keeping the baby from rolling off?

[mariekitt24]

So I'm looking into buying this http://www.betterforbabies.com/Tres_...-sleeping.html for the side of the bed, it looks like a better solution than a rail (of course it's costly but not as much as other's like it I've seen) and I'm thinking that will work pretty well for the side of the bed.

But I'm wondering.. do I need to worry about my baby rolling off the foot of the bed too?

How do you mamas handle keeping your babies from falling off the bed? I really like being able to nurse my baby to sleep and just let him stay there, so I'm hesitant to bust out like a play pen or something for nap time.. but I'm so nervous to leave him on the bed unattended at the same time.. so what should I do? Thanks so much!

[Anastasiya]

Honestly, I would not spend that amount of money on something I could replicate myself. Either with a bed rail with the gap stuffed with tightly rolled blankets, or with a tightly rolled blanket made into a tube and tied with ribbon, then slipped under the sheet, or doing the same kind of thing with a big pool noodle under the bottom sheet.

My thoughts are that while those things are good when the baby is little, once baby becomes mobile at around 5-6 months and can scoot up and over things, they only serve to cause a baby to perhaps fall from a higher height than he would have otherwise.

Once baby can scoot, baby comes off the bed unattended. In the meantime, I just barricade an unattended infant (who cannot roll or scoot) on the bed with pillows.

[coraljean]

We have actually just taken the frame and boxspring off of our bed and put the mattress right on the floor. It works really well for us. We got a rug to put next to the the bed, and when our son was little we folded up some blankets and put them at the floor at the end of the bed. It is nice because I nurse him to sleep for naps and then I can just leave him there without him getting hurt. He rolled off a few times when he was littler and he cried some but was not hurt, and now that he can crawl so well he can get off the bed without hurting himself. We actually like our bed better this way now. My husband says it is really great for his back because it is really supportive, and it is easier to sneak away from the bed after my son falls asleep because it is not as squeaky. Another benefit is that it is a totally free solution!

Coral Jean
Mama to Dylan born 12/20/08

[leaves]

I just bought whatever guard rail they have at Target for toddlers. It fits under any mattress size. It works just fine. I don't ever worry about him falling off the foot of the bed, he doesn't scoot that far down - I'd be worried anyhow if he did!

[justmama]

we used pillows when they were super little and not able to do much other than roll from back to belly or belly to back but no further. When they became mobil like crawling-mobil, we took the bed off the frame and put it on the floor to minimize the fall. When they were about 8-9months, we taught them to slide off the bed on their bellies. The older two both fell off the bed once in the middle of the night and that was it. The littlest has never fallen. We didn't have the money to invest in bed rails or such but it never really was an issue. Just like we know our boundaries in the bed to keep from falling out, so do they. After they become crawling-type-mobil, I don't worry as much. They know their boundaries by then and the risk of rolling into the wall or rolling off the bed at ALL becomes really small in my eyes.