Bed suggestions

Our girls have been happily sleeping on their crib mattresses on the floor for the last 6+ mos. We are expecting baby number 3 in Sept. and I have been thinking about what to do with furniture. The girls share a dresser which has a changing pad on top and i was thinking of moving it to the new baby room and taking a crib mattress back. Their room is small-ish and the babies room is smaller. So I can either:
1. Buy 2 captains beds and then i dont have to worry about a dresser, but i do worry about space for that in their room.
2. Buy a bunkbed - maybe one that comes apart into 2 beds, and a dresser for them to share.

My questions - I am really wanting a bunk bed. Ikea has them cheap, but they dont separate but they have railings on the top bunk. Am i insane to consider putting my 2.5 year olds in a bunk bed? They also have a child's loft bed that can put a mattress in the bottom, so its like a bunk bed but everything is way lower. Does that sound any safer? If I am supposed to worry about them falling out of a bunk bed, should I worry about them falling out of a captains bed? because they are kinda high too.
The other option is that i buy a new dresser and crib mattress for the baby and leave the girls room as is till they are old enough for a bunk bed. Ahh indecision. Any advice?

 

Honestly I would never put a kid under 5 in a top bunk, although I know some people have done it and it was fine.

The captain beds seem like a good idea, but the problem with those is that you'll actually need more free space as you'll need room to open the drawers... Honestly I'd get two cheap twin beds that you can put against each other if needed, and a bigger dresser.

 

I wouldn't put a 2.5 year old in a top bunk (not sure how high the captains beds are, but I probably wouldn't use one of those either). The risk of the child falling out while asleep wouldn't worry me as much as them getting up/down from the bed without supervision or playing around up there in the day.

If I were in your situation I'd go with option 2 and get a bunkbed that comes apart. That way you can have it separated until they are older and you won't be buying anything you don't really need (new dresser/mattress for the baby). It might make the girls room more squashed for a while but for me it would be worth the peace of mind.

Good luck deciding.

 

We have small rooms as well and my two younger girls ( 4 & 2) have been rooming together since the 2 year old was born. I currently have them in 2 twin beds (I already had one as a spare from years ago so we just purchased a separate one). I would have just bought bunk beds that come apart if I didn't already have one bed. I would not put them in a bunk bed at this age though. The age recommendation on most bunk bed is 6, and I think I would follow those guidelines. I personally wouldn't do the captain beds ... but I thinks it's just my personal choice, they just aren't nice to look at, chunky -- but again that's just my opinion on looks alone. So I vote for bunk beds that come apart and a tall 5/6 drawer dresser! Good Luck!

 

My 2.5 yos are in bunk beds, but they both sleep in the bottom bunk. I took the ladder off so they couldn't get up to the top bunk.

 

We have bunks that come apart, and they are separated right now. Its a tight squeeze in there but they don't seem to mind and I deal with it because I know we don't have to buy different beds for a long time. Our "top bunk" also has rails around all sides, but like the PP said, I am not worried about falling out at night while sleeping but more the climbing up and down etc. I read somewhere that kids should be able to go up and down a ladder safely before using a top bunk, and I'm pretty sure my almost 3 year-olds would not want to turn around and come down a ladder because they don't do it at a playground yet either. Even if they did want to try it I am totally not comfortable bunking them yet, but really glad we can do it in the future!

 

We're in a similar situation & I was debating what to do. Luckily, sil is giving us her old bunkbed...the kind that comes apart. So my plan is to take the beds apart & have the twins in those for now. Baby on the way we were told looks like a boy, so I think that by the time he's old enough to be out of the crib/toddler bed then ds should be old enough to go on a top bunk. So then I'll put the bunkbed together & get dd her own bed.