The best way to stop a child from falling out of a bunk, is to put up netting that has rope on the top to restrict the amount it will stretch. For babies you can also add two ropes that connect to the top bunk for added tightness.
Things to think about when making a safety net
Before you start making or looking around for your netting to cover the bunk, you should put some thought into how this space is going to be used and who needs to be able to open the netting.
- How old is the child and do they need to be able to open the netting themselves?
- Our eldest son only really needs the netting to stop him from falling out during the night when he rolls around. Other than that, he is old enough to independently get in and out of his bunk so he needs to be able to open the netting on his own.
- How tall do you need to make the netting?
- Our youngest has just started crawling, so we need to make the netting a lot taller for his bunk because he is still not aware that he can fall out if he leans on top of the netting. Our eldest sons’ isn’t as tall because he knows not to lean on the top.
- Are you able to fix the netting with screws or stick it on?
- As our caravan is brand new we were reluctant to screw anything into the walls. However, we quickly found that because our youngest puts all his body weight onto the netting we had to screw his netting in to be strong enough. We were able to just use sticky pads for our eldest.
We had a look around Pinterest and online to find different solutions but didn’t really come up with the best solution that suited both boys needs. We found a cargo net that it used for the boot of a car to store things behind and were happy to see that it fit the bunk beds space really well. I will break it down into the two spaces. One that is suited for our 8 month old baby who is just crawling and moving around and the other into our older sons space who is 2.5 years old.
Babies
Although, our youngest had the bottom bunk we still found it hard to make this area work. We had initially just used a thick piece of cardboard which worked before he started crawling. Then when he started crawling we added the cargo net which worked until he started being able to pull himself up onto things.
We had an unfortunate event where he was playing in his bunk and managed to lean up on the cargo which just gave way and he fell out onto the floor. He’s fine but we knew it was time to add something else at the top of the net to stop it giving way as much.
We added a firm piece of rope at the top of the cargo net which has so far stopped him falling out as the rope at the top stops the net from bending down as much.
We had also initially used really strong double-sided tape to stick down the ends, however, this didn’t work for our youngest because he would lean up on the rope with all of his body weight and it was too much for the tape. We then screwed the ends in which has so far been flawless.
The set-up of the bunks worked out perfectly for us because we wanted the net to be taller for the baby’s bed. As our bunks have the ladder going up one side we were able to connect the rope to the ladder there for not having to pull it as tight to fit the whole way across leaving it taller.
Toddlers
As anyone knows who has had a very independent toddler. It was very important that he was still able to independently climb in and out of his bed ‘on his own’. This was a major factor we had to consider when making the safety net.
We didn’t need the netting to be as tall as the bottom bunk because he was old enough to know not to lean on the netting. It was purely there to stop him falling out at night when he rolled around. We did end up putting the rope on the top of his as well because we found it worked great for us at night as it glowed in the dark and was easier to get our bearings’
We made an easy loop and taught our son how to put his hand around the wall and unloop the rope off the hook. He is then able to climb over the fallen netting and climb down himself.
The net didn’t end up being as tall as the bottom bunk because it had to stretch the whole way across the bunk. This worked in our favour because our toddler didn’t feel like he was trapped. It was tall enough to be able to stop him if he rolled onto it at night.
Other Ideas for Bunk Safety
We have seen around on Pinterest a few other ideas that we liked but didn’t think they were right for us either for the boys’ particular ages or our caravan set up.
Kid Gate
This would be a great idea if you had the perfect size space. The kid gates are not as friendly to cut down and make the fit perfect. I also find they really overwhelming and kind of makes me feel like I have put my child in jail.
Pool Noodle
This will be something we try when our boys are a bit bigger and don’t need as much protection from falling out. I saw this great idea where you tape three pool noodles together and they form a triangle. You then put the noodles under the fitted sheet and it acts as a wall.
Fly Netting
This I thought was also a great idea it would definitely stop anyone from falling out. However, it would not have worked for us as we had the ladder to the top bunk to consider. I also didn’t think it looked very appealing to the eye.
Bunk Net / Cargo Net
We came across these nets that you can buy online which looked like they would do the job for both the toddler and baby. However, our toddler would have lost his independence as I couldn’t see him being able to undo the clips on his own.
PVC Bunk Rail
The idea of making up a railing using PVC piping did cross our minds. We would have had the flexibility to cut and custom design the railing to fit each boys bed perfectly. We decided to not use this idea for a few reasons. If we had the PVC we would have to leave a gap for to get in and out and the way our toddler rolls around we didn’t want to chance having even a small gap he could fall out. This was the same with the baby. As he is very active he would find the gap and fall out as he still needs full side protection.
Cot Bumper
Our first thoughts were that we were going to just use the bumper our toddler is using now for his crib. However, when we went to put it in the caravan we realized that the weights used to stop it falling over needed to hang down. Which in a caravan is imposable as it’s a flatbed, without any slates to push it through.
The best cot safety rail we have found for us and our particular caravan was the cargo netting. It worked for both of our boys and their different ages. We were able to screw it in nicely to the bed. Adding the tight rope was great because it stopped the netting from being to lose when weight was put on it. As an extra bonus the rope we used was glow in the dark so has been great for when we need to find out way to the boys’ beds at night. I have added some of the other ideas we came across when looking for ideas. Although they might not have worked for us, they are still all really good ideas and might work better for your specific needs and caravans.
Thank you for reading
Happy Caravanning
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