Mattress on the floor vs bed with rails

Still trying to figure out what to do! My kids love climbing in our bed, bring their pillow and blanket and pretend to go to sleep. We want to switch them to twin beds soon, but bedrails are expensive, so we thought of just putting a mattress on the floor at first, but I'm thinking it would be harder for them to get used to it? Has anyone done it?

 

I have one still in a crib and one on a crib mattress on the floor. They share a room. It really has been fine to transition Karina to the mattress. She was suddenly scared of her crib for some reason. The only issue we have is that she falls off all the time. Last night she was completely off the bed, but still covered up. I moved her back and she slept fine the rest of the night. We have had very little issue with her getting up when she isn't supposed to. Once in a while she gets up during the night, but I just walk her back to her room and put her back to bed.

FWIW, Annelise also likes playing "night night" in our bed, but she does not want to be out of her crib. In fact, she insists on staying in it. I don't necessarily think playing "night night" is a sign to move them to a big kid bed. I haven't pushed the issue of moving to a big girl bed because "if it isn't broken, don't fix it." She's nearly three and still likes her crib. So, she can stay in it for a while longer.

 

My kids played "night night" in our bed for about a year before we moved them to toddler beds. So I agree that it's not really a sign of readiness. However, I'm not sure you need to wait for readiness signs... give the switch a try; you may find they're totally ready. And as for mattresses on the floor - yeah, why not? I don't think that would be a hard transition. I've had several friends move to mattresses with their kids with no issues.

 

Try to look for bedrails at craigslist.That is what I am planning to do in the future(my two are still in cribs and I taught them to climb out if they need to on the recliner that I put in between their cribs,at least I know they will not hurt themselves)

 

I have never tried the mattress on the floor with any of my kids, but I think it is a good option. Many people transition to regular beds without ever using rails at all but I have always preferred having them. I agree with the suggestion to try Craigslist or a secondhand store if you want to find some cheaper.

 

We have always transitioned ours to mattresses on the floor - and it worked awesome for 3 of 5 so far. We plan to do the same with the duo when their turn comes. I liked the safety aspect that we didn't have to worry about the cost of rails, and yet they were safe if they got out/fell out of bed. They did learn to sleep without rails because even if they DID fall out, it was only mattress height.

 

Thanks, we'll probably do that when we're all ready then!

 

We did the mattress on the floor first, and then put it up on the frame a few months later. They never fell off the mattress on the floor, and DD fell out of the bed once after we put it up on the frame. We did not use bed rails at all.