Preventing young children from falling out of bed

How to avoid night time mishaps

As any parent will know, young children - especially toddlers - are quite mobile in their slumber. Within the confines of a caravan where beds are narrower and there isn't room for a travel cot, it can be a little worrying.

Keeping little ones tucked safely in bed for the duration of the night is something many of our forum members have had practice. Below are just some of their tips and comments.

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Lin and Steve: My sons daughter is just two and the thin mattresses the lower bed has makes a bed rail not really an option. We did think of shower curtain poles to fit both sides of the van with some netting attached...in a frame but wonder if any of you have a better solution?

NewRangerFamily: If you've got something solid at each end of the bed how about getting a long piece of foam about 4" x 4" and slitting it open to insert one of those shower poles that lock when twisted so that you've got a buffer...just a thought!

SEPS: You could try something like this Tomy bed guard. I think it just tucks under the mattress (or cushions), you can often get cheap ones second hand on ebay etc. A more expensive, but permanent option is this Bunk satefy net. We had (still have at 8 years old) a son who is a very active sleeper, he often fell out of the bottom bunk. Tried a number of safe guards...often you will have curtains around a bunk that you can tuck under the cushions, or put a blanket over the sleeping bag and tuck under - in the end just gave up and put a few spare cushions on the floor next to the bed - if he fell out at least he had a soft landing! Found him fast asleep in the bottom of his sleeping bag on the floor on several occasions.

Jacqui F-J: We use a bed guard similiar to the Tomy one for our 2 year old and this seems to work fine. I think it was manufactured by Safety 1st but I can't remember for sure.

SBS: Try caravanparts.net. They had some bunk nets.

You can discuss this topic on the Caravan Talk forum or if you wish to contribute to this article or provide feedback please email us.