What age for bunk beds?

[SFM]

At what age are bunk beds safe? I have a five year old (very cautious DD) and a 3 year old DD. Thoughts? I worry about her falling off.

[sewingmama]

I'm about to buy bunks for my kids. The 3 yo will be sleeping on the bottom. Kids can have accidents at any age..you just need to make the decision as too when you think they are mature enough to follow the rules.

 

FWIW the manufacturers in Australia advise 9 yo minimum but if you need the space you need the space. I think 5-6 is old enough if they can be responsible.

 

[Butter]

We've had bunk beds for a year and a half, but the 6 and 4 year olds share the bottom bunk (11 year old has the top bunk). The 6 year old is actually too afraid to go on the top bunk. The 4 year old is not allowed up there. I would let the 6 year old sleep up there if he wanted to. He is very cautious. Definitely not the 4 year old.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

We had bunk beds when mine were about 3 and 6. They switched when they wanted. Our ceilings here are too low with ceiling fans so we got rid of it.

[PentecostalMom]

We have bunk beds with my two little dd's. We did get the kind with a staircase instead of a ladder. Even my little ds can climb up and down with ease and I don't have to worry about any of them falling off. Oh, we got them when they were six and two.

[Greenmama2]

Mine are six & three. Three year old is on the bottom. Ours has high safety rails all around the top with just a small gap for the ladder. It looks more like a cot/crib up there & there isn't really any way they could fall out. DD actually took a long time to sleep up there because it felt like a cage to her.

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[beaners]

We have an IKEA Kura bed, which is shorter than most bunkbeds. My 5 year old sleeps on the top, and her 4 year old sister naps there often.

[Ravin]

We got one when DD was 6, it's a full/twin, DD sleeps on top and DS sleeps on bottom, cosleepiing with me. There's a good sized railing around the bed so DD can't fall off, and she's never been inclined to play up there.

[MomtoCandJ]

DB and I had bunk beds when i was 5 and he was 3. I had top bunk with safety rails all the way around, DB had bottom with safety rails.

[TrulySusan]

I think a lot of the safety depends on the personality of your kids. We got bunk beds for our sons when they were around 2 and 4. The 4 y/o was calm and cautious and we put him on top with no worries. The rails make it nearly impossible to fall off. The 2 y/0 wild child was put in the bottom bunk. He broke his leg (tiny fracture but did require a cast) the day after we put up the bunk beds. He didn't fall, he jumped from the ladder! We didn't take the beds down and never had another problem after that.

[gardenmom5]

It depends upon sleep awareness and coordination. 2dd was in the top bunk before she was two. 1dd wasn't ready for it. I swear this kid was a tightrope walker in another life. she was more coordinated than her big sister. we did have a guard rail and a ladder (which she didn't use.). she climbed up and down the footboards. - actually she taught her 4 1/2 year old sister how to climb up and down. I watched her climb down once (she'd done it many times) . . . . . she put her hands on the footboard and threw herself over. (and boy did she have a gleam in her eye while she did it!). dropped and felt for a foothold then finished climbing down. I think the only reason she hasn't taken up rock climbing is she's a broke grad student.

[MFA323]

I thought that we got them a little young, but it looks like we were about average for this board. We started using ours when DDs were 5 and 3. We actually got them when DDs were 4 and 2, but we set them up in a corner with the ladder end against the wall since we didn't want anyone on the top bunk. We moved the kids into them when we learned that DD was scaling the end of the bed without a ladder and playing on the top bunk anyway. A 5yo is old enough to understand that she doesn't want to fall from that height. As for sleeping, just get one with a rail that goes all the way across.

[SKL]

When I was in the market, the advice was minimum 6yo on the top bunk. I ignored the advice, but it didn't matter, as my kids (now 6) still prefer to sleep together on the bottom bunk. :) I use the top bunk for toys.

[Kathryn]

Ours moved in together when the older was three months shy of seven and the younger was one month shy of three. After a week, we put the beds together as bunk beds. Older is on top. It's been nine months and no issues yet.

[Garga]

The bunk beds we bought read "7 years old" on the side. So we waited until they were 7 years old.

[xixstar]

We have 4 and 2 in ours. The 4yo was in a tall captains bed from age 2 and is very cautious. We went over the safety rules and review them monthly still. She isn't adventurous and very reserved in the safety department so I havebeen comfortable.

 

The other rule way the 2yo was not allowed up there. Amazingly she followed that rule very well for a year. Now I find her up there occasionally at age 3 and we reiterate the rules and also address safety too.

 

We have been happy with them.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

I put my boys in bunk beds when they were 4.5(?) & 2. We kept the old beds in the room for a few nights to give ds#1 a chance to get used to the upper bunk before saying he HAD to sleep up there. We also got cool removable wall stickers (a solar system and rocket ships) and put them up on the wall as incentive and interest to go up the ladder in the first place. It worked out fine and after a few days he was completely comfortable going up and down, even in the early morning lack of light. Be aware, however, that the little one is going to want to go where the big sibling goes, and ds#2 learned to climb that ladder when he was 2 1/2.

[Tammi K]

3 and 6. No one has ever fallen off accidentally. (There have been quite a few illicit 'accidents' that were certainly quite on purpose.)

[Miss Tick]

We got ours when they were 4.5 and needed their own beds. We were clesr about the safety concerns and never had problems. Of course younger dd loved the challenge of climbing the ladder as soon as she could reach. That felt dicey for a while but we made it through without injury.

 

I do know of a 9yo who recently sustained a compound fracture to his arm exiting the top bunk in an unapproved manner. It all depends on your kids and your gut.

[Luanne]

I have heard age 6. I am not a good one to ask though. I fell out of the top bunk of a bed when I was 8 and it was a long time before I would sleep in the top bunk again. As a matter of fact, when our 6th grade class went to Eco-Week, I was almost 12 and still wouldn't sleep on the top bunk. My daughter wouldn't even stay in a regular bed without falling out until she was about 9.

[Starr]

I fell off the top bunk when I was 9. It had a half or three quarter rail. I moved so I wouldn't bother the cats and found myself on the floor. :tongue_smilie: I like the idea of a full railing.

[LucyStoner]

We did ages 3 and 8 with the 8 year old on the top bunk. We didn't need them earlier (we only have 2 kids and prior to the bunk bed the 3 year old was in a crib or co-sleeping.) I would have been comfortable with my oldest on a top bunk at about age 6.

[SKL]

I agree that it depends on the kid. My eldest sleeps like a log, so I don't worry about her accidentally rolling out (and I do have a railing up there). My sisters, however, probably would not be here if they had a bunk bed, LOL. For that matter, my bigger sister used to kick me out of the bed regularly. I'm pretty sure she was more active in her sleep than when she was awake. So beware of putting a "wiggle worm" on the top bunk. ... The other joyous aspect of top bunk sleeping is that they can't always get down in time to puke in the toilet. (My brothers had bunk beds....) So you might want to adjust sleeping arrangements if someone is sick. Cleaning puke off multiple levels of bed doesn't sound like fun at all.