Our girls have been in twin beds since about 21 mos old and I think only once or twice did they fall out of them since we took off the railings months ago. They will be 4 in March. Their beds are meant to be bunkbeds, but we put them both on the floor for safety at first. I want to bunk them soon to give them more space in their room. We have a nephew who is 4 1/2 and he sleeps in a top bunk and has for a while...do you think 4 is young to sleep on the top bunk? I'm also worried about the kids playing during the day on the ladder or top bunk and falling then... Hmmm, I think I'm answering my own question, but let's hear your input anyway please. Thanks.

Trip33
Jared 10/96
Emily, Allison & Nathan 3/00 at 37 wks

I think the safety recommendations for bunk beds are 6 years old. That said, I think you also have to know your kids. We bunked my boys' beds this summer at age 5 1/2. We haven't had one problem. It was an easy decision which boy to put in the top bunk because one of our boys is scared of heights. The one that we put in the top loves his "top bunk", and has never fallen. He does have a safety rail though, so the only way he could fall is if he were playing. We don't allow them to play on the beds or the ladder.

LCN
21 year old college senior
14 year old bbg triplets--teenagers!

Hey there stranger,

How are you? All sick here, especially Sierra (5) :'(

Trevor got a bunk bed at 2 and started out sleeping on the bottom at that time. By 3 1/2 he preferred to sleep on the top and we have never had any big problems. He has always liked to hang out up there on the top when he plays with his electronic games or reads, or things like that. I think it depends on your kids too. The only problem we ever had was once RECENTLY when he knew better he tried to reach over the top bunk to turn his ceiling fan off and almost fell off...BOYS!!!

Cindy
Happy & Proud Mommy to:
Shannon Alexis 12
Trevor Jack 10
Sierra Brooke 7
Madison Rose 5
Mackenzie Lynn 5
Max Christopher 5

I'm sorry to hear everyone is so sick in your household. We have some colds in our house, but nothing major, and not everyone is sick. Thanks for the bunk bed story - I am not too worried about them falling out while sleeping, but more worried about them fooling during the day. I haven't asked dh about his opinion yet, so that will factor in too. Most likely, we'll end up waiting a while to bunk them.

Have a wonderful holiday! Too bad we won't have much (if any) snow for it this year. Dh and the kids would love to be out on the snowmobile if they could during the holidays.

Trip33
Jared 10/96
Emily, Allison & Nathan 3/00 at 37 wks

We purchased bunk beds with the eye to the future, earlier this year, for our beach house. For the first weekend they all slept in the bottom, but after that, Kate declared the top bunk hers. She calls it "my bed up high"

I had no concerns that she would hurt herself, she slept in a twin bed on vacation when she was 18 months old. We moved her out of her crib when we got home and into a toddler bed. She also is a very sound sleeper and rarely ever wakes up, and also does not move around much, if at all.

We replaced their toddler beds here with a twin/full bunk. For several months she wasn't interested in sleeping in the top bunk, since there was plenty of room on the bottom. Just two weeks ago she decided she would sleep up there. Now Matt has decided he wants to be up there too! How wacky is that? Two sharing a twin, and one with the whole full sized bed to himself! LOL.

The bed has safety rails all around, so no one can roll out. The funny thing is, we were using the ladder as a safety rail for Thomas because he has rolled off the bottom several times! Poor kid would probably be safer up top!

You know your own kids. Do you think they can safely navigate climbing in and out, even in the dark if they wake up in the middle of the night? If so, and there are safety rails all around, EVEN IF YOU PUT IT AGAINST THE WALL make sure there is a rail on that side too, then I'd say go ahead.

MTM - mom to Michael(84),Stephan(85), Thomas, Matthew and Kathryn - born 12/27/99 at 32w 0 days

I completely agree with the "you know your kids" advice you have gotten here. We also have bunk beds awaiting our children. My step daughter slept on the top bunk from the time she was about four years old without incident. I think my girls would be fine now (they just turned four), but that would give my boys access and they are definitely not ready (ages four and almost three).

That said, I wanted to add that we had an accident with a bunk bed that had nothing to do with falling out. My little cousin (a very active little boy) tried sliding down the support post pretending it was a fireman's pole and slit his leg wide open on the metal frame that holds the bottom mattress. The cut required several stitches. Just one more worry to add to the pile, I guess.

Let us know how it goes.

We bought bunk beds for our boys last year. Initially I planned to unbunk them until the recommended age of 6. When they turned 5 last month I casually mentioned putting the bunks up and a HUGE fight broke out about who would get to sleep on the top bunk. I though about letting them rotate but I really dont wan't to keep up with another "whose day is it" rule (we already do that with kids of the day). Plus, they each have their own bedding and a million "lovies" they have to take to bed with them. Plus the real reason, one of my sons does not have that great motor skills and I dont have the heart to tell him I planned for him to stay on the bottom.

So until I come up with a solution they are staying unbunked. No harm done that way.

Jenni
mom of ABC 1/1/98

Boy are we ignorant! I'd never heard of the six year old rule. We set up our bunk beds at age 3 for our 3 girls. There is one of them who is the least co-ordinated, who fell out of the top bunk one night, so we discourage her from sleeping up there, and that is fine with her. We don't completely forbid it however and occasionally she still uses it.

We have a really small house, and they outgrew the three cribs we had them in, so we didn't really have any better options. I think they are OK, even 6 year olds will fall out once in awhile. By that time, I hope to have a bedroom for each available.

--Gregory
Husband of Christy
Dad to Ariel, Emily and Zoë 9/9/2000

We got a bunk bed at 5.5 years old. No problems -- if one does not consider 3 boys who think it is great fun to jump from the top onto the single bed a problem...LOL!

The boys all share the room and every six months they get to choose which bed they want (top, bottom, or single)...we rotate who gets to pick first.

Vaughn and the ABC Boys

Vaughn and the ABC Boys
Alex, Bryce, & Calder
The 14 year olds!