Campervans- how do you transport a baby? Do carseats fit?

[ILikeYourSleeves]

Today we had a sudden urge to buy a campervan, been thinking about it for a while but we went to a campervan dealer and fell in love with the idea! Seriously thinking of it now but how on earth do you transport your baby? We have a 10 month old DS and will hopefully have more DC's within the lifetime of the van. Can standard carseats fit? Would DS have to fit in the front seat or could you get a seatbelt fitted elsewhere in the van? And is it safe for babies to be driven in? Thanks!

We travelled in a camper (Elnagh Marlin 65G)for 9 months with dd ( 4) and ds( 18 months).... make sure that it has a normal adult 3 point belt and put the seat in as normal.

Have fun, we did

Would DS just go in the front passenger seat then? The model we are looking at doesn't have any seatbelts in the back and I don't think you can get a 3 point harness fitted in the back either, so we are a bit worried that we won't be able to use the van if we have any more kids How do you transport >1 baby?

As long as you have a 3 point harness it's the same fit as a car for any sort of child seat.

We only have a 3 point harness in the front of our van so dd rides shotgun

It is entirely possible to fit 3 point harnesses in the back of most vans. We are intending to fit at least one so we can carry passengers legally and dd can have a choice of where to sit. At present we only have one lap belt on the back bench seat.

Check out a few of the VeeDub forums, Just Kampers etc for more information on fitting 3 point belts in the rear.

Not sure what sort of van you've got, but we bought a VW bay window camper earlier this year that didn't have any seatbelts (well it had lap belts, so pretty useless)
We bought seatbelts from Justkampers.com for £40 each and fitted them ourselves, it was really easy and the holes to screw the fittings in were already there.
I am assuming at 10 months he will be in a forward facing seat now? (sorry can't remember what age they go up to forward acing seats).
We have fitted a maxicosi seat and a mamas and papas one in the back of ours with the new belts no problem.

by the way, meant to say, we fitted these in the back so they sit on the bench seat, which is effectively the bed...I sit up front, at 7 month pregnant, I refuse to sit in the back anymore

By law, if there aren't any REAR seatbelts, then you don't have to have a carseat!! See following link: www.dft.gov.uk/think/focusareas/children/childincar?page=Overview point 4.

Dh converts campers and puts seatbelts in the back. Dd goes in there in her normal car seat no problem.

What sort of van are you looking for, we have a couple for sale?

I can thoroughly recommend it, we love our camper and have used it loads this year.