Sleeper trains and babies

[teff]

We're going by train to Inverness this summer and would like to take the sleeper.Our DS will be 11m then and I'd like to know of people's experiences of travelling by sleeper with a lo. We co-sleep anyway so I'm planning to have him in a bunk with me. Good idea or worst night of our lives?

www.seat61.com may have some suggestions. i know the man who runs the site has written articles for The Guardian etc re travelling with his young child... I think he once mentioned a pop up travel cot which fits between the 2 bunks. I've no experience of travelling with children but lots of experience of sleeper trains - imo the bunk wouldn't be wide enough for an adult and a baby.

Ooh, just checked the above-mentioned site. Looks like a book is to be published soon which may have info on travelling with children...

Thank you. That looks a good site. Does anyone else have any experience?

I haven't done it with a child, but agree the bunks are very narrow. You might just about be able to co-sleep if you are very skinny, I suppose, but I wouldn't bank on it.

I caught a sleeper train from Prague to Thessaloniki and then onto Istanbul (three nights altogether) when my baby was three months old. I co-slept with him against the wall and my arm wrapped around him. It was quite a tight squeeze, and I'm quite small, but I don't know what Scottish trains are like. Good luck and don't forget to take plenty of supplies and don't expect to get the best night's sleep. Still it was a great adventure and hopefully you lo is a better sleeper than mine.

We've just travelled to Florence and back with 2 small dds (aged 3 and 1) it was great. We booked a double berth sleeper and had one child each. The beds were same width as single bed, made up properly with clean linen and blankets. We did take a samsonite bubble with us, but in the first train, there wasn't enough space, and the beds were wide enough to co-sleep. Although neither dh or I had a solid night sleep, girls slept great and we really enjoyed it.
Would def do it again - loads better than flying. But make sure to book a sleeper and not a couchette (much cheaper) as they are really narrow and the top ones are high. You'll also have other people in your carriage.

Thank you for your encouraging stories. We've sadly just booked flights to Inverness (boo hiss.) It's hard to be ethical when it's three times the price. But next summer will be different; Southern Europe by train sounds great.

I have took DS on a sleeper when he was 2 and we co slept head to toe IYSWIM. It gave me full bed width for my shoulders, have to say didn't get a fiull nights sleep but not too bad. Since then we have done several sleeper journeys in Europe with DS in his own berth and he loves it (and sleeps really well).