tell me about floor beds

[dctexan]

Okay, I am very intrigued by the idea of a floor bed, but also not quite sure if it is the right choice for my family. Did any one here use a floor bed? How old was your child when you put them in the bed? What was your experience like?

[J's Mama]

We have a "floor bed" that's really just an extension of our family bed (mattress on floor). Our son slept on it for a while but now always sleeps with us. I guess I would totally recommend it. I think he learned how to maneuver really early as a result. We just put a soft landing place on the floor below the bed in case he would roll/fall off but now (1 yr.) he's a master at getting on and off the bed quickly by himself.
Siobhan

[dancebaraka]

Well, we are just starting out here : but we have bascially a big low to the ground asian style family bed and a seperate floor bed in dd's room. Her nursery is a M style prepared environment. We co-sleep for now but also lay dd in her own bed in her nursery for naps/mobile gazing... she may only be in there for 5 mins before she's calling for us and that's fine... we just want her to also have the experience of her own independent space in addition to the family bed. I imagine eventually she will be able to independently move from her small floor bed to our gigantic one.

[somanyjoys]

Love the floor bed! We moved dd to a queen sized mattress on the floor at around 16 months. We now have the box springs with it, too. We did (and still do) modified cosleeping, meaning that she starts the night in her room and joins us when she wakes. What I like about the floor bed is that it gives her the ability to come find me when she needs me. When she wakes up from her nap, she comes to where I am. If she wakes at night, she walks to our room (usually) instead of me having to get out of bed and go get her.

Now, I do still nurse my daughter to sleep before naps and bedtimes, so she isn't falling asleep in the bed alone. I think for people whose kids are still awake when they put them down, it might be a more difficult transition.

[chekhovgirl]

The suggestion is to have them in a floor bed once they're "mobile" which is crawling, I guess, but I'm planning on putting DS in one once he can walk. I just feel more comfortable with that because there's no space for him to be in our room, so he'll be in his own. Sorry I can't give you any advice since I haven't done it yet, but I think it's a great concept.

[wrzos]

We moved to a floor bed of sorts once my ds was mobile. Basically, we co-slept for maybe the first 6 months, then I started him off in a crib at night, till he woke at say midnight? At that point, I'd bring him in with us for the remainder of the night. DS walked just before 9 months, so we first put his crib into the toddler configuration and put a gate on his room (more b/c of the stairs just outside his door). He would sleep in his bed, then if he woke, he'd walk over to the gate and either cry (before words) or shout MOMMY (after words). We actually took the toddler bed down to the floor after a week or two b/c he moves so much he'd flop out. So, picture a crib in toddler mode, but with the mattress on the floor. The toddler rail made sort of a little box frame around the mattress. It helped keep him corralled - b/c he moves A LOT when sleeping. LOL

Once he got good at stairs, we took the gate down and taught him to just come into our bed when he needed us. But- back to your point. I think the floor bed is a great idea - I just couldn't handle it when he was way small. It was me wrapping my mind around it that was the problem. That and I always put him down dead asleep and it was easier to do that in a raised bed. It was actually harder once the mattress was on the floor to move from our nursing chair to his bed.

Now that he is over 2, he has his own full sized bed, and we lay in bed to read stories till he falls asleep. Same concept, lots of freedom of movement.

One helpful hint, if you are granting your child freedom of movement, don't assume you'll wake up if they leave their room. We've woken up to find him downstairs, etc. We made sure he wasn't able to leave the house (latches high up, etc) or reach the knives (!) while we were sleeping. This helped ease my mind as well...

[nkm1968]

We did not have a floor bed, but we have a futon that we all sleep on, and a crib that has NEVER been used for more than 5-10 minutes at a stretch. I wish I had known about attachment parenting and family bed BEFORE we sunk $99 at Ikea into a useless piece of furniture!!

I have a 5 year old who still sleeps with us every night, and we love it, and a 14 year old who sleeps in her own room since age 7, unless she does not feel well, then asks for Mom to sleep with her (maybe twice a year).

As one of my cousins is currently in the process of losing his 7 year old to an untreatable brain tumor (DIPG) I cannot tell you how much of a comfort it has been to me personally over the past year to have my youngest still want to sleep with us.

As an infant and toddler, she always slept later than us (and still does) so wandering was never a problem. She just really likes to be with us, near the floor but not on it. Also, when we were still nursing it really made my nights MUCH more bearable.