"big kid" bed for a baby?

[bezark]

After spending the last 5 months of my pregnancy making every detail of Silas' nursery perfect, we realized by the time he was 3 weeks old that the whole thing was/is completely useless.
He's never spent a minute in his crib, and the giant shelf that's supposed to house all of his clothes is a pain.
His room has basically become a dumping ground for everything in the house that we're saving for a yard sale. It's embarrassing. Really.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/...499caf.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3384/...90b100.jpg?v=0

As a result, DH and I have been considering getting rid of all of the existing furniture and trading it for a small futon so that he can start napping in his own bed (I have to lay down and nurse him to sleep for naps), but a bed that can be folded up in such a tiny, tiny room, and a real dresser.

Does anyone else use a real bed or futon for such a young baby? DS is currently 11 weeks (though he's already 18lbs), so I definitely plan on getting a safety rail for whatever we choose. I hate the idea of "caging" him in a crib when he's mobile anyway, but it still feels almost wrong for a baby not to have a cage.

[amandaleigh37]

What a pretty nursery!!

(We did the same thing... set up a nursery and never used it. Sigh.)

I don't know about the futon... I'd be worried that once he's crawling he could crawl right over the rail. I always figured rails were more for older babies who could get off the bed themselves, but just to prevent rolling during sleep?

What about a matress right on the floor? A lot of people do that. I think it's a Montessori thing actually... Just a thought.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[starling&diesel]

Love the pics! You and me both, sister.
We're moving, and I don't even think we'll put the crib back up.
We're getting something similar for the spare room downstairs for baby to sleep on during the day (we also nurse to sleep) and she sleeps with us at night. Go for it! Just safety it all up and you're good. Why not?

[bezark]

Thanks for the input, mamas!
The mattress on the floor thing wouldn't work for us. I hate clutter, which is why that room kills me, and a real mattress would literally take up more than half of the room. It's really, really tiny.
That's why we were looking at small futons. Folded into its couch state, the one I posted will take up about the same amount of room as the crib, so it can be out of the way when not in use.

[nerdymom]

I too would not recommend a baby napping on a futon. A mattress on the floor sounds like a much better idea. DS rolled of our bed this morning, and I was still in bed with him! It's ok though, we have the mattress on the floor and he hit a pillow on the floor, so it was a tiny fall. More like a large bump.

[JD5351]

A futon isn't going to offer him much back support. And babies/kids need good back support even more than adults because they're growing and developing.

If you don't want to do a big bed, maybe a toddler bed would be a good compromise. The mattress is no bigger than a crib mattress, so it wouldn't take up any more space than the crib.

[anyalily]

I wouldn't do a small bed, for sure. My daughter has never slept in her crib at night and maybe fewer than 5 times napping. Sigh.

She naps in our king sized bed and is good at hollering for me when she wakes up. I think a baby monitor would have been a good idea but we got be without it.

When she was tiny she napped in a bouncy chair a lot because besides nursing it was the only way to get her down. It was nice because we could just have it in the same room or an adjoining room as us during the day.

[EdnaMarie]

I would do a hard mattress on the floor- perhaps a crib mattress- rather than a futon. It would be safer in terms of breathing (firm mattresses recommended for babes for a reason), rolling, and crawling.

The nursery is, er, was, really pretty! I like it. We don't have one but that's a nice inspiration for the future kids' room... should we ever get around to it...

[megviolet]

Love the look of the room... um minus the clutter of course
I would skip the fold out/futon. I would turn the room into a playroom with one corner being a cuddly area. It would be a toddler sized/crib sized or single mattress right on the floor with a couple oversized cool pillows and stuffed animals. A soft little corner island. Safe and convenient for naps and also good months down the road as a quiet place to play and be read to.

[Awaken]

We had the same problem. DS right from the beginning wouldn't go to sleep anywhere but with us, but I couldn't sleep that way- we had to lay down with him to sleep, which we couldn't do with a crib!

We used a firm twin mattress on the floor, and with DS2 we used the crib mattress on the floor, so we could lay with him and leave when he was asleep. When he got mobile, we put a play yard gate around the whole thing, making a big floor crib that we could get in with him. It worked really well, and once he was older we took the play yard away and just childproofed the room.

[its_our_family]

We used a twin mattress on the floor for awhile and then moved to one on a frame with a gate thingy so they didn't roll out.

The nice thing for me was that my oldest slept horrible. So, I'd climb in to bed with him. It was also nice for when they were sick because I could be right there with them. We also didn't have to deal with the whole "big bed" transition. We did however deal with the "mommy not in bed with you one"... eh.. sometimes you just can't win!

To be honest, I would be nervous about just the crib mattress on the floor. I'm not sure why it but it doesn't sound like a good idea. I can remember when I put the mattress on the floor people telling me it was a bad idea and it wasn't safe... so... maybe the crib mattress is ok and I should shut up.

[Ruthie's momma]

I agree that a futon would not be a safe or supportive bed. Why not sell the crib and shelf unit but keep the crib mattress? The crib mattress can be placed on the floor. This would be safe and supportive for baby.

BTW: I love wall color and mural!

[liliaceae]

My 12 week old naps in our bed, which is a queen mattress on the floor. Well actually, we have 2 queens pushed together, but she only uses one.

[juliav]

we do the mattress on the floor thing. We bought a kid bed and just took the mattress off and stowed the bed until she's old enough. We never had a crib. She sleeps with us, but the mattress is my plan for slowly transitioning her to her own bed and then at some point her own room. For now, we just play on it!

[Cujobunny]

Originally Posted by amandaleigh37

What about a matress right on the floor?

: As soon as he's mobile you can teach him how to get on and off it. We also went with a twin so I (or dh) can sleep with them when they need.

[avivaelona]

Have to ditto the crib mattress on the floor idea, its what we did for naps for my son who wouldn't sleep in his crib. I don't see why its any more cluttered than a futon. A futon isn't safe for a young baby and no rail is safe for a young baby, the bedrails for toddlers are not recommended for young infants they can trap an infant head.

[sapphire_chan]

You might like a Montessori-style nursery.

Here's a thread where people discuss combining a child bed with co-sleeping:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1090717

http://sewliberated.typepad.com/sew_...sori-room.html is a blog with lots of pictures and explanations of why things are as they are.

[letniaLynne]

Ok I don't understand all the fuss about using the futon for naps? My babe sleeps with me in my bed with a bed rail and I leave her with the monitor on when I am not in bed with her (like right now). So what is the difference between that situation and the Futon? What do all these Cosleeping moms do with their babies for naps when they are not in bed with them? I don't understand the safety issue? I think the futon is a great idea!

[pixiepunk]

i wouldn't put up a regular futon. bed rails don't usually work with those, they need the weight and depth of a regular mattress to hold it in place. and once baby is mobile and pulling up he'd be able to flip right over the rail.

i think a twin-sized futon mattress on the floor would be perfect. we have such a mattress on DD1's bed, we got it from Ikea for like $70. it would definitely not take up any more space than a futon and frame, and in fact could be rolled up and put in a closet or something when not in use if you wanted to. i have a similar mattress on the way from Kmart (couldn't get to an Ikea and need it asap for impending visit from our niece). i have a friend who has one and it's pretty much the same. it was $70 including shipping, and my friend keeps hers rolled up and in a closet, it's a spare sleep space for guests.

the other possibility if you'd prefer to have furniture would be to get a daybed with a trundle and have him sleep on the trundle. the daybed would take up the same space as the futon, but his sleep space (for now) would be trundle which would be very low to the ground. then as he got bigger he could 'graduate' to the daybed.

[Comtessa]

I second the idea of a futon mattress on the floor... or even, honestly, just a thick comforter might be ok at that age. When I was single, I made a point of trying to "downsize" every time I moved - one of my first moves was to get rid of my bed and move to a futon mattress pad on the floor. What I liked most about this was that I could put sheets on it to sleep, then keep the sheets on it and roll it up into a corner in the daytime. It took up far less space than a "real" bed, but it still had enough sleeping space for two if needed (not that there was much of that in my single days). Plus, I could fold it in thirds to make a little flat "couch" for when I had guests over and needed non-bed seating. After a while, I downsized myself out of the futon mattress and just slept on a pallet of folded blankets on the floor. That rolled up even smaller, and it was still really comfy. I think sleeping on a hard surface is better for your back than sleeping on a soft surface... at least, it felt healthier to me.

For a baby, I think a futon mattress or pallet might actually be safer than a standard mattress on the floor, because it's flatter and lower and the edges are more rounded, so if the baby rolls off the edge it's not a sharp "bump" like it would be from a squared-off mattress. I loved the flexibility of literally "rolling" out of bed myself.

I'm really grateful we just borrowed a crib instead of buying one... it's mostly been used for folding laundry since the LO was born.