Author Topic: Floor bed?  (Read 6770 times)

fidgiegirl

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Floor bed?
« on: March 18, 2014, 07:11:34 PM »
I mentioned in another thread that I am wary of getting a crib.  It seems like so many people don't end up using theirs, and it's a big, limited-time furniture use.

So in researching alternatives, I have been reading about using floor beds even from only a few months old, and was contemplating just using a crib mattress right on the floor.  Then my girlfriend was telling me about how some people just put a full or queen size mattress on the floor so they can continue to use it through the years (plus we already have one).  Also that way if mama or daddy needs to crawl in bed with baby to nurse or comfort, it's not such an impossibility, and our bed is really tall so I don't know how I will feel about cosleeping directly in our bed.  So this is the idea I'm currently diggin'.

So placing aside the fact that the baby is not born and thus we do not know what his/her sleep needs will eventually be, my doubts around this idea are about firmness of the mattress (baby mattresses are a lot firmer than grown-up ones, right?) and also potentially getting stuck between the wall and the mattress.

Has anyone's child used a floor bed?  How did it go for you?  From what age did you start?  How did you babyproof the room or address the issues above?

Thanks!!!

Amosla

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2014, 10:28:27 PM »
I didn't do the floor bed for our two year old son, as I just learned of this concept a couple weeks ago. This is the blog site that introduced me to the idea. We have a two year old who loves his crib, and another due in May, which we were hoping to use his crib starting at about 4 months after using the rock n play we have. I'm hoping to transition the 2 yr old to a twin mattress on the floor when he is ready. The blog gives a lot of detail. Also, about the crib mattress, we bought one that was considered and labeled "firm" one, but it really doesn't seem all that "firm" compared to my bed, but maybe for the weight of a baby it is "firm".

http://www.howwemontessori.com/how-we-montessori/otiss-montessori-room/


greaper007

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2014, 11:14:10 PM »
Except for a few short stints in a crib, we have, and continue to co sleep with both our children who are 3 and 5.  It's a controversial subject so do your research before you embark.   However, my wife is a clinical child psychologist by training and her business partner has a PhD in medical anthropology, her specialty is co-sleeping.   In her research she found that SIDS rates with co-sleeping were highest with mothers who were smokers (higher body temperature), drug addicts and with men in the bed who were not the biological father.   They've actually been focused on trying to change the "Back to Sleep" campaign as it's somewhat shortsighted and doesn't conform with all the available research.

I personally thought co sleeping was way easier than dealing with a crib.   When the baby wakes up you don't have to get out of bed to change them or give them a bottle.   That made it so I could actually get back to sleep, something I couldn't do when they were in the other room.    At the very least I'd suggest keeping a crib or some sort of sleeping arrangement where you guys share a room, it just makes things easier in my opinion.

Zette

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2014, 05:15:37 AM »
We had friends whose 4 month old baby died when she rolled over and was trapped between the mattress and the wall during a nap (tragically, her mother had put her on the bed because she was changing soiled linens in the crib, and did not transfer her back to the crib).  Although this was a normal height bed (not on the floor),  IMO it's just not worth the risk.

You can probably get by with a pack-n-play until age 2, which can be very inexpensive and takes up less room than a crib.  Once a child starts crawling, it's also nice to keep them contained if they wake in the middle of the night or you need a few minutes to run to the bathroom.

avonlea

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2014, 06:34:39 AM »
I don't know if I should answer b/c I'm not an expert at all in getting kids to successfully sleep on their own.  But these were our experiences...

We bought a crib at a garage sale.  Nice crib.  It was a waste of space and money for us, though.  Neither child liked it at all.

We ended up co-sleeping.  It was perfect for breastfeeding and the babies felt more secure and started sleeping in 2-3 hour sessions once in the bed, instead of 1.5 hours in the crib.  When they were old enough to roll over, I started surrounding the floor of our bed with the seat cushions from our couches.

When my second child was a baby, the older child slept in an adult-sized bed in another room.  When the youngest turned two years old, we gave away the adult-sized bed to a friend and then purchased two twin mattresses (so that we could use them for bunk beds later) and set those side by side on the floor.  The kids slept like that for a couple of years (the youngest still came into our bed at 3:00AM consistently until this past year) .  When the oldest turned 7, we purchased a set of bunk beds.  They loved them for a year and then preferred to sleep on the floor again a year later.  Now they are back to sleeping in bunk beds.

*Edited to add some detail for clarification.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2014, 12:23:30 PM by avonlea »

fidgiegirl

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2014, 07:05:42 AM »
Thanks everybody - I especially love the How We Montessori link.  The more I get into learning about Montessori's understandings of human development, the more fascinated I am.  It's about so much more than what we typically think of as "Montessori" (or at least how I've thought about it in the past) - a certain way to set up a preschool.

GreenAcres

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2014, 07:21:51 AM »
We aren't doing this yet but will be very soon for our 1.5 year old.  He is sleeping really well through the night, so I think he is ready.  I am going to order a twin sized futon mattress.  It is stuffed with 100% cotton and has no springs to be hard on his back.  We will raise it up with a couple pallets if I can find some safe pallets.  I don't want it directly on the floor because we have some spiders.  I am going to put a gait in front of his door.  His room has everything low to the ground so there is nothing for him to get into that would be dangerous.

jnik

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2014, 07:27:54 AM »
and also potentially getting stuck between the wall and the mattress.
Don't put the mattress directly against the wall, then? What am I missing here?

cbgg

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2014, 12:25:05 PM »
I haven't done this but I have read a lot about it because I'm interested in Montessori methods for raising children (the floor bed is recommended in Montessori).  I understand that generally you want:
1) A firm mattress.  A soft mattress could lead to suffocation I think?  Babies are SURPRISINGLY helpless.
2) A mattress that's only ~4 inches high.  This makes falls off the mattress much more safe than from your typical adult mattress.
3) Some parents will pull the mattress out from the wall while the baby is using it, or will set up the bedroom so that the mattress is central in the room rather than against the wall.

Sara at feedingthesoil.com is a Montessori teach and has been raising her two sons using Montessori principles.  She has written about floor beds and is very happy with her choice to use them so far (she has a 3 year old and an 8 month old).

One thing that I think is a key take away from the previous thread is that it might be a good idea to hold off on buying a crib/bed for the baby until he/she arrives.  Get a bassinet or co-sleeper to start you off and decide what type of sleep arrangement makes sense once you've met your little one and have a better idea of what works for your family.

Mark31

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2014, 07:32:00 PM »
For co-sleeping, we've just put our bed up against the wall, and stuffed rolled-up blankets to fill the gap, and that was with a regular bed, not mattress on the floor.

Everyone's got their own comfort level on co-sleeping, but it is safe if you're aware of the risks and sleep mindfully. Some people get less sleep co-sleeping, but studies show that on average, co-sleepers get more sleep.

What gives me the shivers is people that are terrified of co-sleeping, and so fall asleep on the couch feeding them in the middle of the night - this is much more dangerous.

When our babies were older and had started rolling, we put them on a cot mattress on the floor when they were sleeping during the day. I would feel less comfortable doing that if we had carpet though - it certainly doesn't do me any good sleeping in close proximity to carpet.

fidgiegirl

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2014, 07:50:58 PM »
and also potentially getting stuck between the wall and the mattress.
Don't put the mattress directly against the wall, then? What am I missing here?

In our particular room, if we use the queen we have already, there is no room to scoot it away from the wall.  It will be between a radiator and the wall.  Hmmm, not much better.  Maybe we should opt for a smaller mattress if we do it.  The one we have isn't bad, but isn't super awesome or new, either.

MicroRN

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #11 on: March 21, 2014, 01:19:29 AM »
I loved having a co-sleeper bassinet, so we got the closeness of bedsharing, but the baby had his own space.  I was too paranoid with them actually in our bed and couldn't sleep well.  I followed all the co-sleeping "rules," but woke up once with my arm over my baby's head, pushing his face into the mattress.  He was fine, but it scared the heck out of me.  The co-sleeper made for good sleep for all of us.  If you're going to do a floor bed, think about getting a real Japanese futon.  They're firm, surprising comfortable, and low to the ground.  You won't get the wedging issues that you might with a regular mattress, and all cotton doesn't off-gas.   

The one thing that I do think is really unsafe is to leave the baby unattended napping on a full-height bed.  Yeah, maybe they don't roll...yet.  Some pick it up awfully quickly.  I know of several very small babies who fell of beds that way, one of whom broke a leg.  Another was fine, but ended up being kept overnight at the hospital for observation.   It's so simple to have a bassinet, a basket, or something else that you can tuck baby in, or even a blanket on the floor.   

bogart

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #12 on: March 21, 2014, 11:50:17 AM »
I have to admit I have never heard of this idea and am somewhere between mystified and horrified.

Now YMMV, I know that plenty of kids are climbers.  But what I liked about having a crib (my kid was not a climber) was that when I put my kid in his crib, he was in his crib.  Because he slept in his crib WAY past when my main concern would have been him rolling off the floor; he slept in his crib (until he was 3?) to the point where my concerns could have been stuff like him opening the door and wandering out into the street (truthfully, he wouldn't have done that either, and of course a kid who would might well also be a climber.  But you see my point -- a kid on a bed can get down and go anywhere in the house at any time.  Is your house going to be completely childproofed and kept that way at all times?  Are you that light a sleeper?  Are you never going to take a shower except when there's someone else on hand to trouble-shoot if your child wakes up and decides to get out of bed?  I really cannot imagine living that way.  And we did do some co-sleeping, and such, and had our son's crib in our bedroom for some time as well.  But I found a crib darned useful.

MicroRN

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #13 on: March 21, 2014, 02:47:09 PM »
I have to admit I have never heard of this idea and am somewhere between mystified and horrified.

Now YMMV, I know that plenty of kids are climbers.  But what I liked about having a crib (my kid was not a climber) was that when I put my kid in his crib, he was in his crib.  Because he slept in his crib WAY past when my main concern would have been him rolling off the floor; he slept in his crib (until he was 3?) to the point where my concerns could have been stuff like him opening the door and wandering out into the street (truthfully, he wouldn't have done that either, and of course a kid who would might well also be a climber.  But you see my point -- a kid on a bed can get down and go anywhere in the house at any time.  Is your house going to be completely childproofed and kept that way at all times?  Are you that light a sleeper?  Are you never going to take a shower except when there's someone else on hand to trouble-shoot if your child wakes up and decides to get out of bed?  I really cannot imagine living that way.  And we did do some co-sleeping, and such, and had our son's crib in our bedroom for some time as well.  But I found a crib darned useful.

I also find cribs useful, but you can also just close off the room as needed.  My toddler was moved to a regular twin mattress on the floor at 18 months, and we gated off his room.  Now they share a room with a tall baby gate at the door, but the only things in the room are the bed and the crib.  The dressers are locked in the closet so they can't climb.  My first was not a climber, but my 2nd is - he's made it out of his crib twice.  We had to go back to putting him in sleep sacks so he can't climb out.

avonlea

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2014, 03:12:16 PM »
I think that every family has to determine their own system.  I was always very close to the babies/toddlers when they slept.  Yes, I understand that can be inconvenient, but it's how we rolled.  I didn't take a shower unless my husband was home.  Neither child ever woke up and started exploring.  They woke up and cried because they wanted to nurse and have books read to them.  After breastfeeding, they would be ready to move around again.  For us, the breastfeeding stopped around the same time as when the major co-sleeping stopped.  Neither child napped in the daytime after 2.5 years of age.

mandydean

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2014, 12:21:51 PM »
Are you buying a pack and play anyway? We wound up purchasing a proper mattress for the pack and play (you can find them on Amazon) to go on top of the folding cardboard-y mattress that came with it, since we used it a good bit for our first son. It was very firm. We wound up only bringing the mattress when we'd travel, and he would sleep on it in the floor. This was a super-purchase - it was about thirty bucks and he napped on it for years for traveling. It allowed us to consider rental properties/hotels that didn't have an extra bed for him - it worked even at toddler/preschool age.

So that might be a good consideration - firm enough not to worry about for a newborn, but cheap enough not to have to worry about the investment aspect. And small enough to fit in a closet and wait for baby 2.

And a pack and play is a good investment anyway - our second child sleeps in it exclusively. We sold the crib since we just didn't have room for it- and honestly never used it since our children have always co-slept at night. Our child is 10 months old and has plenty of room to grow in the pack and play with the added perk that I can move it to whatever room I need him to nap in at the time.

RootofGood

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2014, 09:03:12 PM »
We used the crib for each of our 3 kids.  I think we got it on clearance at target or walmart for under $100 new, and the mattress was $30 IIRC for the waterproof kind.  Each kid was different, but they all used it off and on for a year or two.  It was one of the few things we bought new for the kids, and I think it was a good value. 

Oddly enough, my wife just took apart the crib this morning, and I think we're done having kids, so I'm going to put it on craigslist soon.  From a quick search, I saw a similar crib/mattress/3 sets of sheets for $50 on craigslist.  So you can probably buy the crib, mattress and bedding sets second hand, use it if you use it, then sell it for what you paid for it. 

I guess we "co slept" with kid #1 because she was generally inconsolable for the first 2 years (you might call it "colic").  #1 was also an adept climber (which led to being an adept faller) so the crib wasn't used as long for her.  #2 slept like a rock and used the crib a lot.  #3 used it for over a year. 

scrubbyfish

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Re: Floor bed?
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2014, 10:16:54 PM »
I did the floor bed from the start (though I'd never heard this term before this thread).

I originally had a (gifted and ultimately useless) bassinette for him, which I put right beside my futon-mattress-on-floor. He wouldn't sleep when he was in the bassinette. I added him to my double (queen?) futon mattress and he slept there for four years. He and I still sleep on the floor, though on separate mats and in separate rooms now.

The futon mattress was nice and firm, which is how I like a bed, but it also eliminates the issue of squishy parts for baby to get stuck in.

Worked great!

When we were done with it, it really smelled of pee. I advertised it anyway -noting the strong pee smell- and it still got picked up! Someone was using it for their animals or something, I think.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!