I know I have seen several discussion about the transition from crib to a big bed. here is an idea we just did this weekend. Dylan has been in a big matress but we had it on the floor, wasn't ready to do an actually bed yet. My husbands idea was on a bunk bed the top bunk usually has a bed railing around it. So this weekend we bought a bunk bed from IKEA (wood frame bed) cut the top bunk off and are using that for his bed because is has a railing around the whole bed except for the space that the ladder would generally be. We will save the bottom part for later when he no longer needs the railing around his bed.

If you want to see this is the one we bought, http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20102451

_________________
Sandy (Dylans_Mom)
Mom to Hailey 3/2002, Dylan (ds) 12/2005

That's the exact bunk set I grew up in! Only ours came apart, you didn't have to cut it...

_________________
Kasey, mom to Paige (2!)

Kasey wrote:

That's the exact bunk set I grew up in! Only ours came apart, you didn't have to cut it...

LOL Me too! I shared a room with my older sister and we had a bunk that you could seperate......my mum still has one of the beds in her spare room!

We've just converted Ethan's crib into his toddler bed and put on one of those mesh safety sides. I like how it's really low of the ground too. It's been three weeks and he's doing so well. Only one night did I find him on the floor during the night (sleeping soundly!!) and only once has he got out of bed in the morning to play with his toys......the rest of the time we've found him waiting patiently for us to get him out of bed

_________________
Jo, Mum to Georgia 11/11/03 ( BIG High School Musical fan) and Ethan 16/12/07 (DS)

Great idea! I'll have to file that one away for later!

_________________
Maresa,
Mom to Alisa (10-29-2008) DS, complete AV canal repair on 3-6-09

Clara's 5 and still on a mattress on the floor. Her OSA is slowly coming back, so far only when she's congested from a cold or allergies. She's becoming a more restless sleeper again and now that allergy season is starting we are finding her sleeping on the floor more. So we're in no rush!

Great idea! I've seen the toddler beds with a similar rail but hadn't thought of using half a bunk bed! We had bunk beds when I was a kid and ours separated as well. My parents switched them to side by side when my sister and I were older. I guess the sides came off.

I don't like the mesh guards. We used one when Clara was 18 months old and we moved her to her mattress but stopped when she started pulling to a stand. We never used one for Alan b/c we knew he would use it to climb and jump.. I just had visions of my kids getting tangled in them or Clara getting her head under somehow when she was so restless back then. I still have two in the attic I need to get rid of!

_________________
Anara
Wife to Craig (wed 3.8.03)
Mom to Clara (DS, Autism, born 8.8.05), Alan Russell (born 3.9.07)

Visit us on Facebook - I finally caved in!
Or my blog: able2able... your special needs resource directory http://www.able2able.com