Safe bed for Autistic 3 year old

[khamps]

Our son is almost 3 and diagnosed Autistic and at present non verbal.
He has been in a cot happily until now and has never tried to climb out. We had been hoping to get to aged 4 in the cot, however he has started to lean forward on the bars and as he is 100cm tall already he has almost tipped over a few times.
He loves the cot and will roll around until he falls asleep happily, however we are concerned for his safety in the night in a normal bed and I think the urge to get up and run around would stop him sleeping at all!
Can anyone recommend a bed that would keep him safe, designed for autistic toddlers? I found a bed that looked perfect (I think it was called Noah's world bed) but it seems to be only in the USA and the ones I found in the UK are over £4k!

We got a bed and mattress off Wayfair for our DS at about the same age. It has removable sidebars that stop him rolling out (they can be taken off when he no longer needs them), and a single mattress for around £150. I still don't really trust him not to mess around on the stairs at night so we put a stair gate on his bedroom door and keep his room safe at night (wardrobe locked with child locks, windows locked). It's worked well for us and DS loved his new bed when he got it.

You could even try a mattress on the floor to start out, if he needs time to get used to sleeping out of a cot? We did that while waiting for the bed to be delivered and I slept with DS the first few nights to get him happy with the set up. It ended up being a really smooth transition tbh

Specialist beds can sometimes they can be funded via OT, but if not there are charities that can provide grants or loans if they are necessary. Have a look at a Safe Space bed or similar beds by other companies.

That is great to know and really reassuring. I think we may be building it up in our minds to be more stressful than it will actually be. Our little boy just charges around almost constantly so we are so nervous he will hurt himself in the night, but I guess we just need to remove all things he could hurt himself on and baby gate him in and hopefully the novelty will wear off.

Thanks so much, we just saw you can get an OT assessment so we will call first thing Tuesday.
I think our problem is we have had no guidance at all from the specialists we have seen so far on sleep, only discussions around Melatonin and when I have asked for advice on sleeping arrangements have always just got a bit of a shrug (which is totally fair enough as I appreciate that's probably not their area of expertise).

Unless you're already sure, it's hard to know what the issues may be until you try (i.e., does your DS need the bars of a cot to feel secure? does he dislike big changes like this? is he a climber?) but we got through it with lots of co-sleeping to start, and childproofing his room to the max in the beginning as he has zero sense of danger and loves doing things like hanging upside down, and would absolutely try to climb out of an open window 😩

We are super lucky in that DS sleeps through most of the night now, so once he's asleep, the worst that will happen is he'll end up completely turned around in his bed with his feet on the pillows. It was scary (for me) at first, but it was much less of an issue for him once he got used to it.

Thanks so much.
Our son actually does seem to have some sense of danger but when he gets hyper he is really clumsy and if he can bang his head on something he definitely will. He does love climbing and jumping so I think we will have to rethink the furniture in his room for sure. He is a massive chewer of things and I think choking is my biggest fear but I know we can definitely eliminate this risk if we are super thorough.

When DD learned how to climb out of cot she quickly was onto window sill (even in sleeping bag), chest of drawers etc. We switched rooms with DD2 (much higher window sill) but sure enough she figured that out!!

And the same in the middle of the night - I slept on her floor and it was so stressful! We tried a bed tent thing (for camping I think) but she immediately found the way out through the hole

in the end we got a specialist bed tent funded - Cloudcuddle , it’s a Dutch brand (we are in NL) but I think available internationally. It fits on a single mattress which also is good if you want to go on holiday at all, or a night at grandparents etc.. Have taken in hand luggage on planes (inflatable type thing). I’d really recommend it, but think about £1000- we were lucky to get part funding but it’s a different system here I guess.

sleep is still a huge issue for us sadly but at least we know she’s safe when in bed.

That's so helpful thank you.
My son is in a sleeping bag still as it's the only way we have kept him in a cot so long to be honest. Our worry is that now when he is really upset he has started leaning forward stood up in the cot and he is very tall due to a genetic disorder so is nearly tipping out, so we need a plan sharpish!
I am going to ring OT first thing tomorrow to see if we can get a specialist bed funded, as we really need to know he is contained and safe in the night. We can't co-sleep as he gets annoyed with us being near him and won't go to sleep, or we would try that at first.
Thanks to everyone who has replied, it is comforting to know there are other people who have to think about these things and who understand it's not about "getting used to a toddler bed" but that a toddler bed simply wouldn't work for us.

We have a bed with side rails built in they are about 10 inches high so he can't roll out but I also invested in a bed tent a few years ago as my ASD son was a very restless sleeper and that has been a game changer. The mattress goes inside it and it's like sleeping in a huge tent. He zips himself up and is away with the fairies every night - highly recommend.

Our son is very restless too and I think that's my main concern, that being so open will make him nervous.
Having investigated funding it may take up to 6 months to get an assessment etc. we were told New life may loan us a bed but we are thinking perhaps we should try a single bed for a bit and he may surprise us (maybe wishful thinking!). I have been looking at house beds that have the frame all around as we could put a blanket on the top to make it a bit more cosy and enclosed and also buy bed rails to stop him rolling out, as he does move around his cot a lot in the night.
Has anyone else been pleasantly surprised at how their ASD toddler/3 year old transitioned to a bed?
We will definitely put a bay gate on his door and make sure everything is fixed to the walls and not climbable before doing the bed change though!