Moving 2 yr-old to big bed - which mattress?

We're just about to move ds out of his cot. We have a single bed frame, but no mattress yet and a friend has offered us a mattress she has which is practically new but she thinks it's too hard to sleep on (I haven't seen it yet...) Anyway, do you think it's ok to have a really firm mattress for a 2 yr old for a few years - after all his cot mattress is pretty firm too, or should we buy a new softer one?

Also - what do people think about the necessity of using a guard rail? We were thinking of just having him on the mattress on the floor for a while till he learns not to roll out rather than getting a rail.

I'm keen to find out what others think on this - we've decided to get a bed for DS and it didn't occur to me till now to think about what sort of mattress!

I guess the rail depends on how much you lad moves during the night - we'll get one for DS (he is much younger though) as he's all over the place in his sleep.

I went and tested them out and bought a mid range firmness one.
I figured Darcy was not going to be as light as a feather forever, nor in the mattress's lifespan was she going to be as heavy as an adult either.

She's been in a bed since 16months old. She's fallen out once and she's on a base as well so the bed's pretty high. I just put her back in and she went back to sleep. I was going to buy a rail, but I just never got around to it, and I've never had a real prob. She figured it out herself. She is a wriggler too. SOmetimes I find her kneeling curled up upside down or sideways.

we bought a matress that was suitable for the slat base bed we have.. i would just chat to the people at the mattress store... of course taking in mind that they are trying to sell you something! DD's mattress is very firm.. i love it!

we pushed her cot up against her bed for the 1st couple of weeks.. to stop her from falling out, however she climbed in it one night so we thought we had better take it away! we did by a bed rail after she fell out of her bed almost every night.. Even at almost 4 she still falls out of her bed every now and then... ( she does not have the rail anymore)

DD not in cot but friends and family who have their children in beds recommended a rail to start, one on special this week in target. We started looking at mattresses last week, (thinking of moving DD 22 months into bed in 3-4 months) and guy at mattress shop reccomended mid range matress with good support but not the most expensive,which i was suprised to hear that he didnt want to sell me the dearest one?? cos he said there's bound to be wee accidents and children tend to use matresses as tramps and jump on them. good luck with move from cot to bed...

We bought a side rail for our DS when we moved him into a bed and he hated it, it was like he felt locked in... so we took it away. He has only fallen out of bed once and we put him straight back in and he went back to sleep. Mind you we put DS into a bed when he was 16 months (and that was way too early for him) but we wanted him to be in there for when DS#2 came along - that's a whole other story to tell..... Good Luck xxoo