Child sleeps on a mattress on the floor

[Ovenpizzasarerank]

Went for dinner and a playdate with my Ds new friend. Mum is very nice, child lovely. Ds called me upstairs to show me his friends lego building and his bed was a mattress on the floor, is this normal? Mum very bohemian, house very messy and not well looked after-I am not judging and these things don't bother me, my house needs painting and some new furniture, so I get it, but is a mattress as a bed ok?

Yup! Its one of the things they picked up on when my DC were small. The fact the did have beds and all clean bedding and had just taken the mattresses off to ay a game was irrelevant. SS decided they didn't have adequate beds.

Yes, they do, but many people don’t know this.

a mattress on the floor but propped up somehow for ventilation is a good sleeping arrangement for young kids.

Again, it's not considered a sign of neglect just on its own and the bedding isn't particularly inadequate at the moment.

I thought that too. If mum is bohemian she may well espouse Montessori methods and values.

Floor beds are fine. Loads of people do them for toddlers and beyond because maybe they’ve just never thought to change things if it’s working and there are other priorities. And that argument around circulation makes no sense because a solid divan base circulates no more air than the floor, and if your floor is damp then you have bigger problems that aren’t going to be solved by some slats. No sheet would need to be really grim but I wouldn’t be too quick to judge maybe the kid an accident last night and it’s in the wash and will be back on by bedtime?!

My child is severly disabled he has a disabillity social worker every visit she check his room and bed .

Nothing wrong with a mattress on the floor, it's good for the back, but it needs sheets obviously, and a warm duvet because the floor is draughty.

I find this interesting as I am a bit of a germophobe and change the sheets quite regularly.

Several people have said to me they don't need changing that much ( and I kind of know they don't: I just like the feeling of very fresh sheets), but, being aware of water wastage, I have extended the time I leave them on for, and frequently remind myself of the comment many have made to me that sofa covers don't get changed very often and no one thinks having a nap on the sofa will kill them.

Which is true.

@x2boys

If I was a teenager my mum would not be happy at all about the state of my bedroom.
@metameta
One single solitary 'marker' spotted at one point on one day, does not equal neglect.
Has anyone really needed a duvet this summer? Mine is folded up on the end of my bed
The sheet may well be in the wash.
See my bedroom above which has been sheetless all day.
I'm an adoptive mum and have fostered 3 children. Bed on the floor doesn't even scratch the surface of neglect. When you start talking maggots in the fridge, animal faeces on the floor, rubbish piled everywhere - then you can talk neglect
So unless @Ovenpizzasarerank is going to drop an enormous drip feed there is nothing that would concern me so far

For all the uninformed idiots people mentioning SS- a child sleeping without a bed frame is not inadequate bedding. SS came into my home due to DD disclosing some concerning things about a certain family member (not connected to our household). At the time she was 3 and had a single mattress on the floor (carpeted, and yes, the mattress had full sheets and duvet cover). This was mainly because I couldn't afford to buy a new mattress and bed frame at the same time (shoot me). The lovely social worker looked in DDs room and had nothing but positive things to say. In fact, I remember her exact words being 'She clearly has everything she needs'. Funny that!

Mattress on the floor with no sheets, house not looked after, and worried enough to ask others’ opinion. Do not look for online consensus, from individuals falling over themselves to justify turning a blind eye.

This isn’t a case of ‘be kind’, this is a child’s wellbeing.

Children might choose to sleep on a hard floor/sofa/corner/some other random place a poster will suggest, but what is key for a child, is having the option available to them of a clean bed which includes sheets which can be washed.

I think lots of futons are effectively on the floor aren't they?

I'd have thought it was better for the spine and resulted in fewer dc falling out of bed if I had to critique it..

DS has a mattress on the floor...but it's a mattress with hinges that's specially designed to fold (it's a thick memory foam mattress with zips to join the segments). It's great, partly because DS, who we suspect has ADHD, falls out bed continually. But also because it folds he can instantly have way more floor space for playing. It makes a great den too and we've got a den building kit he can use to extend out so it's like mini house in his bedroom!

But when it's flat it looks like an ordinary mattress on the floor rather than a considered choice for our DS, and I do sometimes worry that people are judgemental about it.

Right, still not sure what you're driving at here?

If everything was otherwise absolutely fine with the child in the OP, his bed would not be seen as neglect and nor would his bedding at this time of year.

Yes.
Bed poverty is a thing.

It doesn’t start with maggots, faeces, and rubbish though does it?

There isn’t enough information for me, or anyone, to say weather this is part of a bigger picture but if I was doing a home visit and found a chaotic/messy home and a child without adequate bedding I’d have some questions.

A mattress on the floor isn't ideal. It may be a stylistic or financially driven choice rather than a lack of care choice, but if it's like that permanently it's possibly not healthy as does encourage mold. No sheets also a concern - more likely to be lack of care if permanent, though it may just be the sheets were in the wash. For me, it wouldn't be enough for me to be concerned if it was the only thing. But if there were other indicators of neglect, it would factor into me mentioning it to the school.

There are charities set up so children don't have to sleep like this.

https://zarach.org/

This thread is getting me paranoid about our divan bed now ...

Honestly, some people here would shit kittens if they saw Japanese and Korean bedrooms.

Im not am idiot my child is disabled snd currently has a disabillty ss she checks his bedroom every visit.

DD11's best friend sleeps on a mattress on the floor out of choice (sleeps on the rug on the floor at ours for sleepovers) but always has bedding. The bedding bit is what would worry me.

Can you wangle another invite and see it on a different day before you decide?

My DD's bed broke and she spent nearly 4 weeks on a mattress while we waited for her new bed to be delivered, does he definitely not have a bed coming?

Why not ask the mum about it if it concerns you that much..
I'm sure she'd appreciate it more than asking a load of strangers on an online forum.

Same.

No bed frame could be for lots of reasons (we are currently on a mattress on the floor awaiting delivery of our new bed). But no bottom sheet is really grim.

Floor beds are very fashionable currently - our now 7 yo had one until earlier this year. It did have a small frame with slats under the mattress, though you couldn't tell when the bed was made.