at what age are bunk beds okay?

[mavery]

My dh and I just bought bunk beds from ikea for our 3 yr old. We've been co-sleeping and he just requested his own bed in his own room, and chose the bunk beds. They're not particularly high (the top bunk is approx. 4.5ft) and we've already told him he's going to sleep on the bottom and that the top bunk is not a place to play though he can climb up when we're with him. He has a close friend who's nearing 4 and has more advanced motor skills and we thought in 6mos to a year he might be able to sleep over in the top bunk.

But then when we got the bed home and started assembling it we saw all these warnings about not allowing children under 6 on the top bunk. I know this is mostly CYA, but then I read a couple of stories here about people being injured falling from bunks.

So my question is (finally!): at what age have you been willing to have your kids have bunk beds in their rooms and at what age have they used the top bunk?
Thanks!

[4evermom]

I don't actually have any personal experience with a bunk bed, but I can see that it would depend greatly on, not only motor skills, but how the dc sleeps. Mine sits up and starts moving around during the night and is obviously not awake, so I'm not even comfortable having him not co-sleeping, let alone up high.

[Babytime]

My 5 year old daughter has a bunk bed and so far all we've used the top bunk for is to store the gazillion teddy bears people buy her. It's a twin bed above a full bed, so even if she were to fall, she would land on a mattress, but I'm not comfortable with her up there just yet. We didn't attach the ladder and won't until she's at least six. That said, we are very happy with our decision to buy this bed. She thinks it's cool to sleep in a bunk bed (even on the bottom LOL ... it's like a fort!) and eventually this bed will be great for sleepovers!

[XmasEve]

We just bought a really cool bed for our kids, it's a playhouse on the bottom and a full-size bunk on the top. They both co-sleep right now and I think they will for a while yet.

I think it depends on your child. 3yo dc can get up and down the ladder herself. She's also a sound sleeper and the top bunk has rails, so I would be okay with her up there, but she'd rather be with us, which makes me happy. 1yo dc is too young.

We'll see. I might have to revive this thread in 2, 3, or 4 years! The bed is worth it though. Bunk beds are so fun for kids, not to mention a great use of space.

Lots of kids fall out of bunk beds. I believe bunk or loft beds should ALWAYS have rails, and you should ALWAYS use your own best judgement about putting kids in them. Dh used to work at a summer camp and they had those standard issue bunk beds on concrete floors. They would get a least one broken arm a summer, but -duh-.

[veganf]

While we might allow our oldest son to sleep on the top bunk a few months shy of age 6 if there was a good reason (ie. it was time to move a sibling to the bottom bunk), I really would stick with the guidelines on that one. Right now we have only the bottom bunk set up to avoid the temptation, especially for the 2 year old. In a year or two we'll set up the top bunk. We have very limited space in our home so bunk beds are unfortunately going to be a necessity.

- Krista

[momof2boys1girl]

we have a bunk bed for the boys. My oldest is 11 and youngest is 6 they have the bunks for the past 3.5 yrs.My oldest sleeps on top and youngest on the bottom.It is not incrediabley tall either and I have only had a few incidents where I had to remind them we dont play on the top bunk and that was when it was new to them. They think it is fun to hang blankets from the top bunk over the side and makes the bottom like a tent.I think it depends on how well you teach your child the rules and how well they listen. We have never had a injury or problem w our beds.

Just wanted to add,our bed has a 2 high rail all around the top and the ladder is on the front end.I think our rails are a bit higher then some beds and I feel safer w that.

[mamajama]

I'd say six at least.
My son slept up on the top bunk at five and fell off one night landing head-first on a toy. We spent the night in the emergency room.

There was recently a 4yr old in my area who was killed at night due to a terrible accident with the top bunk. I won't give details unless someone needs them as it's quite upsetting. But it was directly due to the fact that he was sleeping on the top bunk.

I dismantled our bunk beds and the kids just use them as twins. I will set it up again when my oldest is 8 or so if they want me too.

[Is3enough]

My 6.5 year old sleeps on the top bunk and he has for a little over a year. His 4 year old brother sleeps on the bottom. The top bunk has really great rails all the way around it so I don't worry about it too much with my 6 year old up there. For the first year we had the bunkbed they both slept together on the bottom bunk. I am glad they have bunk beds because if they didn't their tiny room would be wall to wall bed!!

[XmasEve]

Found this:

http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/56/6/413
"Conclusions: Falls from bunk beds represent a non-negligible childhood injury risk. A sizeable fraction can be avoided with simple design modifications of the product, such as use of side rails in the upper bed or removal of the bed ladder when not in use."

and regarding age:

"Falls from conventional beds are concentrated among children less than 5 years old and sharply decline with advancing age. The decline with advancing age is also evident among falls from bunk beds but it is much milder, possibly because it represents the composite of a declining trend (associated with maturation and developmental advancement of the child) and an increasing trend in the frequency of bunk bed use with increasing age."

and regarding a safety point I'm a stickler about:

"There is also evidence that the incidence density of falls is slightly higher during the two day period weekend, than during the five day period of working days, and the excess weekend incidence seems to be related to leisure rather than sleep time events (data not shown)."

Which is why the rule in my house is NO PLAYING ON THE TOP BUNK. Mamajama, I heard about that accident. I do not allow toys on the top bunk. I don't allow toys in sleeping areas at all. Okay, one waldorf-style pillow doll each, but that's all. A jump rope in bed? Those poor parents, I can't imagine their grief.

[DoomaYula]

My almost-4yo twin boys have a bunk bed that they've been sleeping in for about 6 months now. They like it. We did drill the ladder to the bed itself so they can't move it, because that was a game for a while. They don't play in the top bunk.

[Drummer's Wife]

my 3.5 yr old and 5.5 yr old have bunk beds with a full size and a twin on top. Most of the time they both sleep on the bottom but occasionally my oldest sleeps on the top. It has a really high rail, I see no way they could accidentally fall off, they would have to be messing around and climbing over the side.

My problem is that my 20 month old easily climbs up the ladder and stands on the top and cannot get down himself and scares me every time... There is no way to remove the ladder so I'm hoping this gets better.

[carolhagan]

Personally, I wouldn't do bunks for my kids until they are much older. My oldes son moves so much in his sleep he has fallen out of a bed that had high rails on it. Don't ask how. My youngest son is a dare devil and I could totally see him jumping off the top bunk for fun. He jumps off everything. So for my kids.. I would say my oldest being 8 and my youngest would have to be 6.

[Mere]

I think you have to take it on kid-to-kid basis. Dd and ds share bunk beds, and she has been in the top bunk since she was 4.5. Never had any problems, and she still gets up int he middle of the night half of the time to sleep in our bed!

[Francy]

I have two very active, agile boys (ages 5 and almost-3).

We got a loft (not a bunk--a loft! all the way up by the ceiling!) for my older son when he was 3.5. The loft had rails almost all the way around (just an opening at the ladder). He had no problem getting up and down, even in the middle of the night. He always obeyed the "sitting or lying down" rule.

He was adamant about sleeping with his head at the ladder end (where the opening is). And so TWICE, he fell out! Head first!

And he didn't even wake up!!!! Dh and I heard the booms, and went running. We found him sleeping on the floor!

After that, we constructed our own little gate for the opening. No more problems.

I wouldn't let my almost-3 boy sleep up there, but only because he gets up every night and comes to my bed.

Can you get the kind that split into beds? that way, if you try it, and feel nervous about it, you can take them apart.

Oh--the only real negative for me is that we bought a cheap loft from Ikea, and it feels so wobbly. If I could do it all over again, I'd spend 5-7 times as much (eek!), and get a really solid piece of furniture. So I really do regret the Ikea purchase.


Good luck with your decision!

[Francy]

Originally Posted by Drummer's Wife

My problem is that my 20 month old easily climbs up the ladder and stands on the top and cannot get down himself and scares me every time... There is no way to remove the ladder so I'm hoping this gets better.

you could try greasing the rungs.



sorry. couldn't resist.

[almama]

We bought that exact Ikea bed (I think . . . it is a loft style and the mattress is 3.5 ' and the rails about 4.5') for our son when he was 3.5. We were freaked out too, but next to our bed, it really isn't that much higher. He's been fine. We are pretty strict on the no jumping, standing rule. Now my middle guy who is 3.5 is in it. It really isn't a bunk bed per se. . .

[KMK_Mama]

My 4yo and 3yo have bunks from Ikea...the shorter one like you described. I don't think I would get the taller ones.

They have been sharing a room and sleeping in the bunks for over a year. I catch them on occasion jumping on the top bunk though. We have taken them apart before as "punishment" for jumping off of the top bunk or jumping on the bed, but that was right after we got them. When the beds are apart, they don't fit into their room anymore since we got the dresser and book case. They haven't hurt themselves yet. If they didn't have to share a room though, I would not have bought bunk beds.

[cyclemama]

We were intending to buy bunk beds for our 5 and 3 year old until my father reminded me that my brother fell from a top bunk and fractured his skull when we were kids. He was in kindergarten at the time, so he was probably 5 or 6 years old at the time.

We ended up buying bunk beds and split them into twins for the time being. We might put them back together when the boys are much older. To save space, we shelled out the extra bucks for an underbed cabinet for each of the twin beds. They are like underbed drawers, but the drawers are actually part of a cabinet, so they pull out and push in very smoothly and look very nice. There is a lot of space for all their clothes so we don't need dressers in the room.

cyclemama

[FreeRangeMama]

We have a kids loft bed with the slide (Ikea) for my boys. We used it like a bunkbed by putting a second mattress on the floor underneath it. No one wanted the bottom bunk Ds2 started sleeping in the top bunk with ds1 when he was 2.5 (and ds1 was 5). He still came to our bed every night and had no problem getting down the slide. Dd managed to crawl over to the slide, climb up, fall down, and knock herself unconcious at 10 months though. She was fine by the time we got to the ER.

I liked the low loft instead of the bunk because it is lower. Less height to fall from. They have never had a problem. I still wouldn't trust dd up there unsupervised at 19 months, but she is much less agile then they were at that age. I would take it on a case-by-case basis. Every child is different.

[mom2sol]

My pediatrian mentioned this to me at one point. I think she said not before 6 years old but she tends to be overly cautious about everything... I do remember some horrible story in the paper a few years ago about a four year old getting trapped in a bunk bed and dying some how but I don't remember the details.
We have discussed it many times, my DH is pro bunk bed even though he fell off one as a kid and broke his arm! I just figured by the time they were both old enough to where I felt it was safe they probably wouldn't want to be in the same room any way so we went with the full size bed option and when my DD is old enough we are going to see if the two kids will sleep together. Right now my son comes and gets my husband and he spends half the night with him. Which is another reason we didn't go the bunk bed route, not enough room for two!