Is It Safe to Have Baby Mattress on Floor

How Safe Are Floor Beds for Babies and Toddlers?

If yous've been wondering if a Montessori floor bed would work for your toddler or baby, hither'south the scoop on the benefits, plus condom tips and decorating ideas.

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Whether you lot've heard about it on TikTok or come beyond them while perusing Etsy, the floor bed for kids trend is taking off in a major way. "A floor bed is a elementary bed consisting of but a mattress or a mattress and a legless frame that sits directly on the floor," explains Junnifa Uzodike, co-author of The Montessori Baby: A Parent'south Guide to Nurturing Your Babe with Love, Respect, and Agreement. "They can be a simple crib mattress or a larger mattress."

Hither, everything you lot need to know about what a floor bed is and how to know if information technology'due south right for your child equally well every bit a few floor bed ideas available for buy.

RELATED: When to Transition to a Toddler Bed and How to Do Information technology Smoothly

Father and daughter in her nursery

The Story Behind Montessori Floor Beds

In the early on 1900s, Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, developed what are now referred to equally Montessori educational principles, which focus on hands-on experience, move, choice, and order in the learning environment.

A concept called "Montessori at domicile" refers to parents who cull to utilize the Montessori principles to their parenting, explains Uzodike. "This often looks like treating the children with respect, encouraging their independence, and preparing the home with care and attention to support their individual development," she notes.

The floor bed is a natural extension of these ideas, as information technology supports the kid's development of independence past assuasive them to get into and out of bed independently, says Uzodike.

But while the Montessori approach might exist fueling floor beds' current increase in popularity, many cultures around the earth used floor beds well earlier the 20th century.

RELATED: What to Know About Toddler Sleep Regression

Benefits of a Flooring Bed

According to Uzodike, there are many benefits to setting upwards a floor bed for your child:

They support a child's gross motor skills and body awareness.

"From birth, the babe makes small movements and can turn almost 360 degrees," she explains. "If y'all observe, you might notice that when they encounter the edge of the bed, they move back and don't drop off. This sense of their body inside space is enhanced by using a flooring bed."

She adds that floor beds too let the child to enjoy an unobstructed view of their infinite.

Information technology helps them develop their sleep independence.

Whitney Casares, Thou.D., MPH, FAAP, writer of The Working Mom Blueprint: Winning at Parenting Without Losing Yourself explains, "Proponents of flooring beds annotation that they provide children more access to books and placidity toys as they prepare to sleep and when they kickoff rise in the morning or from naps, giving them more independence."

RELATED:How to Create the Best Infant Nap Schedule

They can boost your child'due south confidence and sense of self.

Uzodike attributes this to their ability to decide when they are washed sleeping. "They besides accept a positive association with sleep considering their bed is non something they are stuck in and can't exit of," she notes. "It is a place they go to rest and tin can get up when they are done resting."

It creates infinite for bonding.

"Another advantage is that depending on the size of the bed, the adult can sit or prevarication in bed with the babe if they need it," says Uzodike. "Perhaps to read to them or breastfeed them or even just to comfort them without having to lift them out of bed or change location, which can interfere farther with sleep."

They're easy to put together and affordable.

Yous can make a floor bed as unproblematic or as elaborate as you lot like.

The Appropriate Historic period for a Floor Bed

Near children transition out of a crib around the age of 2 or iii, once they're able to put their leg at the top of the crib rails. It's around this time that Dr. Casares says information technology'due south safe to consider a floor bed.

Moving your kid to a floor bed will assist them avoid injuries from crib falls while assuring the child volition be less likely to sustain any injuries from the floor bed itself, such every bit from rolling, she explains.

That said, all children are different, notes Dr. Casares. "A floor bed could also piece of work as a transition to an elevated bed for an older toddler who is ready for the next step in sleeping arrangements but hasn't indicated a stiff want to leave the crib," she explains.

RELATED: The Best Baby Sleep Tips Ever

The Best Practices for Floor Bed Safety

Dr. Casares warns that floor beds can be dangerous if a child's room is non properly prophylactic-proofed and if the bed is non set correctly. She recommends the following smart rubber moves.

Place the mattress away from walls or from article of furniture, ideally in the centre of the room, so that if your kid rolls while sleeping, they don't become trapped against a wall.
Secure the piece of furniture to the walls, embrace electrical outlets, and remove small choking hazards.
Remove any choking or other potentially dangerous toys from the room.
Consider safe outside the child'southward bedroom, including installing condom gates if in that location are stairs.

You lot tin also help preclude your child from rolling out past practicing sleeping on the floor bed during the mean solar day for naps when orienting to their new environment might be easier, explains Casares. "Likewise, using positive reinforcement and praise can help toddlers to stay in the bed for incrementally longer periods of fourth dimension without calling out for a parent," she notes.

RELATED: Toddler Sleep Guidelines You Need to Know

Flooring Beds to Try

If you're on the market for a floor bed, check out these options:

Sprout Montessori Floor Bed

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Sprout touts the ability of their floor bed to grow with your child. Information technology'due south flippable to ease the transition to a bigger bed. $349, Sprout-Kids.com

West Elm Tent Bed

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Created in a collaboration with Pottery Barn Kids, this tent-shaped bed is low to the ground and helps kids feel like they're on a camping adventure. $699, westelm.com

Southward Shore Sweedi Toddler Bed