Sleeping safely with a crawler

[Noahsmummy]

My little man is 11 and a half months and has been sleeping with us since he was 5 months.
He used to have his day naps in his cot, but started only cat napping so i tried him sleeping on our bed during the day as well as night. He now has two good naps 1-3 hours each. I am worried about him now waking up and crawling off the bed, which wouldn't normally be so bad but we have a piece of wood about 20cm that sticks out around the matress so i am worried about him falling onto that and then on the floor. I have tried teaching him to back off the bed, though i think he is a liitle to young for this. Should i jut put the matress on the floor until he is older and then put the bed back together. And how long would we need to sleep on the floor? Some advice would be great!!:)

[ozzysmum]

ozzy is a month older than your little one and he figured out about 2 weeks ago how to get off the bed himself - we had a couple of falls early on then he would just yell if i wasn't there when woke up so i could go and get him off. then on his birthday people started arriving and asked where he was and i said 'having a nap' ... everyone laughed because as i said it he crawled out of the room behind me! i don't know how he figured it out for himself because us showing him never worked, but he's got it totally sussed now :)
so no advice from me, sorry, but maybe wait just a couple more weeks and it won't be an issue any more!

[Niki]

i would put a matteress on the floor till he gets used to it

[pookiesossige]

I think I understand the type of bed you have- can you maybe tuck a blanket under the matteress and over that peice of wood to soften it a bit? and then have a spare mattress/something soft and cushiony on the floor should he still end up there. The good news is that they learn pretty quick how to get off the bed properly! This is one stage that usually doesn't last long at all. Phew!

[cheezelkat]

I'd recommend sleeping just on the mattress.

I don't have a high bed so I normally put pillows on the floor during naptime. Its worked OK so far. If I were you, I would at least somehow cushion the sticking out piece of wood and put some kind of padding on the floor until he learns not to go to the edge of the bed.

[our little treasures]

Well my first advice is don't use a safety barrier!! After dd fell of our bed once everyone tried to insist on us getting a barrier and we said no but ended up with one as a gift.. Nothing but trouble, I don't know where they get safety from dd kept climbing over the top and it was then a much bigger fall!!!! So we took it off and she use to just call out..

DS however learnt how to get out of the bed well fall out at 11 mnths and he just gets himself off. Usually when he wakes though he will yell as did my dd and I just go in and get him!

[Noahsmummy]

Thanks everyone. Am going to try padding the wood around the bed and then putting pillows below that. Am sure that it will probably scare him the first time going down (trust me to buy kid unfriendly furniture.......we also have cream lounges agggh) but if he works it out ok i will leave it like that otherwise just put the matress on the floor.:smiliedance: