Co-sleeping: Guardrail recommendations?

[Melody7]

Hi Snowy Love,

Good to know they exist. I've got a KS bed - so that may pose a little more of a hassle.... do you think it's really worth it?

[Snowy Love]

It was for me as DS either sleeps between DH & I or on the edge of the bed next to me and he would move about in his sleep, so the guardrail gives me peace of mind he won't fall out in his sleep. When he started crawling we taught him to get off the bed backwards & feet first so I didn't worry too much about him falling off when we woke up.

Having said that, he managed to get between the rail and the top of the bed one night in his sleep about a month ago - gave me a hell of a fright. I wedged pillows between the bed & my bedside table after that.

I guess it depends on how much your little one moves in their sleep and the drop from the bed to the ground - if it not too much maybe having cushions or something on the floor would be a better bet, 'cause all the rails I saw had stoppers and the one we got was the only one to go up to Queen size - it def wouldn't stretch to King

[sunshine_sieben]

Mine doesn't have the stoppers. I have a king size bed, too and it fits fine. It's a safety first (secure lock) from Big W that sits on top of the mattress. The part that goes underneath the mattress has "teeth" to stop it from sliding out from under the mattress. And it gets squeezed onto the mattress tightly so there is no chance of it moving. In my case it also is held in place by the side of the bed frame.
Babyzone Direct has it on their website, too for $50.9 on special at the moment (normal price $59.95) At least you can have a look at a picture of it there.
I hope that helps.
Sasa

[Melody7]

Thanks so much Sasa, I'll definately look into that one.

[~Trish~]

You can buy the Safety 1st ones from Big W too. Also Valco have bed rails without stoppers, there are quite a few brands without stoppers that would be suitable for most beds. I prefer Safety 1st because you don't have to remove the guard when making the bed, you can just fold it down.

[Ginger]

i noticed the safety first one is on special at big w atm.

[relw]

Hi there, I'm posting this ages after your conversation finished but thought you might like to hear my cautionary tale...

I have my mattress on the floor and recently put a guardrail along one side of it (the other side is against a wall). My DS is nearly 9 months and active, so last week he pulled himself up to standing along the guardrail, which went about 20cm above our bed, and flipped (tumbled) over the top of it and onto his head. Fortunately it wasn't a big fall and he was fine but it was pretty scary. I was in the bed at the time and just didn't think that it would happen - thought we only needed to worry about that sort of thing happening when he was in bed alone (we co-sleep). We had the guardrail on the bed when it was on it's base (it's an ensemble) but I got worried about safety when he started pulling himself to stand, so a few days before this happened put the mattress on the floor - am so glad we did!

I guess all I'm trying to say is that the guardrail is helpful but not totally protective against accidents. We took it away and just put pillows on the floor to cushion him if he falls (it's only about 20cm).