How much do I love our floor bed, let me count the ways! A floor bed is something Dr. Maria Montessori felt strongly and wrote about. Since then there are a lot of books about the benefits and here is my personal opinion on the bed that we chose.
Disclaimer: This is what works well for me, my baby, and my family. This may not work for all families. Always talk to your baby’s doctor or pediatrician. When using a floor bed the entire room needs to be 100% baby proofed and a motion detector and nanny cam is recommended.
1. She can climb in and out by herself
This might be a negative for some people, until I mention that in the morning she can climb out of bed and play by herself, giving me some free time (even if sometimes its just a few minutes). We made sure to use a doctor recommended crib mattress to make sure to help prevent SIDS.
2. It made breastfeeding at night so much easier.
I can lay on the mattress with her. At night when she woke up I could do a diaper change and feed her with minimal movement. I can breastfeed her or bottle feed and then when she falls asleep sneak out without moving her. I rarely feed her at nights anymore but sometimes feed in the early morning and she will fall back asleep.
3. Cuddles!
As moms we are taught to put them to sleep awake but sometimes we need that little cuddle before they fall asleep more than they do!
4. She doesn’t hate going to bed
A lot of babies hate being put in a crib and take a long time to settle. We spend time playing on the bed and reading books as a nightly routine so it’s not a big transition into bedtime.
5. She won’t fall out of a crib
The mattress is about 5 inches off the ground with a very thick rug underneath. She has only rolled out of bed one time (we now have a noodle under the sheet), and it was not a big fall. In fact her rolling out of bed was a shorter fall than when she would roll over during tummy time and her head up.
So many babies have serious injuries or worse from falling out of a crib. They are such good climbers! I’m happy this is one thing we can avoid.
6. We won’t have to transition from a crib to a toddler bed
This bed can stay with her long into the toddler years. What a good investment and easier on all of us. We transitioned from the bassinet in our room to the floor bed in her nursery (with me sleeping on a bed in her room), but since it’s the same size as a crib you can have this in your bedroom instead for however long works for your family. Just make sure the room is 100% baby proofed.
My husband made the floor bed but there are a lot of purchasing option now. Make sure you follow all the same requirements as with a crib, including the following.
- No blankets, pillows, or toys in the bed until 1 year of age (or whatever age your doctor recommends). The motion detector nanny cam works great for this to make sure she doesn’t bring anything with her to bed or go sleep somewhere else. She never brought anything to bed but has taken her favorite clothes to bed with her haha.
- Correct size sheets. Make sure the sheets fit well too and aren’t too stretched out. We don’t want the baby to be trapped in a sheet.
- The right mattress. Baby’s need a firm mattress for safety. I think it’s best to buy a new crib mattress and make sure you fill out any recall tags.
- Baby monitor. We have both a walkie talkie and a nanny cam. The walkie talkie one is great in case the power and wifi go out, but I like having the motion detector and video as well.
I hope you have found this post helpful and eye opening. Please comment below with any questions or comments!
