 2 people.

It can drop and night. If each has their own blanket they can control how much. If it gets to cold 2 people snuggled together under 2 blankets than 1 person in a mummybag. Especially if one of them are small.

[Limabean1975]

We don't use sleeping bags when we camp. If it's cold, a nice thick blanket under us (on the air mattress), then blankets on top, and of course warm clothes.
I don't know about an air mattress with a little one between you though - I guess it depends on everyone's sizes. When DH and I used to sleep on an air mattress together, I tended to get kind of rolled into him & squished since he was nearly 2 1/2 times my weight.

[notneb]

We usually just unzip a full sized sleeping bag and sleep on it with the kid(s) between DH and me, and another unzipped sleeping bag or blanket on top. We live in FL, though. I'm not sure what we would do if camping where it was very cold at night.

[Red Pajama]

I would not try to share an air mattress with two adults and a toddler, because of the rolling/squishing aspects for the lightest member. I also wouldn't get a sleeping bag yet. I might borrow one, but not purchase. You might find a big blanket works as well.

I put my toddler next to me in her own blanket when we camp. I stay with her until she's sleeping, rejoining her when we're ready for bed ourselves.

[mtm]

we do one sleeping bag opened under us, one over us. I sleep with my dd (2) and my dh sleeps in the other tent with my older boys. Have fun!

[starling&diesel]

We have two four-inch foamies that we roll out horizontal (if that makes sense). That means that our upper bodies are all on one, and our lower bodies are all on the other. We got them at an outdoor surplus store, for about thirty dollars each, but MAN are they ever worth it!
They are super comfortable, and we sleep just as at home, with our toddler between us. We use blankets, and not bags.

[Everrgreen]

I am going camping next weekend with my son (he'll turn 18 months while we're there!) and I bought a 4" foam pad which I will make up with sheets and blankets. I was unsure about using an air mattress because I figured he would just be rolling into me all night.

Starling - I'm glad to hear you like your foam mattress. I bought a double size one and it was about $60, I figure it will be a good investment

[greenmamapagan]

Originally Posted by starling&diesel

We have two four-inch foamies that we roll out horizontal (if that makes sense). That means that our upper bodies are all on one, and our lower bodies are all on the other. We got them at an outdoor surplus store, for about thirty dollars each, but MAN are they ever worth it!
They are super comfortable, and we sleep just as at home, with our toddler between us. We use blankets, and not bags.

This. We use roll out mats horizontally, a polar fleece blanket under us and unzipped sleeping bags (possibly plus a blanket if it's cold) on top. We've camped this way with just DD and also with 3 year old DD and DS who was 5 months. Still very comfortable with four of us. The other advantage is that if the temp does drop overnight you can easily rearrange to have the two littlies in the middle & the adults keeping them warm.

[butterfly_mommy]

We have 3 self inflating sleep mats that are about 4 inches thick with straps that couple them together. Then we use our feather matress on top of the mats and a light feather duvet on top with our feather pillows. I love it! Last year DS sleep on the outside mat with his sheep skin on top of it and him in a sleep bag. Our feather bed is the size of a double so it is just a bit bigger then two mats but too small for the 3 mats. This year I want to figure out a comfy way for him to DS to sleep between us as we are camping for 8 nights and I like to be comfy!

[verde]

When we tent we use a futon and sheets and blankets. DD sleeps between us just like she does at home.

[mckittre]

We've done quite a bit of backpacking with my 17 month old. We put him in between us like at home, with thermarest inflatable mattresses underneath (just 2, but we can squish the 3 of us fine onto the two mats - two mats horizontal also sounds like a good idea). We sleep in a modified extra big sleeping bag that's basically the same as having a big quilt on top of the three of us. Haven't found any squishing issues with the inflatable pads, but these are the extra-light ones, so there's not a lot of air or thickness there in the first place.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

we got ds his own sleeping bag at Target for like $20, but I don't plan on doing any freezing cold camping in the near future, so its not a particularly nice bag. Although the night we bought it and camped (bc we didn't get it until the day we were going) it went down to 30degrees!

Anyway we have a queen size air mattress for us and then ds sleeps on another mat next to us (smaller than a twin) and sometimes comes up in bed in the night/morning sometimes not.

When its cold I usually end up cuddling him, but when its warm he stays on the other mat

[Arduinna]

We always cosleeped when we camped when dd was little. Depending on weather it was either 2 regular sleeping bags zipped together or one unzipped on the bottom with sheets and blankets on top as needed.

[curiouscanadian]

Thanks for all the replies!

I would not try to share an air mattress with two adults and a toddler, because of the rolling/squishing aspects for the lightest member.

I hadn't considered this, so thanks for the reminder. DH & I are pretty evenly weighted, but I think DH would still be concerned about DS rolling into him. The full queen air matress is a pain, so it'll be nicer to go with our thermarests anyway.

We put him in between us like at home, with thermarest inflatable mattresses underneath (just 2, but we can squish the 3 of us fine onto the two mats - two mats horizontal also sounds like a good idea).

Does the person in the middle not just end up on the ground? Our tent is rectangluar and DH is tall, so I don't think the two mats horizontal would work for us...

[mckittre]

Does the person in the middle not just end up on the ground? Our tent is rectangluar and DH is tall, so I don't think the two mats horizontal would work for us...

The person in the middle is the toddler. He ends up a little bit on the ground sometimes, but we always put some extra clothes underneath, and he's so light he never seems to notice whether he has as much padding or not.

[allical1284]

Originally Posted by starling&diesel

We have two four-inch foamies that we roll out horizontal (if that makes sense). That means that our upper bodies are all on one, and our lower bodies are all on the other. We got them at an outdoor surplus store, for about thirty dollars each, but MAN are they ever worth it!
They are super comfortable, and we sleep just as at home, with our toddler between us. We use blankets, and not bags.

Exactly this set-up for us as well! We went on a 3-week primitive camping adventure throughout the western U.S. with DD about a month ago, and we had a blast!! Hope you have a great time!

[jocelyndale]

We don't camp when the temp drops below 50F with DS. If we did, we wouldn't use an air mattress (hypothermia concerns).

We've slept with him on a Coleman airmattress since he was 7mo or so, but I'd not do it again with a kid that young as I didn't sleep well (worried about the divots in the air mattress, plus I screwed up my shoulder by sleeping with it under my head while sidelying). Anyhow, we've slept on it a lot since then with no problems.

We zip together two adult bags (not mummy bags) into a double sleeping bag. Kiddo hates blankets, so he ends up sleeping on top of the bag, between us. If it's chilly at night, we put him in footie pajamas. I recommend a crib pad (flannel, wool) because pee soaked sleeping bags are horrible. We have a sewn together sheet set we use as a liner sometimes.

We now have self inflating mattresses. We don't have the straps to keep them together, so kiddo tends to sleep on the ground between us as the mattress shift through the night. I've thought about buying a short pad for him, but we like how it keeps him contained (3yo). He sleeps atop the bag, between us.

Before DS started STTN, I couldn't sleep on the thin pads. I needed an air mattress because of the frequent nursing. My hips and sciatica would keep me immobile the next day if I slept on a thinner pad or thermarest.

[LuminosaJane]

We just got a double sleeping bag recently and it worked great. We figure we could use it for ourselves when dd wants her own bag.

[Magali]

I don't find it very comfortable sharing a queen air matress with 3 people. I guess it depends on the matress though. We had a king size that was close to the ground and the queen version of that would have probably been ok. The air matresses we have now are the ones that are high off the ground and they are the worst for dipping in the middle etc... If we were going to sleep all three on one matress, I think the best would be to take 2 sleeping bags and zip them together so that 3 could fit inside. Is there any room at all for you to make a tiny soft bed on the floor for your ds? Or slip in a twin matress? Also when we were camping as kids with mom and dad, we never even used air matresses. We had these thin blue pads, I think they were called aerolite or something like that.