Anyone taken a motorhome holiday with a toddler?

[toddlerbob]

We live in NZ and motorhomes are really cheap to rent at this time of year and it's something I've always wanted to do. Ds has allergies and so this is a really good way of making sure he doesn't get sick miles from a hospital. I got all excited and then dh started worrying about the following:

Where would ds (15 months old)sleep? There are two beds, both smallish doubles. One where the table is during the day, so if he slept there we would have nowhere to go from 7pm onwards. The other is up high and therefore not suitable.

Would ds mind being so far away when we were driving? From what I could tell he would be all the way down the back.

How practical are campsites when your kid doesn't walk?

Anyone done it and want to share?

Anyone?

Hi, dont own a motorhome, but store loads for people and also have a campsite so can only comment on what I see!

Firstly I think its a great family adventure where your all in together, very much like camping, but with a few more comforts..!
As such, different family rules apply from home, ie bedtimes and routines are going to be different, yours and your sons..

Remember you have a whole pitch, not just the motorhome..A kids tent surrounded by wind breaks should keep your ds happy and contained for ages.

As far as driving is concerned your son will get used to his seat, wherever it is. You could go in the back as well? Start as you mean to continue.

The outside life will probably mean ds will need more sleep than at home.. and go to sleep faster!

You will probably find you end up going to sleep and rising earlier than at home.

Try and choose your sites carefully, look for a family bathroom if your son does not like showers.

Good luck!

Yes!!

Last summer we took a motorhome through the Rockies in Canada with dd1 (then 3.5 yrs) and ds (18 months) It was fab!!! There was also me (5 months pg at the time), dh, his brother and SIL.

It was a fab experience. We had a travel cot and put it up in the camper at bedtime - either in the extra bedroom where BIL & SIL were sleeping(ours was a massive camper) or on the 'table space' bed and we just spent the evening outdoors as the weather was good. Being outdoors for so much of the time was fab, and the kids were really excited abou tthe house on wheels.

We took it in turns to sit in the back of the camper with the children, and once we sat dd1 up the front in her seat and she loved it.

The up-high bed is where dh and I slept, with dd1 across our feet and ds in the cot on the table - slept fine. Our camper also had a toilet which was nice in the middle of a pitch dark campsite in the Rockies where I was convinced I was going to be Bear food!

We didn't worry about bathing the children, we washed them down some days and other days went swimming either in a lake or a pool. One evening we gave ds a bath in the sinks in the shower block to the gentle amusement of all the older ladies who came in!!

Ds had only been walking a month at this stage and was still quite unsteady. But as he had big patches on the knees of almost all his trousers from crawling around outside at home I just let him crawl around the sites liek at home if he wanted to. The grassy bits were pretty soft anyway. We managed to borrow a 3-wheeler buggy and took our backpack too which were good for trips to the shower block as well as for walking through the day.

It has to be said this is one of the best holidays we have ever had and we are considering doing it all again next year as part of a longer sabbatical break dh is hoping to take. A camper will certainly feature again, and this time we will have 3 kids!

Susanmt, that just sounds so lovely. It will be winter here, so that's my main concern I guess. I will ring the camper van people up and see what people normally do about sleeping little ones.

If its winter dont forget the sledge, our toddlers love to be pulled about for hours!!

We have a VW campervan (so quite small) and often go with our babies/toddlers. There was no room for a travelcot but what we did at that age is put them to sleep in their car seat on the front seat, or in a buggy just outside or in an awning, then when we go to bed we transferred them inside to the proper bed. It worked well.

When we had two toddlers (there's a 17 month gap between my first two dds) we slept one with each (our van has a double bed "upstairs" and a double bed made from the day seats downstairs. that worked well too (though not if you want lots of sex, obviously).

our dds did sometimes not want to go to sleep, it was too exciting, so pushing them around in the buggy could help with that.

We also take them in cold weather (Uk spring and autumn), it's fine, just make sure you have wellies, lots of fleece clothes and a waterproof all-in-one and the toddler can crawl around in the damp grass quite happily. Camper vans can be very warm and snug inside in winter.

Where are you going? I went camping in various places in NZ but that was before having kids. Most of the campsites we stayed on there had common rooms and kitchens, which is rare in the UK but would make life a lot easier if it rains. or are you camping rough?