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

[FlappyValley]

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?

What is actually wrong with a mattress being on the floor? Surely its only a height preference ?

My autistic son went through a stage where he had to sleep on a mattress on the floor for his own safety - he was pulling the mattress off the frame and jumping on the bed slats snapping them. Also kept falling off and hurting himself. He’s back on a proper bed frame now but still regularly pushes his mattress onto the floor and sleeps there instead!

As others have said, if mattress is straight on the floor there is airflow and mould issues. If you have one of those floor beds for a young child I assume you are spending similar amount as you would on a cot bed so not necessarily saving money

I wouldnt worry, mattresses on the floor are not a problem for children.

Air can’t flow, they are designed to go on a frame with slats or base. Obviously as a short term measure or for specific reason it might be fine. But if house is damp or not well heated or ventilated then it could quickly be damp and mouldy.

Nope- it’s very much a trend and decision based on ‘child led’ bla bla bla and the atheistics of the room.
Another irritating Instagram trend that seems to attract those wishing to follow.

DD2 also. The floor beds look great.

May have been mentioned but people camp on camp mats with no issue

@WandaWonder most people don’t do that long term though do they

Cute

I saw a house on rightmove yesterday that had this, a mattress on a floor. I thought it looked odd and maybe they were trying to show off how it's a bedroom but actually this explains it if it's a trend.

I'm OK with just a mattress sleep-wise but I have suffered mould issues from it, so I think a low frame at least is justified.

My 7 year old sleeps in a teepee on a pile of duvets, he likes the feeling of camping. My parents are horrified, I’ve asked him numerous times if I can buy him a proper bed and he refuses. He’ll grow out of it eventually.

@FlappyValley I think your concern is misplaced and influenced because you live in the UK. In lots of other countries it is normal to sleep on a mattress/futon on the floor. Also some people prefer it or it might be a safe option. My son slept on a mattress on the floor for about a year because my husband was building him a bed.

Mine are pretty clean, but from reading MN I know standards aren’t universally applied. Would never be a concern in my house in any event as no child would be lying on a mattress on a floor. Of course children play on carpets and mats, they don’t lie breathing in whatever has become attached to the flooring for ten hours at night.

Need to be very careful about mould on the floor under the mattress. A friend had a mattress in the lounge (don’t ask) and when he lifted it the carpet was mouldy. Mattresses retain a huge amount of sweat.

Why would the air just above and the germs/mites on the mattress be so much purer than the air 10cm lower?

What do you think is lurking in the pile of a carpet that the child isn't exposed to every day and night anyway?

People are so fucking weird on this forum.

You're happy for a child to sit on a sofa, play in a carpet during the day, sit on a school carpet, be around soft furnishings, sleep on a mattress that has mitre, dust, bodily fluids and other people all day and don't bat an eyelid.

But suddenly they're 12cms closer to a carpet than they might be in a different house and it's Plague Central???

If you can’t understand the difference in momentarily putting your hand on a carpet and lying breathing in whatever dog sh@te, chemicals, fibres from the carpet, years of accumulated rubbish that vacuuming and carpet cleaning doesn’t shift for ten plus hours a night, I can’t help you. It wouldn’t be my optimum solution for a child.

As previously mentioned I'm used to low beds as grew up in another country, but I think carpets and mould may be a concern in the UK actually

I think if your carpets have dog shite on them that maybe an issue specific to you.

The biggest issue in terms of breathing in pollution is pm2.5 so you can put your kid as high or low as you like, will make no difference.

How do you know their kids haven’t had a choice?!

Everyone who wears shoes inside will have some level of dog shite on their carpets, do you not realise that?
Saying the biggest issue with pollution is x doesn’t mean I would want my children breathing in everything below it. How bizarre.

I slept on a mattress on the floor for much of my adult life.

Oh my goodness we have got onto the poo particles thing again. MNers are obsessed

If I'd have known what I know now before I kitted out the nursery with a cotbed before my son was born, I'd have absolutely got a floor bed for him (not just a mattress on the floor tbf due to the mould issues that could arise, but a proper floor bed).

My son is 15 months and WILL NOT go to sleep unless he's lying in our bed being held. Once he's asleep, I could leave the room and he'd be happy as Larry, but obviously I can't do that in case he rolls off our bed. Trying to move him into his cotbed once asleep is impossible, and he will wake up 95% of the time and refuse to go back to sleep until he's back in our bed. So that means that most nights, one of us is stuck upstairs with him 🙃

I dream of him having a floor bed as his room is completely baby-proofed, so I could get him to sleep as we do in our bed, and then leave him there for the night. Sadly finances mean we justify doing this right now since we already paid for a cotbed 😭