Floor Bed for 12 month old

[EnglishRain]

I was wondering if anyone can help me to figure out if I am missing anything or doing anything silly, as DD is quite young for a proper bed, everyone I know still uses a cot, even for two years olds.

She has never slept in a cot. We co slept from pretty early on because she wouldn't sleep in her snuz pod. I've had her full sized cot in our room for months now and she's never slept in that either.

I've ordered a single sized floor bed for her room, with the idea being that I can sleep with her to start with and then if we stop co sleeping soon that's fine, and if not that's also fine. I can get rid of the bloody cot that has never been slept in though..! If she falls out of the floor bed it's so low to the floor it shouldn't be a big deal, and she won't have any blankets or pillows.

Am I missing anything? I was planning to put it in the middle of her room, headboard against the wall. So no chance she can get stuck between the bed and wall, if that is still a risk for a 12 month old...

My sister uses a little bed guard in her nieces, just to stop her rolling off in the night, as one time she found DD kind of on her back, head down and legs on bed and she struggled to get up.

One like this.

She actually just used the cotbed base and the mattress. The base was just to help airflow really

What do you do right now when you're cosleeping? Do you always go to bed at the same time? Personally, I'd keep cosleeping until she's ready for a proper bed.

You can get a toddler bed, which is pretty much a cot without the sides. Ours was low enough that they wouldn't hurt themselves if they fell out of it. But you're not going to be able to Co sleep in it!

None of mine would sleep in a cot. We've co-slept successfully with floor mattresses. It works really well!

@EnglishRain my little girl is in and floor bed, she is 14 months and been in it about 4 months now. I just have her cotbed mattress and the mattress slates on the floor. I've baby proofed her room and limited toys are in at all times. She has never got up to play in the night, she still wakes up crying and to be honest mainly just sits up on her bed and calls me, she is able and does occasionally come to her baby gate if I'm not quick enough out of bed. It really works for us.

My DD was in a proper bed from about 18mths because we needed the cot for DD2.
She fell out a couple of times, but never woke up from the fall. We'd find her asleep on the floor in the morning.

DD has had a floor bed for ages, she had the cot bed mattress on our floor, I’d feed her then once she was asleep I’d roll away and she’d sleep there till she woke once we were in bed and be in with us the rest of the night. She was definitely younger than 12 months though I can’t remember exactly. She went into her own room a few months ago at 2, had the same mattress to start with then a full size single for toddlers (a regular single would be fine, we just happened upon a toddler one).

She loves it. She always loathed the cot and getting her to stay asleep once transferred was killing my back and driving me insane. The day I took the stupid cot to pieces was the day life improved. When she woke up in the night she’d quietly sit there knowing someone would pop up to give her a cuddle and lie her back, which was an unbelievable contrast to crying and hanging off the bars like she was in baby prison.

She gradually did longer stretches on the floor and got in with us later and later. If I was awake enough when she woke I’d settle her back to sleep on the floor and get back into bed.

Honestly the single best thing we ever did.

If you want to transition to less or no cosleeping over time it’s a great way to do it. Settle her on the floor bed and sneak off, she won’t know.

I’m a huge fan of cosleeping, it’s often the pragmatic choice, carry on as long as you like. But floor beds are a great, safe, convenient next step.

Thanks everyone.

@Robloxmastermum I put her to bed then sneak downstairs. I have to leg it up here so fast when she wakes up though so she doesn't start crawling and risk falling off our bed. Lately she seems to wake up silently and I don't even notice she has. She just sits up and starts crawling about.

I've found a floor bed that's an adult single size and I was thinking of skipping toddler bed and going straight for that because I'll be able to lie on it with her. Even if we co sleep in our bed for longer a floor bed seems like a good next step.

@Kayjay2018 what kind of baby proofing have you done? We need to bolt her chest of drawers to the wall. In terms of toys do you just move them all away?

@AnneLovesGilbert your post has made me feel so positive! I almost feel like I've missed out not having my baby in a cot but she literally hates it, baby prison is exactly the right description. I put her in it earlier and she was yelling but not crying but after a minute or two (despite me being nearby and holding her hands etc through the bars) she got genuinely upset and I lifted her out and she was so snuggly and sad given how she seems to dart about I don't feel that cosleeping in our bed is very safe currently. And we have dogs who sleep up here and wake her up at times. I'm half wondering if the floor bed may mean I sleep in her room with her and leave DH in the king size in our room with the dogs! But at least if I've got a floor bed set up and dismantle the bloody cot I've 1) got more space in our room and 2) got two actually viable options of where we can both sleep...

I'd make sure the dogs can't get in there and put a gate across the door so that she won't be able to get out of her bedroom.

@EnglishRain

Thanks everyone.

@Robloxmastermum I put her to bed then sneak downstairs. I have to leg it up here so fast when she wakes up though so she doesn't start crawling and risk falling off our bed. Lately she seems to wake up silently and I don't even notice she has. She just sits up and starts crawling about.

I've found a floor bed that's an adult single size and I was thinking of skipping toddler bed and going straight for that because I'll be able to lie on it with her. Even if we co sleep in our bed for longer a floor bed seems like a good next step.

@Kayjay2018 what kind of baby proofing have you done? We need to bolt her chest of drawers to the wall. In terms of toys do you just move them all away?

@AnneLovesGilbert your post has made me feel so positive! I almost feel like I've missed out not having my baby in a cot but she literally hates it, baby prison is exactly the right description. I put her in it earlier and she was yelling but not crying but after a minute or two (despite me being nearby and holding her hands etc through the bars) she got genuinely upset and I lifted her out and she was so snuggly and sad given how she seems to dart about I don't feel that cosleeping in our bed is very safe currently. And we have dogs who sleep up here and wake her up at times. I'm half wondering if the floor bed may mean I sleep in her room with her and leave DH in the king size in our room with the dogs! But at least if I've got a floor bed set up and dismantle the bloody cot I've 1) got more space in our room and 2) got two actually viable options of where we can both sleep...

We have a baby gat at the door, any furniture is tethered so she cannot pull it over. Any sharp bits, I have put her colourful foam floor mats round so if she bumps it will be a lot less severe. I've also blanked off all the plug sockets (got them cheaply from tool station)in her room so she can't poke anything in them.

As for her toys I rotate them every week or so, she loves it when I get the toy boxes out, she has a lovely rummage through and we choose different items and pop some away. She has some favourites like her tomy eggs and her dolls, other than that we mix it up.

It's so much easier putting her down to sleep, I can go in and sit with her and pat her back to sleep or lay down and cover her a feed.

Oh and one other thing she loves is we have created a family wall on the blank side of her changing unit. We have stuck photos of her family and friends on it and she loves going over and pointing everyone out