Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be surprised these children don’t have proper beds?

383 replies

FlappyValley · 23/02/2023 22:14

Out of DC’s friends whose houses we’ve visited, I’ve seen three who don’t have proper beds, just a mattress on the floor. I’m really surprised because these aren’t poor families by any means (professional jobs, foreign holidays, nice clothes, etc) and the parents all have beds themselves! AIBU to think a bed is one of the most basic things you’d buy your child if your standard of living is generally good? Or is this totally normal?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
Elemenohpe · 23/02/2023 22:15

Isn't it a Montessori type thing?

Believeitornot · 23/02/2023 22:15

Without checking their bank account you don’t know… or maybe their kids like low beds?

TurtleTriplets · 23/02/2023 22:16

My son has a bed, he still chooses to sleep underneath it on the floor. Very bizarre but he's happy down there.

BiasedBinding · 23/02/2023 22:16

How old are the children?

Mammyloveswine · 23/02/2023 22:17

This is a very trendy thing atm op... if their rooms are otherwise clean and suitable with bedding on then it's hardly neglect!! Stop being so judgey!

scrivette · 23/02/2023 22:18

My DC all prefer mattresses on the floor and will often pull the mattress off and sleep on the floor for a few weeks until I get fed up with the lack of floor space and insist they put it back for a while.

Kalasbyxor · 23/02/2023 22:19

They might be night wanderers who could get hurt falling out of bed?
Are you sure they're not futons or tatami mats?

Labraradabrador · 23/02/2023 22:22

What age? We did floor beds from 9 months to about 3 years. It’s a Montessori thing. Worked well for ours, allowed us to skip cots all together and go strait to proper twin beds.

there are also plenty of cultures where floor beds are the norm for all ages. If you have bad joints / poor mobility it is problematic, but for a healthy child I don’t see any downside?

DoubleFunMum · 23/02/2023 22:23

😂Yeah it's a trend. Obviously passed you by.

Original poster
FlappyValley · 23/02/2023 22:23

Not judging and certainly not saying it’s neglect as there’s no evidence of that! I’m just surprised as I’d never seen this before but suddenly it seems to be a thing..

OP posts:
FatAgainItsLettuceTime · 23/02/2023 22:24

My DD has always had a proper bed and has slept in it consistently for the last year or so but between 4 and 7 she much preferred sleeping in novelty places, either on a pile of teddies in a den she'd made in her room or on the floor in a sleeping bag. Before 4 she would finagle her way into our bed every bloody night and starfish in the middle so we were sleeping right on the edge clinging on by our fingertips hoping we didn't end up on the floor.

DashboardConfessional · 23/02/2023 22:25

We're looking at houses and loads of them have floor mattresses in kids' rooms. Particularly in some of the new builds with bedrooms in the roof where a bed frame takes up a fair bit of space.

Original poster
FlappyValley · 23/02/2023 22:25

😂Yeah it's a trend. Obviously passed you by.

Ok, I can live with that!

All late primary age

OP posts:
BagOfDust · 23/02/2023 22:27

Not a new thing though. DD slept like this till she was about 6 and she's 23 now!

ReadersD1gest · 23/02/2023 22:28

DoubleFunMum · 23/02/2023 22:23

😂Yeah it's a trend. Obviously passed you by.

A trend? To forgo a bed and sleep on the floor? Don't be daft.

KittyTitty · 23/02/2023 22:28

I think it is a minimalist trend. Surely a mattress is just the same as a bed?

AnneLovesGilbert · 23/02/2023 22:29

AIBU to think a bed is one of the most basic things you’d buy your child if your standard of living is generally good?

It’s the judginess of this question that implies your judgement.

DD only has a “proper bed” because her room was getting very cold and we thought getting her off the floor might help but she’s been perfectly happy with a floor bed since I got rid of her cot as a baby.

We could afford a bed, we didn’t want her to have one until recently.

AnneLovesGilbert · 23/02/2023 22:30

ReadersD1gest · 23/02/2023 22:28

A trend? To forgo a bed and sleep on the floor? Don't be daft.

Show quote history

Sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Not sleeping on the floor.

ReadersD1gest · 23/02/2023 22:30

AnneLovesGilbert · 23/02/2023 22:29

AIBU to think a bed is one of the most basic things you’d buy your child if your standard of living is generally good?

It’s the judginess of this question that implies your judgement.

DD only has a “proper bed” because her room was getting very cold and we thought getting her off the floor might help but she’s been perfectly happy with a floor bed since I got rid of her cot as a baby.

We could afford a bed, we didn’t want her to have one until recently.

Why would you actively not want your child to have a bed?

Miy · 23/02/2023 22:30

Yes maybe its a montissori thing, or prehaps they roll out of the bed and parents thinking its best solution.
We prefer low beds for children like this low sleeper bunk bed.

tiredhadenough · 23/02/2023 22:30

My child is currently on a mattress because it's a 14 week wait for the bed she chose 🙄

Emmamoo89 · 23/02/2023 22:31

Nothing wrong with that.

Original poster
FlappyValley · 23/02/2023 22:31

Why would you actively not want your child to have a bed?

Yes, I wondered this - can understand if it’s the child’s preference but it seems an unusual starting point

OP posts:
Rellywobble · 23/02/2023 22:32

Granddaughter is 3 and has floor bed and regularly sleeps in a blow up Peppa pig bed on the floor bed 😊That’s where she was tonight when I put her to bed

lochmaree · 23/02/2023 22:33

my DC sleep on a mattress on the floor - a floor bed. it's great! the mattress has like a set of rails under it so it raises it off the floor an inch or so. but no legs so not a proper bed.

Swipe left for the next trending thread