Please help me sleep!

[LuP]

Dear All

Lovely MNers. I really need your help. We're off camping as a family for the first time this summer and I'm REALLY looking forward to it.

We did a trial run a couple of weeks ago and I had possibly the worst night's sleep of my life, ending up vacating our double cheapo airbed and sleeping on a cot mattress in the main part of our tent. Horrific.

So... we've bought a Coleman comfort double air bed with twin chambers and put it on our bed base to sleep on last night. DH slept brilliantly, I ended up the spare room at 3am.

I can't afford a fat airic or a thermarest so what do I do to make sure I can sleep? I just feel achy and uncomfortable on the airbed and can't work out how best to pad it a bit.

Sorry for the ramble, TIA.

Lu

I am braving 2 weeks under canvas soon and I am pg so I feel your pain.

The answer might be layering. On my side of the bed I am going to have: karrimat (v cheap), single thermarest, double thermarest (DH will be on the other half of it), thick blanket, fitted sheet. Thermarests are expensive though - we're lucky cos ours was donated from my mum. Do you think it might be more comfortable with a karrimat underneath the airbed and a thick blanket and proper sheet over the top?

BTW I am also taking 2 pillows and the duvet with us, no sleeping bags here

I am with you. Best night so far (though not amazing) has been on a £4.49 camp mat + sleeping bag. Airbeds don't really work for me...

Argos have a few cheapy camping mats. Thinking might try camp mat + duvet on top next.

Having just come back from my first UK camping trip, I would also recommend trying some earplugs. We had two single airbeds, with a double fitted sheet to hold them together and put an opened-out sleeping bag with the inset uppermost between the airbeds and the sheet. We also had pillows and a duvet and were snug and comfy.

Sorry, I mean inside uppermost. The softest bit.

We gave up on double airbeds now have singles, I always sleep terribly the first night by the second I am so tired I will sleep through anything. Have you tried a camp bed (the type thats off the ground never tried one myself). I also find I do not sleep to well in the sleeping bag as I can't turn and end up really stiff so I unzip, I lay on a nice fleecy blanket.

Everyone else in the family sleep fantastically camping I have resigned to the fact that I don't, and get used to being tired.

I put one of those quilted matress covers ov the airbed, then a fitted sheet, then half my blanket, then I get in my lovely [new] coleman 4 season sleeping bag and have the rest of the blanket next to me on the floor just in case. COZEEE!!
Without all that lot I lie awake thinking how much my hips and back are hurting.

Wine ..lots of

Oh yeah and if you don't do wine, try piriton it works the same!!

We bought those army camp beds to put the sleeping bags on, much better than the air bed, also home comforts like pillow help as well.
Wine no use for me as would then need to pee more times in the night than I already do.

its the smell of the airbeds i suffered with last week so i need some vicks for this weekend to avert the niff.

You are all marvellous, thank you. I think the solution is a mattress topper of some sort that I can sink into a bit.

I'd love wine to be the answer, it normally is, but the fear of a 5.30am start with a hangover is too great...

wine isnt the answer as it just makes you want to pee in the night - or is that just me with my piss poor bladder control?

Yeah and staggering across a pitch black campsite, drunk in yer jarmas in the rain probably isn't a great idea LOL

No way I could camp without wine ..take a bucket

What do you have at home? I haven't tried it, but I've heard people say a sheepskin rug under the sheet is great (and good insulation). Otherwise, perhaps a duvet inner over the airbed, covered with a fitted sheet?

I'm a Fat Airic girl - or more recently, double airbed topped with FA's, then fitted sheet. I'm such a camping wuss, but it was great!