Floor bed for bedsharing with 10 month old – open bed or with sides?

[Sophie9898]

I’m currently bed sharing with my 10-month-old. We have a normal king-size bed with her cot bed attached to the side, so she can’t escape. Some nights she’ll sleep in her cot, and other nights she ends up in my bed.
I think the safest step for us fairly soon may be moving to a floor bed, but I’m really unsure which type would be best.

I want to continue bed sharing but unsure what next steps to take.
I’m considering either an open-sided floor bed and trying to teach her how to safely get in and out, or one of the Montessori-style floor beds with wooden sides.

My concern with the ones with sides is that, although they might stop her rolling out in the night, the sides I’ve seen don’t seem high enough to prevent a baby from climbing over them. I’m worried that could actually create more of a risk if she starts climbing and trying to get over the side.

For anyone who has used a floor bed with a baby/toddler, I’d really appreciate hearing how you found it. Did you go for an open-sided one or one with wooden sides? How did your child get on with it, and how easy was it to teach them to get down safely?

I completely understand that whichever option we choose, the room would need to be thoroughly baby-proofed, and we’d have a suitable landing surface around the bed.

I have also seen online some people have a floor bed and put it inside a wooden playpen which has higher sides so baby can’t escape but there’s also a gate.

Just looking for some real-life experiences and advice on what worked (or didn’t work!) for you. Thanks so much in advance 😊

Mine never had a cot and we bedshared from day 1. We had a mattress on the floor that I pulled away from the walls to prevent any entrapment risk, and a baby gate on the door. Occasionally they would fall out but it wasn't far to the floor as it was just a normal mattress. I just periodically flipped the mattress. No issues with mould.

Thank you, that’s my main worry with just putting the mattress straight on the floor really, good to know you had no issues with mold.

We had a baby bay on our adult bed, like a next to me but level with the bed with a bed with a balustrade around it. After that we had a normal bed guard on my side. Baby was never in our bed unattended and if she was awake she was usually breastfeeding 🤣

When baby was around 1 and started to be settled to sleep on a floor bed in her own room we used the cot mattress on the slatted base from the cot for ventilation The mattress and the base was still closer to the floor than a normal single mattress. It worked well and didn’t cost us any money. I’ll do the same again for our next baby unless they surprise us by being happy to sleep alone 🤣

We used playpen with baby mattress inside, 2 mattresses actually and playpen was 150cm x 150cm.

We switched to a single size floor bed with sides at about 12 months (a Roomix one). You need to have thr mattress off the floor either way. Mine is nearly 2 now and shes never fallen over the sides, and shes there alone now. She uses the gap to get in and out. If baby will be in their room alone; even for few hours, you need to secure all furniture to the wall.

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and advice — it’s really helpful to see what has worked for other people.
In the end, I’ve taken apart my bed and put the slats directly on the floor with the mattress on top. Baby is able to get off the bed safely as the floor is so close, and I’ve taken all the necessary precautions around the bed. So far, it seems to be working really well.
I’m probably going to invest in a Montessori-style floor bed, or I might even attach cot bed sides around this base and make one myself.
As I’m still worrying about baby could potentially get out of bed and start roaming around the room while I’m asleep, or somehow fall awkwardly from the mattress while I’m asleep. That still makes me nervous!
I always sleep in the bed with baby anyway, or if I’m awake elsewhere, I have the baby monitor on,but have baby proofed room to the max anyway , thank you everyone 😊

Me & DH did same, a double mattress on the floor for me & DH & a single mattress next to it for DS, no issues with damp/mold