10 month old fell out of bed!

[shnitzel]

My ten month old takes naps in my bed. It's low to the floor (platform bed), has a gaurdrail on one side,and I put a blanket around the bed so there is something soft if she did fall. She normally sits up and calls for me to come down but today I heard screaming and she was lying on her back on the tile floor about a foot and a half away from the bed screaming. Right now she is napping again but in the living room on a blanket on the wood floor.

I don't know how to put her to sleep anymore she loves to cuddle and nurse to sleep but she can't sleep on the hard floor and I am terrified of her hurting herself, making our room safe will take a few weeks worth of work and the floor is so hard so I feel completely lost. She's fine when I am sleeping with her but naptime feels terrifying now.

Her motor skills are advanced and she can already take a couple of steps alone so things like gaurdrails only make matters worse.
Any advice?

[HeliMom]

All i can recommend is teaching her how to get down off the bed safely. She should get on her belly back up over the edge of the bed until her feed touch. I'd get out bed that way to show her and also take her off that way when you need to get her off the bed. i had a similar problem and this was the only way I felt she was safe.

[Blueone]

My son fell off my bed too, he's 9 months. We had a low bed, but changed beds recently to a higher one because of where we're staying for a visit and he fell off. I've opted to move him to his own mattress right next to our bed and he stays there for now. I'd rather him be safe than worrying he'll make it over our barriers.

Hope you find a solution soon!

[To-Fu]

Some ideas:

--Teach her how to get off the bed properly, if you want to keep your bed on the frame.

--Take your bed off the frame and put it on the floor.

--Get a video monitor so that you can see when she wakes, even if she doesn't make any noises.

We did all these things and my son still fell out of bed around that age. It was right around when he was learning to walk, and I think this is a common age for spills.

[Turquesa]

What worked for us: One of those fold-out couches from Babies R Us or Toys R Us. It's a little annoying because you have to get one with cartoon characters , but I just nursed DD to sleep on one of those. She's now 3 and naps on it to this day.

[shnitzel]

We really don't have room for anything. What we have done is put her unused crib matress next to the bed so she can crawl down face first from the bed to the mattress and from there to the floor.

I am having trouble teaching her to get off the bed properly because she can't seem to catch onto going off backwards because she can't see what is behind her.

[Anastasiya]

Originally Posted by shnitzel

We really don't have room for anything. What we have done is put her unused crib matress next to the bed so she can crawl down face first from the bed to the mattress and from there to the floor.

I am having trouble teaching her to get off the bed properly because she can't seem to catch onto going off backwards because she can't see what is behind her.

Keep trying. Practice over and over until it's ingrained in her.

You don't want her only knowing how to get off things face-first! Ouch!

When our kids start scooting at around 4-5 months, we teach them how to get off the bed by ALWAYS taking them off the bed by pulling them off by their feet. Does that make sense? Put baby belly down, pull her feet off and down the bed.

Our bed is VERY high. Kid feet don't touch the floor until they are much older, so they would dangle there, feet down, hands grasping the covers, then let go and plop onto their padded bottoms. It was actually pretty neat to watch.

[kcstar]

If it makes you feel better, DS fell off the bed too. More than once. We felt awful, and tried to keep watch for it. He knows how to get off safely now.

Funny story: DS is 2.5 now. We now have a second crib mattress on the floor next to my side of the bed, so if he falls it's onto something soft. A week or so ago, I roused to realize he was off the bed, and heard an "Uh oh. Halp!" I helped him back up and he was fine.

[liliaceae]

Mattress on the floor and video monitor.