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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

mattress on the floor?

134 replies

buttertoff33 · 17/02/2019 11:49

Aibu to put the DCs' mattresses on the floor? They both have outgrown their smaller beds, esp DC1.

I cannot afford new beds right now so was thinking of putting the mattresses directly onto the floor. we have carpet, not wooden floors.

People sleep on floors in lots of countries and did so over thousands of years so I don't think I am being hugely unreasonable. DC aren't fuzzed either but a friend said the carpet floor and the proximity to it could trigger all kind of allergies.

Anyone done this? any negative side effects?

OP posts:
Harebellsies · 17/02/2019 13:28

Am planning to do this soon - turn my bed into a montessori bed because we co-sleep and baby is about to crawl. Was very stressful with DD1 preventatiing her falling off the bed and want to make life easier second time round. Cant be bothered with the constant supervision and never sleeping deeply in case she crawls off the bed in the night.
I plan to try using the slatted frames under the matress, to add support but i dont think this is neccesary as we are all quite light. Was planning to start a bed on montessori beds to ask for tips soon.

Original poster
buttertoff33 · 17/02/2019 13:29

good on you, star. I have s child with very comes needs which means I can only work very reduced hours. I suggest you educate yourself about the connection between disability and poverty.

Bed aside, no idea if you ever read the news. Many people in this country rely on foodbanks because the cannot afford to put food on the table. Let alone buying two beds/bunk bed.

I hope you never encounter illness or disability which leaves you struggling financially.

@ rest : thanks sounds like no biggie. Will go ahead Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
buttertoff33 · 17/02/2019 13:30

very complex needs. autocorrect messed this up.

OP posts:
Harebellsies · 17/02/2019 13:30

*start a thread 😆

FiveRedBricks · 17/02/2019 13:33

Floor beds are fine. Montessori method advocates using them. Loads of people I know used them with their babies too after 6m old/when crawling.

thebabessavedme · 17/02/2019 13:33

vanilla, i was going to suggest that! I saw a sofa on tv the other day which was made with pallets, it looked really comfy - I suppose that a mattress on a pallet is basically a futon.

ThreeAnkleBiters · 17/02/2019 13:33

When my eldest was an insomniac baby we ended up all sleeping on a double mattress on the floor. It felt a bit like a crack den at first but we got used to it and had no allergy issues.

NunoGoncalves · 17/02/2019 13:43

Why would it not be ok, OP?

skunkatanka · 17/02/2019 13:43

Are you buying new mattresses though OP? I'm assuming so as if they've outgrown their beds, they must have outgrown their mattresses too. The bed frame part is often the cheapest part and the part that you can often find second hand. To be honest, I'd sell my own bed before I made my children sleep on the floor.

NunoGoncalves · 17/02/2019 13:44

I mean the whole can't afford a bed. They are not exactly expensive

As a not-so-wise poster once said:

"Is this serious?"

Dinnerfor1 · 17/02/2019 13:45

I find it unbelievable how many people still pop up on threads and say things such as, “.... isn’t exactly expensive is it?” I see it so many times on MN. Some people must really live in a bubble, to be unable to imagine a world where someone can’t afford something that to them is no big deal. My daughter is still in her toddler bed at the moment, despite being past toddler age, as I just can’t justify the cost of a new bed at the moment.

OP, I think that plan sounds fine. I would just make sure the floor is vacuumed regularly. At my daughters nursery all children nap on mats on the floor, including babies.

NunoGoncalves · 17/02/2019 13:45

To be honest, I'd sell my own bed before I made my children sleep on the floor

What's wrong with sleeping on a mattress on the floor?

Theimpossiblegirl · 17/02/2019 13:50

Nothing wrong with a mattress on the floor, as long as you hoover regularly and give it an airing.

If you already have mattresses, you can often get bedframes on FB pages or freecycle, as it is the mattresses that cost the most money.

DD would love a mattress on the floor but the height difference is the only way I can find her bed in her messy room.

Original poster
buttertoff33 · 17/02/2019 13:51

To be honest, I'd sell my own bed before I made my children sleep on the floor.

I am not sure I would be in for £££££ for my 15 year old pressed wood wonky IKEA bed Hmm

And no, I am not making the DC sleep on the floor. They will be sleeping on a mattress

OP posts:
greenelephantscarf · 17/02/2019 13:54

it's fine.
but as pp say, the matress needs airing regularly.
you can get just a slatted base to put it on.

skunkatanka · 17/02/2019 13:56

OP, have you looked on Facebook selling pages, Gum Tree- even Freecycle to see if there's a cheap/free frame going? As I said, I'm assuming that you're buying new mattresses anyway.

whilethechiefputsshineonleith · 17/02/2019 13:57

i would be scared of spiders getting onto me

Bobbycat121 · 17/02/2019 14:03

I got my bed (just frame) for £27 on ebay... but people forget that you have to actually PAY someone to
collect it (even if it is cheap or free) so it ended up as £77 as had to
pay £50 for a man with van.

MsVestibule · 17/02/2019 14:05

I slept on a double airbed for three years after I bought my house as I couldn't afford a bed - or maybe I could but it was very low down my list of spending priorities! I'm pretty sure vacuuming the carpet frequently was pretty low down my priority list, too, but I survived.

OP, they'll be fine, don't give it another thought.

FlagranceDirect · 17/02/2019 14:06

i would be scared of spiders getting onto me

A spider dropped on me from the ceiling once. You can't win.

theworldistoosmall · 17/02/2019 14:26

How does the floor make a mattress not breath? My old base wasn't slated. I just occasionally hoovered and turned, same as now.

MereDintofPandiculation · 17/02/2019 14:28

We slept on a mattress on the floor for a year or two. Turned it over to find a fine growth of mould on the underside, and some of the cloth rotted. DH spent rest of afternoon making a bed (which served us for nearly 20 years until I inherited my parents' bed).

So I agree with other posters - fine, provided you make sure you air it regularly.

hazeyjane · 17/02/2019 14:55

I think it is that when there is no adequate airflow (if the mattress is placed directly on the floor) all the warmth and sweat that people produce is absorbed creating a perfect environment for a layer of mould inside of (or underneath) the mattress.

When I was a manky student I ended up in hospital after an asthma attack thought to have been triggered by sleeping on a mattress on a friends floor for a while (to be fair his flat made Withnail and l's flat look like Buckingham Palace!)

MumUnderTheMoon · 17/02/2019 15:47

There is nothing wrong with a mattress being on the floor my brother used to and my dd did when she was little.

reallybadidea · 17/02/2019 15:53

all the warmth and sweat that people produce is absorbed creating a perfect environment for a layer of mould inside of (or underneath) the mattress.

I can see that might happen if the mattress is on a cold, hard surface on the ground floor but it seems unlikely in a carpeted bedroom where the warm air is likely to rise.