What does your family bed look like?

[Petite Mama]

My 9.5 month old daughter began moving around on the bed in her sleep so my husband & I decided to take the headboard/footboard/slats off and we placed the queen mattress on the floor. I placed our comforter next to the edge of the bed just in case she rolled off that night. She rolled off about 6 times.

I got a siderail to keep her from rolling off and that has helped significantly but I don't really like the look of having the mattress on the floor and I've read that having it on the floor can cause the mattress to get moldy/mildewy.

My daughter sleeps next to me but I've wondered if I should place her between us... although she's a very active sleeper & likes to flail around. I'm a SAHM so if I get a bad night of sleep, I can nap with DD but my husband has to go to work. We're considering buying a king mattress.

Do you put baby between you & your partner? How do you keep baby from rolling off the bed? Any suggestions for ways to keep a mattress on the floor without it looking like I live in a dorm room? Ideas on how to elevate the bed just enough to let air circulate? All I can come up with is using a large piece of plywood under the mattress & raised up on 2x4's.

[carryMEmama]

Well, I use a bed rail for one side and have the bed pushed up against the wall, which takes care of the other side. If that isnt possible for your arrangement, i've seen a nifty arrangement using shipping pallets as a low base for a mattress. It allowsair to circulate and they are easy to find. They sell them at our local greenhouse. Good luck mama!

[carryMEmama]

Well, I use a bed rail for one side and have the bed pushed up against the wall, which takes care of the other side. If that isnt possible for your arrangement, i've seen a nifty arrangement using shipping pallets as a low base for a mattress. It allowsair to circulate and they are easy to find. They sell them at our local greenhouse. Good luck mama!

[tanyato]

we have our queen mattress on the box spring...and yes, it kind of looks dorm room-esque. nothing creative from me. i'll be honest though, are you sure you want the queen comforter there for her to fall into? what if you don't wake up and she's face down in a big comforter? i guess the fall would wake HER up though and she'd be upset and wake you up so it's not such a big deal.

anyways, as for sleeping in between you - our 5 month old son sleeps in between us when i'm nursing him on that side (so for about 1/2 the night). my husbands noise/movement tolerance has increased since our baby has been in our bed so he seems to get enough rest. DH definitely gets woken up by the baby, but he just goes back to sleep as he's used to it now. DS is a bit of a bed hog so he tends to squish us out to the very edges of the bed which is kind of funny but mostly uncomfortable. BUT, there is no rolling off of bed which is good.

[newmamalizzy]

Have you looked at futon frames at all?  Not couch frames, but the type that rest on the floor.  They're basically just slats raised slightly off the floor.  That may be an option for air circulation.  My daughter is 2, but we also had a queen on the floor when she was younger.  Ours was pushed up into a corner, and DP....slept on the couch.  At some point we stuck her crib mattress on the floor in the corner next to the queen, which made an easy transition to our current side-carred toddler bed (with the queen back up to it's usual position).  I'm hoping it will also make an easy transition to her sleeping in her own space, when that day eventually comes.
 

[cristeen]

You can get a slatted bed frame, which is just a bunch of bed slats strapped together.  It would normally sit in the frame to support the box spring, but under the mattress it will allow air circulation.  I know Ikea carries them, not sure where else to find them.  And you definitely need it - I have a moldy mattress in my basement and a damaged floor because I didn't realize that was an issue.