Anyone Know of Side Rails That Will Work with a Toddler Bed?

Updated on April 09, 2009
C.W. asks from Lutherville Timonium, MD
19 answers

We had to move my 2 1/2 yr old to a toddler bed this weekend due to him climbing out of the crib. The transition has not gone well. I find him sleeping on the floor by the door of his room. The crib converted to a toddler bed and there is an upper edge to keep him from falling out. I think the problem is that he is scared and would probably feel better with a side rail. I can't seem to locate a side rail that will work on a toddler bed. Any suggestions would be great.

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L.D.

answers from Norfolk on

My little guy moved to a tod. bed at 2 yrs. At first he fell off even w/ partial side rails. Put next to wall to cover 2 sides if needed, and put pillows on the floor to land on. He will need to learn the space of his bed anyway. I think I also put the back of a chair on one side. Good luck.

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M.S.

answers from Washington DC on

I don't know of any convertible crib side rails, but a friend mentioned a product called Bed Bug Bumper. It is kind of a neat idea and something I'm going to consider when my 15 month old is ready for the toddler bed. Here is a link to their page:

http://www.gobedbug.com/

Good luck!
M.

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J.T.

answers from Richmond on

I believe you can order them from JC Penney.

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R.J.

answers from Washington DC on

I found one at babies r us. I do not remember the brand though.

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M.C.

answers from Washington DC on

I agree with Kristen. Try placing the mattress on the floor. The point is that he sleep safely in his room. My son ended up on his floor more than in the bed...so its a win, win situation. If you ever watch Jon & Kate + 8, they don't even have toddler beds, just mattresses on the floor.
M.

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M.G.

answers from Washington DC on

i had the same problem,

my best advice is dont waste your money. he will climb out of it any way. just open the door slowly and pick him up and put him back into bed.

he will grow out of it.
well sort of.

i still find my son sleeping at the top of my stairs. (we have a gate there) you just have to let him figure it out that the bed is more cumfortable.

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R.S.

answers from Washington DC on

I don't have any experience with rails yet, and if he's not upset about sleeping out of his crib, I probably would leave the situation alone - it's pretty normal for them to explore where they can sleep when they first transition to a toddler bed and aren't stuck in one place.
If he's upset and not sleeping well because of the transition, I HIGHLY recommend a crib tent, which is what we use now that my 18 month old started climbing out of his crib, but he would scream and scream if we tried to get him to nap in his room without being in the crib.

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T.H.

answers from Washington DC on

I agree with mattress on the floor, against a wall if possible. Does your crib convert as a three sided or traditional toddler bed? We happened to have an old foam flip out couch from Ikea that we used flipped out. His crib mattress fit perfectly. He still had three sides to snuggle against. He still would end up on the floor in front of the door, usually because he was playing and just fell asleep where he was. He is five and has been sleeping in a low twin since he was three.

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K.B.

answers from Washington DC on

Hi Christy,
We had the same problem - and we finally just moved the bed out of her room and put her mattress on the floor with the bedrail along one side and the other side against the wall. This really helped us - but we would still find our daughter on the floor - she'd push herself up through the top or bottom of the bed. We have finally gone back the toddler bed and she's much better about staying in her bed, but we do occasionally find her on the floor ... or she wakes up and comes in our room - or her brother's room and climbs in his crib.

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S.K.

answers from Washington DC on

I know someone who used the top rail from one side of the bed and moved it to the bottom and then put the bed up against the wall. Most toddler beds come with the two little rails at the top so they moved the one from the top down to the bottom so there is just a little space in between for their child to get in and out but he can't fall out in his sleep. I'm not sure if that would work with your bed since it was a convertible crib I don't know if you have that option. Good luck though. When we have to move our daughter out of her crib we are planning to use the twin mattress on the floor against a wall with a regular bedrail. She plays in there now but hasn't slept in it yet. Good luck. I hope you find a solution to Luke's sleeping issues soon!

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A.N.

answers from Norfolk on

Unfortunately, you cannot use the side rails with toddler beds. They require a boxspring. Maybe he just needs some time to adjust to it...like maybe if he sleeps in it successfully a couple of times he will realize that he won't fall out. My oldest never fell out of her toddler bed and she hasn't fallen out of her twin bed, either, but once in a blue moon she will sleep on the floor.

I did find this while looking online. It's like a bolster type thing. Maybe that would work.
http://www.ababy.com/itempage.asp?CategoryID=18&Total...

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S.M.

answers from Washington DC on

Hi Christy,

We had the problem of side rails when transitioning to the toddler bed setting of our girl's cribs, too. There are SOME convertable cribs now that come with the attachment to add, but most still don't, and we found that the bed was too high for a "toddler bed" without a rail. Most people seem to be pointing out that the problem with the regular bed rails is that they need a boxspring. I think that the real problem is that they go the entire length of the crib, making it no different than having you son in the crib with the side down...not actually a safe option. If he has to climb out of the toddler bed over a rail, he can still get hurt (and he would have a much more difficult time climbing back in after he runs around the room playing). Also, the side rail wouldn't be as sturdy as the rail he was climbing over, so he AND it could go over.

My girls are both very petite, so we opted to get them regular toddler beds (low to the ground, and with rails going 1/2 way down the sides) instead of going straight to big girl beds with the rails. I wouldn't recommend this unless your son is small enough to be expected to fit comfortably on his crib mattress for another 2-3years. If he is big enough to easily climb in and out of a twin bed, go that route with the safety rail. As far as sleeping on the floor, my oldest was the one that was always on the floor (I had to push her aside with the door to get in the room <g>). Just pick him up before you go to bed, and put him in his bed for the night. She loved the freedom of the toddler bed so much at first, that it was a party every night (she and her sister share a room and switched to the toddler beds at the same time). After a month or two, we stopped finding her on the floor (started finding her in her sisters bed instead, but that is another story). A year later she will still pull her pillow down and make a little bed behind the chair in her room like a little camp...it's fun.

Good luck with the bed transition. I thought that the convertable crib was the BEST idea since I had two and wouldn't need to get toddler beds. Boy, was I wrong...

S.

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K.L.

answers from Washington DC on

Why not try putting the mattress on the floor and see how he does with that for a week. Then, if he's done good with that, put it back into the toddler bed.

Overall, he's sleeping in his room, be it on the floor by the door or in the bed...and for that you should be thankful. (a lot of kids don't transition as easily)

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T.H.

answers from Norfolk on

nope. but contact the maker of the bed and see if they have a rail piece that goes to that bed. some of the crib ones do. we used a regular twin bed rail but it wasnt meant for the toddler and may not work for your crib bed.

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K.C.

answers from Norfolk on

We use a pool noodle under the sheet which helps quite a bit. Also, to help our son feel more secure, he now sleeps in a sleeping bag. Grandma found a great Superman one at Pottery Barn kids on sale. The zipper side is on the inner side of the bed so he has a slight "wall" on the outside. Good luck!

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R.D.

answers from Washington DC on

I don't have any advice on this really, except that all 3 of my kids ended up on the floor for a while after moving out of their cribs. All of my kids were out of their cribs before they were 2. My oldest went to a twin bed that was low to the ground, my second went to a full size bed, with rails, and the youngest went to a toddler bed, and then to a twin bed with no rails. And he still prefers to sleep on the floor sometimes. Good luck!

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A.M.

answers from Richmond on

This one does not need the box spring, it will work with a traditional convertible crib. Although, I never used it, it has gotten good ratings, but is kind of pricey. There may be different versions out there, but I think this is a fairly new product.

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

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K.D.

answers from Washington DC on

Sounds crazy but I used a pool noodle. you can cut to size if need be and if gave security. I even used one in my bed when nursing on that side- it worked great. good luck!

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Y.L.

answers from Richmond on

We just put the crib mattress on the floor (carpet) and our son was happier that way. Then soon after we just bought a twin mattress and had that on the floor and now that he's 2 & 5 months he sleeps on a real twin bed

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