Are you an engineer, carpenter or clever creative thinker? Help me brainstorm!

[SinkGirl]

We need safe beds for our twins who are 3.5 and still in cots due to disabilities that would make it unsafe for them to be out of bed. One twin has a cat net over the top to stop him climbing out. It’s a short term fix.

There are various safe bed options which are thousands, but crucially their room is just slightly too small to fit two single beds in it. We can’t fit our bed in there either so can’t swap.

We are on a waiting list for an assessment from social care but it’s a six month wait.

We want to get some special bunks beds built in which can’t be escaped from, but which can be converted later so they can be used normally if they are able. But I can’t think how to design them.

This is the best thing we have found, it fits on an Ikea bed. I was thinking we could have the beds cut down in length a bit so they’d fit in the room but then the net would be too big, and I’m not sure who I could get to adjust this.

Does anyone have any brilliant ideas? Any out of the box suggestions?

Extra Tall Pet Room Deviders?

These are 105cm
www.safetots.co.uk/babydan-extra-tall-child-and-pet-flex-l-black.html

Dividers

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate each and every suggestion!

The pet crate is a very similar idea to the enclosed travel cots I posted the pic of, but I think without the support legs they’d just hurl themselves against the sides and tip it. We definitely need something with a rigid frame and then fabric of some kind I think - but something very safe, durable, non toxic and breathable.

(Those travel cots are called Deryan Peuterbox if anyone wants one)

There are great things called Safety Sleepers which I would possibly opt for if we had the room for two single beds. £3k each though!

Maybe worth contacting these guys. With the caveat that as with all things for the disabled, their funding is being starved to zero

www.remap.org.uk/

These guys who made our playpen is another Avenue I’m trying - they have a version of the panels that are 90cm high, but think they do taller ones as well. Would definitely need it to be taller! They’re only 92cm tall but with the help of a mattress to stand on, DT1 could easily get out. He’s remarkable (and terrifying!)

www.tekplas.co.uk/product/pvc-fencing/outdoor-fencing/childrens-play-area-fencing/

Can’t find the floor plan. We could fit a toddler bed in one alcove (the one just this side of the photo) but a single bed would be too wide and too long to open the door which is opposite. Other alcove has a radiator in the way and is next to a window. So it would have to be a toddler bed, but would have to find an enclosed one which is the sticking point really as I haven’t seen any

Yes I think Remap will be on my list to call this week.

I'm so sorry if it's an inappropriate suggestion, but would actual tents with beds inside be any use (at least in the short term?)

You can zip the doors up and could secure with a carabiner or similar?

Not in appropriate at all! They would just tip them over though. You can get bed tents which I thought might work but they’re too flimsy.

It shouldn’t be this tricky should it?! There are lots of safe beds out there but all single bed size. I’m really hoping the social care OT will have a brilliant idea, if I haven’t managed to figure out anything else since. They’re safe for now with the cat / mosquito net thingies over their cots (they’re fitted and then there’s a zip along the top) but it’s not a longterm solution as they are growing!

I have seen people use custom size soft play type panels that velcro together but they’d have to be so high sided I think it might feel quite claustrophobic.

My DS was in a cot until he was 4.5. We used to put him in a baby sleeping bag (you can get bigger ones) back to front so he couldn't unzip it. The sleeping bag stopped him climbing out. However it would depend how determined your DTwins are. Mine never had much initiative....

DT1 has figured out how to take his sleeping bag off unfortunately - he’s an escapologist I swear. They didn’t really try to get out until recently but then suddenly DT1 was out every few minutes for an entire night and that’s when I bought the net. Sigh.

I hate even discussing it because it feels so wrong to basically want to cage your children. I have to keep them safe though, and in beds where they could just get out they wouldn’t be safe unless the room was a padded cell with no power, lighting, heating or window. I’m looking at all these options to see what would work but I worry about safety and would be much more comfortable not having to improvise something to be honest. If only I could stay awake forever, it wouldn’t be a problem, but that’s not going so well so far!

Ikea cotbeds are 70x140 and are cheap.

You can definitely stack Kura beds as I've seen this done as an ikea hack lots of times. Or what I reckon I'd do is buy two sets and Frankenstein them together: one full set made up as per directions as a normal high sleeper bed, which would form the frame for the bottom bunk and the sleeper part for the top bunk. Then add the sleeper part of bed 2 onto the bottom frame, and use the leftover framework of bed 2 to add a canopy frame for the top bunk. But these are standard single size I think. And I'm not sure how tall that would be.

Some bedtents to check out
aqua-lotus.com/products/kids-galactic-space-bed-tent-w-star-light

www.privacypop.com/products/the-bed-tent-plus/

thetenthub.com/camping-tents/best-bed-tent/

Well could you not create something bespoke, like with a wooden base and halfway up, then a plastic type lid that opens from outside? I guess I'm thinking more like something you would see in a hospital or film, but there must be some version that could be created. So the lid lifts up and beds can be changed but cant be opened from inside.

www.creativecareltd.com/h-c-professional/
Is something like this what you need?

Could you make a different room be their bedroom?

Would this work. ...?
Four poster bed like this from littlewoods,
-take mattress out
-staple gun base of bedtent to base of actual bed

• put mattress back in
• staple gun sides of bedtent to sides of actual bed.

No sadly no other room to use - we can’t fit in there (could just about squeeze in a double bed but DH works from home so needs a desk too), downstairs is open plan except for the kitchen. Can’t stash them in the bath or cooker :D

Yes, that creative care one is the sort of thing I was looking at, although they have only standard bed sizes so would need to get one made to fit the whole room, slightly in from the wall and we could fit two smaller mattresses on the floor.

Yes, getting someone to hack together two Kuras could work but I’d need someone to adapt the mesh covers (and I have to ship them from Australia which is expensive so need to make sure it’s not cocked up) because of the way they fit on to the frame. If only we could fit two Kura beds in their room but it’s just slightly too small. We could look at making them shorter, but again would need someone to adapt the mesh.

Thank you will look at the bed tents and see if we could make it work!

Problem with the bed tents I’ve seen is they’re all single bed size and we can’t fit two singles in there.

Argh it’s a blooming nightmare.

It says it's a toddler bed 140cm long

What I'm suggesting is to take the tent poles out and attach the tent to the uprights of the bed so it can be adjusted to fit the bed even if it is shorter.

Try contacting Creative Care, it says they do "Custom" ones, so maybe they could do toddler length? It's worth a try.

Would removing the chimney breast help give you more useable space?

Would you have enough space for two standard beds if you replaced the traditional door with a sliding one?

Sorry I see what you mean with the tents (sorry, brain not working well these days!). Will have a look and see if I can figure something out.

I will contact Creative Care - problem is they are insanely expensive (thousands each), and if we get toddler size ones they’ll outgrow them in a few years. Not sure what else we can really do though.

Taking out the chimney breast is an option, as is a sliding door potentially (although it’s next to the stairs so would have to look into logistics) if we can’t find anything that works and will fit. I’m reluctant to take the chimney breast out as the fireplace below it is set up for a wood burner and if we decide to sell I know it’s a good selling point. But something has to give somewhere if we can’t find anything suitable.

Might look for slightly bigger cots and see if I can get similar nets to cover them, as an interim measure while we wait for OT assessment.

But if anyone has any clever ideas for adapting bunk beds, I’m all ears! I was thinking we could get something like this and someone could build an adaptation to cover the front but could later be removed but I’m not sure what it would be.