making bunk beds safer?

[LucyStoner]

Definitely use a low profile mattress designed to be used in top bunks. I recall reading that many parents don't follow this rule, just recycle the standard or deep mattress they already had and it makes the railing too easy to roll completely over. It also makes the bed overly attractive for bouncing/jumping. The bunk bed mattresses are not especially expensive.

[The Governess]

What about putting the crib in the closet, getting the low bunk bed set, and then getting something like this that you can pull out as needed for you and the baby: https://www.walmart.com/ip/your-zone-flip-chair-Multiple-Colors/14931613

[Lori D.]

...

Edited September 12, 2016 by Lori D.

[Okra]

 

 

I'm thinking a "one kid at a time in the top bunk" rule will have to prevail. They are both fair well behaved individually, but can get crazy together. 

 

This is a good rule.  The only time we had a problem is when one child got pushed off the top of the bunkbed.

 

Honestly, I think with rails, it is very hard to roll off while sleeping.

 

We had a bunkbed with a vertical ladder that hooks that held it on.  The ladder was removeable.  If I was in your situation with a baby sharing the room and a ceramic tile floor, I would be inclined to NOT put the ladder on the bunk bed.  (I know that sounds weird doesn't it?)  But, any of my seven year olds would have been able to monkey up to the top without a problem. And, this would prevent a baby from getting into a dangerous situation.

[EmilyGF]

We always take the ladder off so that only kids who are big enough to climb up without a ladder can get in.

 

(But we had a kid figure out how to climb to the top bunk at 2; he also learned to ride  two-wheeler at  exactly 2.5 yrs. Sigh.)

 

Emily

[Selkie]

We've never had bunkbeds for our kids, but my husband fell off one as a child and broke his collarbone.  Also, our family doctor (who has since retired) used to warn parents against bunkbeds because he had seen so many kids get injured over the years. 

[Ravin]

I haven't read the whole thread, just part of the first page:

 

1. Ignore people who talk about age. My DD shared a room with her brother (and me, at least for sleeping, because I coslept with DS) until she was 12. Was it ideal? No. But it wasn't unreasonable, either.

 

2. Can you keep the crib in your room? If you do that, it defers the issue at least until the new baby is out of crib size.

 

3. Another option is to put a trundle under YOUR bed, to bring out for the baby to sleep on (and you when needed).

 

[ktgrok]

Also, if we do the crib in the closet, I could put a trundle under one of the twin beds, maybe...for me. 

[rjand6more]

We used a trundle at those ages(still do for the 8 and 5 year old.)  You do not need much room and I never roll the bed out completely.  As for the bed not being on "display"-just get a cute chair for him to sit on.

[Plateau Mama]

I haven't read all the responses but here is what e did. When the older was awake for the day we removed the ladder so the younger couldn't climb up.

 

We also have a one kid allowed on the bunk at a time rule.

[Jen500]

We bought an Ikea Kura for my son when he was younger. It's nice (not as high as a traditional bunk, has the space underneath), but what he didn't like was:

1-the recommended mattress felt too thin and uncomfortable for him

2- he rolled around a lot at night, and his legs and arms hitting the sides of the bed made a loud noise

[ktgrok]

We bought an Ikea Kura for my son when he was younger. It's nice (not as high as a traditional bunk, has the space underneath), but what he didn't like was:

1-the recommended mattress felt too thin and uncomfortable for him

2- he rolled around a lot at night, and his legs and arms hitting the sides of the bed made a loud noise

We actually have the mattresses already. But that second thing might be an issue. ugh. 

[ktgrok]

So, I measured, and the crib is narrow enough compared to the twin there right now, that a trundle might just work. I really thought DS wouldn't like having this bed "hidden" but my mom suggested saying it is a "secret bed" lol. Plus, if we got a daybed style (which they like the look of) we could put both kids' stuffed animals on it, and some pink AND blue cushions or pillows, to make it so the whole room isn't totally girly. 

 

Never mind. Re measured, with actual measuring tools, lol. And no...there's be like MAYBe a foot of space to walk through, at night, in the dark, to grab the baby out of the crib. That wouldn't work. 

 

I still think baby in the closet is the best idea. My mom is worried about air flow, but we have a ceiling fan in there, and could aways wall mount a smaller fan to direct air that way if need be. 

 

My husband just thinks a baby in the closet is too...I don't know...not classy?

Edited September 12, 2016 by ktgrok

[Daria]

What about putting the crib in the closet, getting the low bunk bed set, and then getting something like this that you can pull out as needed for you and the baby: https://www.walmart.com/ip/your-zone-flip-chair-Multiple-Colors/14931613

 

I think the safety risks of sleeping on something like that with an infant are much greater than the risks of a well made bunkbed with a rail.

 

It may be that OP isn't planning to sleep with the baby, but as someone who ended up cosleeping a lot, having a safe mattress for the little one needs to be a priority.

 

I wonder about either crib in closet and just adding a trundle, or getting a bunkbed with a removable ladder, and removing it any time there's a chance the little one will have access to it unsupervised.  

[ktgrok]

I think I need to solve one problem at a time. 

 

1. Figure out how to fit crib in room. 

 

2. Worry about me sleeping somewhere safe with the baby, if and when that becomes an issue. My daughter never ever wanted to co-sleep...my oldest always did, and kid number three was in the middle. If it becomes an issue, buy something to deal with that then, possibly a trundle under my own bed. 

[heartlikealion]

So, I measured, and the crib is narrow enough compared to the twin there right now, that a trundle might just work. I really thought DS wouldn't like having this bed "hidden" but my mom suggested saying it is a "secret bed" lol. Plus, if we got a daybed style (which they like the look of) we could put both kids' stuffed animals on it, and some pink AND blue cushions or pillows, to make it so the whole room isn't totally girly. 

 

Never mind. Re measured, with actual measuring tools, lol. And no...there's be like MAYBe a foot of space to walk through, at night, in the dark, to grab the baby out of the crib. That wouldn't work. 

 

I still think baby in the closet is the best idea. My mom is worried about air flow, but we have a ceiling fan in there, and could aways wall mount a smaller fan to direct air that way if need be. 

 

My husband just thinks a baby in the closet is too...I don't know...not classy?

 

Well did he say what option he prefers out of all the ones you guys have come up with?

[ktgrok]

Well did he say what option he prefers out of all the ones you guys have come up with?

 

He likes the Ikea Kura bunkbed the best. That's my second option. I prefer the crib in the closet solution as the safest for everyone. 

 

I may be able to sway him by reminding him it means we only have to buy a crib, rather than buying a crib and a bunk bed :)

[LucyStoner]

I was at a party once and someone told what they considered to be a horrifying story...when her husband was a baby, her ILs made their small walk in closet his "bedroom"! Gasp. How tacky, how low class, what a sign that they were impoverished. How could ANYONE DO THAT?!

 

I just laughed because at the time we had the exact same arrangement as a compromise between cosleeping and seperate baby room. It was a walk through closet tha on connected the bedroom to the 3/4 bathroom. We took the doors down and each side was deep enough for a crib so we had the crib on one side and the changing table on the other. It was great. He lived there until he was about 3.

[ktgrok]

I was at a party once and someone told what they considered to be a horrifying story...when her husband was a baby, her ILs made their small walk in closet his "bedroom"! Gasp. How tacky, how low class, what a sign that they were impoverished. How could ANYONE DO THAT?!

 

I just laughed because at the time we had the exact same arrangement as a compromise between cosleeping and seperate baby room. It was a walk through closet tha on connected the bedroom to the 3/4 bathroom. We took the doors down and each side was deep enough for a crib so we had the crib on one side and the changing table on the other. It was great. He lived there until he was about 3.

 

That sound perfect!

 

Honestly, our closet in our room is big enough, but the shape is super weird. Narrow and deep with a window at the end. The people that had the house before us remodeled and took out part of the bathroom and turned it into more closet. It gets hot because of the window, and musty because there is no air circulation in there. 

 

The closet in the kids' room though is just an alcove, air circulation should be fine. Especially with the ceiling fan, or we could mount a small wall fan. 

 

But I think my husband is like your party person, who thinks it is tacky, a sign of poverty, whatever. I find it very pinteresty and hipster, myself :)

[StephanieZ]

If you like the idea of having the baby in the room and/or co-sleeping, have you looked at the side-of-the-bed side-car type co-sleeper things? 

 

 

[ktgrok]

If you like the idea of having the baby in the room and/or co-sleeping, have you looked at the side-of-the-bed side-car type co-sleeper things? 

 

I'll have baby next to my bed, in pack and play bassinet or co-sleeper, for the first month or so. Maybe up to three. After that I tend to move them out of the room, but keep a monitor on so i can hear when they stir. At least for part of the night. 

[StephanieZ]

Or should I just go back to my idea of putting the crib in the closet, like this: 

I love this! Adorable!

[Daria]

I'll have baby next to my bed, in pack and play bassinet or co-sleeper, for the first month or so. Maybe up to three. After that I tend to move them out of the room, but keep a monitor on so i can hear when they stir. At least for part of the night. 

 

If you keep the twin beds, could you buy some time by using the pack n play for a while longer in the kids' room?  4 to 5 is a huge jump in maturity, so the bunk bed might be a better choice once your little one needs a full sized crib or toddler bed.  

[ktgrok]

If you keep the twin beds, could you buy some time by using the pack n play for a while longer in the kids' room?  4 to 5 is a huge jump in maturity, so the bunk bed might be a better choice once your little one needs a full sized crib or toddler bed.  

 

I don't think there is anywhere to put even a pack in play, other than again, under the window or in the closet. 

 

I think remodeling the closet for the crib makes the most sense. I'd need to get the kids' desks out of the room (currently under the window, where the bookcase is in the photo), but honestly, we need to get rid of some stuff anyway. I might convince the hubby to paint the kids' bed frames white too, to match the crib. 

Edited September 13, 2016 by ktgrok

[slackermom]

 

The closet in the kids' room though is just an alcove, air circulation should be fine. Especially with the ceiling fan, or we could mount a small wall fan. 

 

But I think my husband is like your party person, who thinks it is tacky, a sign of poverty, whatever. I find it very pinteresty and hipster, myself :)

 

I was just going to post that you should rename the closet, calling it "the alcove" instead.

"Hey DH, we are so lucky to have a built-in crib alcove!"

[LucyStoner]

 

But I think my husband is like your party person, who thinks it is tacky, a sign of poverty, whatever. I find it very pinteresty and hipster, myself :)

I get it. I'm weird about my kids wearing socks and PJs because "we aren't poor" (I grew up poor and those things stuck with me I guess).

 

OTOH I joked the walk through closet was quite a step up for someone from my side of the family. He had a cute miniature room with his own bed (we converted it to a toddler bed not long after age 1 because he was so tall and could climb out) with cute decorations and nice clothing and diaper storage setup whereas I started life sleeping in a brown plastic laundry basket, lol. And my mom was in the proverbial drawer.

 

When he first came home, we lived in a studio and had a 3n1 PNP in one corner. We moved when he was about 5 months old. I still actually miss that studio in some level. I'd happily live there again if I could tack on a room for the boys to share. Our bed was in a loft.

[ktgrok]

so, I realized I also have a rocking chair to fit in there!  :svengo:

 

So, I think we are going to go with the lower, Kura bunk beds. Probably with the canopy, which my husband assures me he can screw on to make safer. And put down a THICK area rug there for falls. He actually said he doesn't care if we put a gym mat down, lol. That will go where my daughter's bed is, and the crib and the rocking chair will fit where my son's bed is.

 

Now, where to put the dresser with changing pad on it? Keep it in the closet, maybe add some shelves, take the doors off, and make it a little alcove? Move it to where the little bookcase is in the photo (there are actually two small ikea desks there right now)? Then move those ikea desks somewhere else or, maybe even get rid of them? Maybe I can negotiate with the girl child (who has recently developed odd hoarder traits) to trade the desks for the new bunk bed. That might be incentive enough. (she used to have NO problem donating stuff we don't use, but lately wants to keep EVERYTHING...even say, a mismatched shoe that doesn't fit. So weird. Hoping it is a phase. I hate clutter and her room is getting crazy.)

[MotherGoose]

I wouldn't worry about them standing up there. If it's a regular sized bunkbed, even a 4yo can't stand or jump on it. I had bunkbeds for my girls from ages 5-9 and they never got hurt.

I agree, if you have normals height ceilings, the kids aren't going to be able to stand.

[ktgrok]

I agree, if you have normals height ceilings, the kids aren't going to be able to stand.

 

Is it weird that I don't KNOW if we have normal height ceilings? Anyone want to guess from the photos I posted?

[magnificent_baby]

We had a very expensive bunk bed set, older Ds was 7 when I let him use it. He fell out right onto his arms/shoulder/head reaching down for our cat (what was he thinking?). It busted the rail right off and I can't believe he didn't break any bones. I also realized it was super tall compared to other bunk sets I've seen since (Sams for one). Now we have a brand new set from Pottery Barn, and to be honest, it's so flimsy for the price. Would never purchase one from there. All that said, I'd pick the Ikea in a heartbeat since it's shorter. Ours is so hard to change the sheets and I can't tuck him in at night. I also keep meaning to replace his ceiling fan with just a light, since it so close to the bed, makes me super nervous when he gets out of bed. 

 

When our youngest was born, he was in a bassinet in our room until around 6 months; then a pack and play at least until 18 months, maybe even until he was 2. I didn't trust my other little ones around him. It worked perfectly fine and he didn't seem to mind at all. 

[heartlikealion]

Today I had a weird thought, make the alcove bigger to accommodate a twin bed for one of the bigger kids lol. But I see you'd have the issue of the rocking chair added to other space issues now.

[ktgrok]

Today I had a weird thought, make the alcove bigger to accommodate a twin bed for one of the bigger kids lol. But I see you'd have the issue of the rocking chair added to other space issues now.

 

And doing that would take out my only linen closet in the house, which is in the hall next to the bedroom :)

[Guest]

My problem with just doing a Trundle, versus bunks is that 1. I'm not sure there is even room to pull it out and still have room to walk to the crib, and 2. that the younger one wouldn't get to have his bed "on display" as it were. It would always be hidden, and I don't think he'd like that one bit.

 

Honestly, part of me is back to the crib in the closet idea. We can put an extra dresser in front of the window where that weird book case is. (actually, the book cases aren't there anymore, now we have their desks there).

 

Or if I did two Kuras like we talked about...I could put their desks under the Kuras. But still that leaves the crib in the closet, which DH hates the idea of.

We put the pack n play in the closet and it fits nicely - no doors on it. Instead of bunk beds (which we currently have) we are actually just constructing a loft platform around each side of the room to hold four mattresses. It's cheaper and we can set it lower to the floor than a normal bunk too. By the end with the bunk we won't give up we can sleep seven kids in one room (one wall isn't long enough for two bunk beds, so it will have a single bunk, baby in closer, four beds on other longer wall). We are converting the other bedroom to the play room/book room. It's not ideal but until we can built we only have the one bedroom available and are entirely out of space in the rest of the house.

 

The clothing thing - I personally like storing those in the one closet in the play room with each kid having a shelf and bins by age but that might not be feasible for you. Those drawers are huge though and take up a ton of bedroom space, so I'd consider something to streamline it a bit if I were you. We had to do the same thing because, again, putting more than two or three kids in a bedroom requires some out of the box thinking :p

Edited September 14, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[Guest]

 

Snipping post because I'm not sure if the images are copyrighted, but the bottom picture is essentially what we are building in. It's very easy to do and the top bunks aren't over high. We do build a pretty substantial guard rail though.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[Outdoorsy Type]

Could you do the puzzle foam pieces under the bed to make a soft landing should a person fall off the ladder? That plus the low ikea platform with tent topper would be very safe.

[heartlikealion]

And doing that would take out my only linen closet in the house, which is in the hall next to the bedroom :)

 

We don't have a linen closet but I wouldn't want to part with it, either lol.

 

[ktgrok]

Could you do the puzzle foam pieces under the bed to make a soft landing should a person fall off the ladder? That plus the low ikea platform with tent topper would be very safe.

 

Yes, I think we'll do the puzzle pieces and perhaps an area rug over them even. (I think the cat will tear up the puzzle pieces by themselves...he has a thing for that texture. he's destroyed all the yoga mats in the house. )