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Original poster

Bed rail for 17 month old on holiday

17 replies

RhubarbRocks · 29/12/2025 15:09

I’ve found a beautiful hotel for our summer holiday with a two bed family suite. We have one DS who will be 17 months old when the holiday comes around.

I asked the hotel today to confirm that the cot will be put in the second children’s room. But they say it won’t fit in there and has to be in the main room.

The whole point of booking a family suite was so that our son can have his own room - he won’t get off to sleep if he is in the same room as us and we want to be able to watch TV /chat etc from his bedtime to ours (it’s in the north of England so no option to sit on a balcony in the evening sun!)

The hotel say they can put a bed guard on the bottom bunk instead of putting a travel cot in the main room. My googling suggests this is only ok from 18 months

Has anyone used one any earlier - he will be 4 weeks short of 18 month but is a big baby? Clearly our son’s safety comes first - I’m just interested to know if this is a safe option.

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Florin · 29/12/2025 18:06

4 weeks will make no difference developmentally, our son was out of a cot at this age as he quite capably just climbed out of his cot so a bed with a beg guard was safer. Otherwise can you ask them to take the bed out if you don’t need it and the cot can go in its place. Our son transitioned to a bed easily others I know didn’t, maybe consider taking a baby gate for the door?

SimplyReadHead · 29/12/2025 18:06

I think he would be absolutely fine.

I have 4 children and they have slept in all sorts of weird places. I think the key safety concern would be where he can access if he gets out of bed - i.e. do you need a stair gate to keep him in his room, can he climb out of the window, etc.

The bed itself will be absolutely fine - mine used to sleep in a bed with rolled up towels under the bottom sheet to create a barrier and stop them from falling out.

Have a lovely holiday.

SimplyReadHead · 29/12/2025 18:08

You can also buy inflatable ready beds that could go on the floor if you wanted to.

A large number of babies would be in their own bed by that age anyway so I really wouldn't worry about it.

PinkCrab · 29/12/2025 18:09

If you’re not comfortable with him in a bed look at getting a SnoozeShade for the cot. We used one plus a white noise machine inside the cot when we went on holiday and we could have all the lights on, watch tv, talk etc and ours slept through it all no problem.

TeaRoseTallulah · 29/12/2025 18:10

SimplyReadHead · 29/12/2025 18:08

You can also buy inflatable ready beds that could go on the floor if you wanted to.

A large number of babies would be in their own bed by that age anyway so I really wouldn't worry about it.

DS was one of them as he learned to climb out of his cot really young.

HawkeyePierce · 29/12/2025 18:11

We had to use a cot bed from 14 months, as she could climb out of her cot. So we had to use a bed with a guard. We had no issues and she actually slept better.

Florin · 29/12/2025 18:13

Just read your post again and you mention that it is a bottom bunk. That would be a massive issue for me if bunk beds as our child at 18 months would be up that ladder in a flash so no way could he sleep in a room with bunk beds in. They would have had to be taken out or a board secured over the ladder at a push but not sure I would have slept from worrying but then he was and still is a dare devil.

Overthebow · 29/12/2025 18:16

A bed for that age will be fine, however absolutely not if it’s a bunk bed. At 17 months he’ll be able to climb, so it’ll be too dangerous for him to be in a room with a bunk bed, he could get up to the top bunk and fall, or fall off the ladder. You won’t be able to block it off as he’ll just climb whatever’s in front of it. The only safe option would be if they could remove the ladder, but most are attached for safety so likely not possible.

Overthebow · 29/12/2025 18:18

I should add that most bunk beds say age 6 minimum for this reason.

Bitzee · 29/12/2025 18:19

He might be in a bed at home already by 18 months. One of mine was because he climbed and then obviously the bed rail is safer than falling over the cot. I just wouldn’t want the first night ever out of the cot to be on holiday in case they’re up and down like a yoyo

Mrsmch123 · 29/12/2025 18:21

He will be fine.

Bitzee · 29/12/2025 18:23

Overthebow · 29/12/2025 18:16

This is a good point though. I wouldn’t have a young toddler in a room with a bunk bed. They could really hurt themselves if they randomly start climbing the ladder, which they probably will do, because that age climb everything.

We usually do a 1 bed suite and the kids on the sofa bed in living room. When they were toddlers we rolled up a towel and put it under the sheet as a makeshift bedguard. Does the hotel not have a room like that? Would also give you the option of the travel cot as it could go anywhere in the living room.

Original poster

RhubarbRocks · 29/12/2025 20:16

Wow thanks for all the amazingly helpful advice.

It hadn’t even occurred to me that he would be able to climb a ladder by then (the holiday is a while away so we are only just getting used to him crawling!) So it seems that the room itself isn’t safe.

Unfortunately the hotel doesn’t seem to have any rooms with a separate sitting room as I agree this would be ideal. I don’t really mind sharing a room to sleep, as we often do that when we Airbnb, it’s just earlier in the evening that I want to have a separate space.

I will look into the snoozeshade as well.

The silver lining is that this room is the most expensive so at least I checked with them and found out now so that I can cancel it, rather than discovering when we got there!!

OP posts:

Original poster

RhubarbRocks · 29/12/2025 21:19

I’ve found a picture of the bunk bed in the room. The first rung is at the height of the mattress but I guess a 17 month old could climb that. The ladder doesn’t look removable.

The hotel says they can’t fit the travel cot in the room and they won’t remove the single bed to fit it in (there is a single and a bunk bed).

At least I can get my money back at this point otherwise it would be me and DH in the bunk beds and DS in the master bedroom in a cot!

OP posts:

Sanch1 · 30/12/2025 08:04

That room doesn’t look too small to fit a travel cot to me?

Id risk being able to move the cot into that room yourself when you get there, or you could buy a small travel cot and take it with you? Might be handy to have in the future anyway?

Greenfinch7 · 30/12/2025 08:15

I would just put a mattress on the floor and not worry about the climbing on the cot issue- maybe put all 3 mattresses on the floor so if he did start climbing he would land on the mattresses. I travelled a lot with kids (I mean really a lot) and they slept in all sorts of strange places, though usually with me.

The thing is that people have very different approaches to being prepared, to safety, to controlling the surroundings, to worrying about things. I just didn't worry about this sort of issue (wouldn't have checked up on it or even thought about it ahead of time), and things were always fine. I am just putting this in to represent a different kind of approach, but I don't think it is a perspective that will be helpful for you as you are more of a planner!

Kerri44 · 30/12/2025 08:16

Take your own travel.cot, but at 17mths, we took our daughter abroad, she was literally walking off the side of the kids pool into the water without a 2nd thought! I was doing 20,000 steps just following her around the resort.
My 1st born was in a single bed at 16mths with 2 bed guards too

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