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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:
hazeyjane · 17/02/2019 19:22

When ds (complex needs) was seen by an Occupational therapist who dealt with adaptations in the home, we were struggling with a suitable bed - She wasn't keen on the idea on the idea of mattress on the floor (although this would have kept him safer mobility wise) because of respiratory issues.

FlagranceDirect · 17/02/2019 19:23

No I wouldn't do this. Kids need a bed, it's a basic need. If social services were ever to be involved with you for any reason, they would be interested that the child didn't have a bed

That's simply not true. I hope a social worker is reading.

Babdoc · 17/02/2019 19:24

DH and I shared a single mattress on the floor of a slum tenement for two years when we were students.
I put DD1 on a mattress on the floor at 15 months old, as I needed her cot for DD2, due 4 weeks later.
And whenever I visited MIL, I always pulled the (far too soft and saggy) mattress onto the floor to sleep, otherwise I got awful back ache.
There’s nothing wrong with sleeping on the floor - firm surfaces are much better for your health than soft beds.
My only caveat is don’t do it if you have underfloor heating on at night - you’ll cook your small child!

hazeyjane · 17/02/2019 19:26

Well the OT (who worked directly with social services) had no problem with it apart from the issue I stated. If a child has no bed at all, that is a problem, but not a mattress on the floor.

FlagranceDirect · 17/02/2019 19:27

Social services know and don't care

Quite. My daughter slept on a mattress on the floor for 10 years in order that she didn't injure herself from constantly getting out of bed.
All and every agency regarding her LD were aware of it. It would have been negligent to let her keep falling out.

Bobbycat121 · 17/02/2019 19:28

Actually I can believe SS would be concerned. I had a SW moan about me not having carpet on my stairs and it was only the stairs. All other rooms were carpeted but she said I needed to carpet the stairs. So I imagine children having no beds would be concerning to her, depends on the SW.

ThePoliticiansPraiseMyName · 17/02/2019 19:30

My ds used to have a mattress on the floor as he started climbing out of his cot at 10 mo and I didn't feel happy putting him in a bed to fall out of. His bed was cosy, and had bedding and his favourite toy and when a bit bigger fluffy blankets and a pillow. The hv saw it and said it looked great, it's simply not true that social services would view a clean mattress made up with bedding on the floor as a problem.

hazeyjane · 17/02/2019 19:33

So I imagine children having no beds would be concerning to her, depends on the SW.

They would be concerned if they had no beds.....but a mattress on a floor is a bed!!

FlagranceDirect · 17/02/2019 19:35

I had a SW moan about me not having carpet on my stairs and it was only the stairs. All other rooms were carpeted but she said I needed to carpet the stairs

Children are notorious for accidentally falling downstairs. Having carpet on the stairs is probably more important than anywhere else.
(At least that's what I've been told - but it makes sense)

Roomba · 17/02/2019 19:37

I had to do this when DS1 broke his bed frame (he cracked it, then his friend bounced on it and it snapped in half just before a sleepover). I couldn't afford a new frame for a few months and it was fine. Though I did have to hoover it and under it more. His mate thought it was fab that they 'slept on the floor' - had to explain that one to his mum!

Bobbycat121 · 17/02/2019 19:38

Well the stairs that lead up to our house arent carpeted neither are the ones at their school! So I guess thats dangerous aswell 🤔 You dont know whether all SWs wouldnt be interested, some certainly would. A bed is a basic.

hazeyjane · 17/02/2019 19:39

A bed is a basic.

Yes it is, which is why no bed is a concern....but a mattress IS a bed!!

FlagranceDirect · 17/02/2019 19:47

Yes it is, which is why no bed is a concern....but a mattress IS a bed

And there's a whole gallery of pictures of floor beds upthread to prove floor beds are a 'thing'. And not even a 'new' thing, especially amongst parents of SN children. I was once accused of pearl clutching on here. Heh.

MegaBat · 17/02/2019 19:48

But it just looks shit doesn't it? I get for a short time it may be necessary but it's not ideal is it? Makes your bedroom look like god knows what. So people can go on and on about how it's fine and even healthy etc but the fact remains it looks rubbish - and if you put it with un-carpeted stairs (to use an example from a previous post) , it starts to form a picture

DurhamDurham · 17/02/2019 19:50

I can see from lots of other responses that people do it but I still can't imagine putting my children to bed in a mattress on the floor. I'd give them my bed and I'd sleep on the floor, I know I've simplified an issue but I can't imagine ever allowing them to sleep on a mattress on the floor.
When I was a benefits advisor I came across a few families who didn't have proper beds or bedding and once I completed their forms I'd do my best to help them source funds/grants for a bed. Maybe that's why I see it so negatively, it always seemed to be in desperate situations.

NunoGoncalves · 17/02/2019 19:53

But it just looks shit doesn't it?

Lol. Not everyone cares what their bedroom looks like.

NunoGoncalves · 17/02/2019 19:54

I know I've simplified an issue but I can't imagine ever allowing them to sleep on a mattress on the floor

But you know there's nothing inherently wrong with sleeping on a mattress on the floor, right? It doesn't mean anything.

ThePoliticiansPraiseMyName · 17/02/2019 19:56

DurhamDurham giving ds my bed wouldn't have solved the issue of him falling out of his would it? Also since my bed (and lots of adult beds) are higher than children's beds this isn't necessarily a safe or viable option. Don't be so ridiculous. My dc are starving grubby little waifs, they are happy, looked after and safe in their 'floor beds'.

European12345 · 17/02/2019 19:57

A bruise on my baby’s face from falling off a bed would not look nice. Go and tell Japanese people that their beds look ugly ...

BroomstickOfLove · 17/02/2019 19:57

DS slept on a mattress on the floor for ages. I got him a bed later on but now he prefers the floor. I'm going to get rid of the bunk bed next year and get him a futon because he is clearly not really a bed person.

bedbedbed · 17/02/2019 19:58

DD is on a mattress on the floor, with a second one alongside, which one of us often sleeps on - it maximises sleep for all of us. We've done this for about 4 years now. No problem with condensation, though the mattresses are partly memory foam, don't know if that helps. We could afford a bed (and indeed have a spare single bedframe, currently stored in pieces) but a superking doesn't fit properly in DD's room, so we don't want to get a bed frame we'll barely use. In your position I'd definitely go for it.

Ellapaella · 17/02/2019 19:58

As a student nurse I slept on a mattress on the floor for nearly 3 years, I was skint, couldn't have afforded a bed - plus needing to move around a lot meant it would be a hassle to keep putting a bed together again all the time. I'm fine and survived.
Just lift and rotate on a frequent basis and they will be fine.

Someone may have already mentioned this but there is a charity that will buy beds for children if the family are in hardship. I can't remember what they are called but I remember hearing about it on women's hour. Might be worth looking into.

FamilyOfAliens · 17/02/2019 19:59

Like a PP I’m puzzled as to how your DC have outgrown their beds but not their mattresses.

SaucyJack · 17/02/2019 20:00

Fine if you want to for a bit, probably.

Second-hand bed frames aren’t expensive though.

DD3’s cabin bed was a fiver on FB. Massive faff to shift and rebuild, but not exactly spendy.

Harebellsies · 17/02/2019 20:02

I cannot believe the stubbornness on here in adhering to perceived concepts of a bed. It’s as if people are not able to think outside the narrow box.
Also, incredibly unfair (see previous middle class - tatty kids clothes thread a month ago) that if you are better-off, a floor bed is a montessori bed, but if you are skint you are accused of letting your children sleeping on a cold hard floor Confused
Thinking outside the box: I also don’t like chairs and consider them contributing to back pain. I prefer to sit on the floor instead and would love a fancy Leighton House style floor cushion area but would have to discuss with DH and his (rural country upper middle) family why i bypass the expensive chairs. They tend to look at me and DC in pity and horror to see us sitting on (lovely warm) floor cushions 🙄
Am definitely going to go with the montessori bed thing.