Do I need some sort of bedrail for a newborn w/ a matress on the floor?

[purple indigo]

Hi, I asked this in another thread, but had no response, and I think it was how I asked it.

Can I sleep a newborn on the edge of a mattress on the floor, or is there some sort of bedrail I should use?


If you want further details...

when my toddler son was a newborn, we had a co-sleeper at first as a bedrail (he rarely used it), then later a crib mattress on the floor, and he often slept between us.

We now have to accomodate said toddler, as he sleeps well with us, and not on his own, as well as night nurses every once in a while, so the ideal solution is newborn on the edge (we can't line the mattresses up with a side on the wall, unfortunately, due to room configuration). BUt I forget- how problematic will that be?

I'm due in less than 3 weeks, so need to figure this out, fast!

(Just a FYI, we have a twin mattress and a queen in the room- I was assuming the kids and I would use the queen and DH the twin.)

Thanks for any help anyone can offer

[Contrariety]

I don't have my rail up yet, and my 7 weeker sleeps on the outside of the bed about half the night, no problem, but my toddler sleeps most nights in his own bed, so I don't have to deal too much with him. If he is in bed with us I do have the baby on the outside. With him, I put the rail up when he was about 3-4 months old and rolling around pretty regularly.

[minkleaf]

I wouldn't worry about a bedrail for a newborn. They don't move around much. With your mattress on the floor I'd just put something soft down in case he did somehow work himself off. We have the mattress and boxspring on the floor and blankets and cushions all around it. Although even with a hard floor, the 8-10 inch fall probably wouldn't hurt him (hopefully) and you wouldn't worry about suffocation. I did use a bedrail when we traveled after DD2 could roll. Luckily I woke up just in time to catch her about to flip herself over it a couple times, which would have been an ever farther drop to the floor.

BTW, I've found a king size bed to be very adequate for the three of us - myself and two children. I wish we had one at home.

[coraljean]

When mine was littler I just put his diaper changing pad next to our mattress in the place where he would roll off if anything happened, and it worked out well.

Coral Jean
Mama to Dylan 12/20/08

[paxye]

If you are worried, you could always use a rolled up receiving blanket under the sheet on the edge of the bed...

[DoopaMama]

We had the opportunity when we moved here last year to buy a new bed setup that is still in modification

We've discovered that a futon mattress (wish it was king size instead of queen with a toddler, a tiny one, me and a wide-shouldered papa all in it... somehow...) with a memoryfoam topper is perfect for us. the futon is supportive, the memoryfoam makes it squishy enough for my shapliness, the combination is safe enough for newborn to be on, much more so han the squishy mattress with a pillowtop like we used to have. It is just barely off the floor with an ikea set of bedslats between it and the floor and future plans include raising the whole setup by about a foot at the most with a home-crafted log bedframe. no need for a rail here:

tiny one sleeps on the edge or in thte middle-depending on which boob she last ate from and our toddler has been relegated to the outside until she keeps covers on her instead of flipping her legs up and laying them on totp of all the covers. (not fun when the room is a balmy 55 between winter in an old house with poor air circulation and baseboard heaters!) I tend to keep tiny one right nect to me wih my arm around her if she's on the outside when I fall asleep to help keep her big sister from squishing her in her quest for warmth without bed covers.

With our first one when we were higher off the ground, I tended to keep my arm around her because she was on the ouside otherwise she'd roll under papa and there was always a pile of clothes on the floor or a nest of sorts.