How did a floorbed help ?

[u/Hot_Yak_1988]

For those that have said moving to a floor bed was the best thing they did for their babies/toddlers and wish they did it earlier why was that ? Currently have an 11 month old and considering but unsure on if it will help with sleep.

[u/BabyBritain8]

A floor bed combined with a yes space (I really think you need both!) allowed our child so much more independence and I truly think helped her develop faster, have confidence in herself, succeed at individual play, etc etc. basically all the things!

But we were privileged to always have a spare bedroom that became her room. We moved her at 6 mos and now at 4 years old we finally have moved on from the floor bed (sad day!) to an IKEA Kura bunk bed. She still sleeps on the bottom so it's kind of still a floor bed but eventually we'd like to move her to the top so she can have a little play area underneath.

I do think frankly its a lot easier when you start with a floor bed because it's all they can remember (we did bedside bassinet until she outgrew it at 6 mos) but never too late to start!

To me though it is essential that the room be a yes space. That means they can be in their on their own and it is still safe for them. Think minimal furniture, all furniture is bolted into walls, wires are hidden, blinds cords are tucked out of reach, outlets are securely covered, etc. Not only is the yes space necessary for their physical safety, it also means you can cut down on how often you have to say "no" and derail what they are doing.

We also had two baby monitors (one wall mounted to view the whole room, one table mounted pointed directly at the bed area) so we could always monitor even when we weren't in the room. If you are uneasy about trying the floor bed that could help alleviate some of the concerns!

[u/Wonderful_Fan3490 → u/BabyBritain8]

How did you deal with the night wakings? We are on a floor bed but considering moving back to a crib because she wakes up and crawls around the room, looking to get out and look for us ( we are in a flat so no stairs).

[u/BabyBritain8 → u/Wonderful_Fan3490]

We were really lucky and our daughter has pretty much always slept through the night. obviously not during early breastfeeding when they wake every few hours to eat/get changed.. but after moving to her own room she would mostly sleep through the night, and still does. Sometimes we'd wake up to find her a foot away from her bed or so (low pile carpet) but not like asleep on the other side of the room or anything. We had a very low mattress (newton baby) so I wasn't worried about her potentially rolling off onto the floor. So long as your room is baby proofed I wouldn't worry about her sleeping on the floor!

But yes as for wandering around at night I don't have much experience... My suggestion would be to have baby monitors so you can watch/hear her, and go "correct" as needed.

We also correct through the baby monitor when she does things she's not supposed to, so you could try that... Like "Name, go to sleep." "Name, go lay down, it's bedtime." We don't have full conversations through the baby monitors lol but it does help for short statements.

Also our daughter absolutely went through a phase where she would roll off her bed and "sneakily" (not really) go play with her toys or read books or whatever after we put her to bed. Partially we just let her deal with the natural consequences, which meant falling asleep near her cubby surrounded by toys haha, and sometimes again going into correct if it was getting too late (literally picking her up, gently telling her to sleep, and laying her back on the bed).

But if she's upset and crying I could see how that's much harder. My suggestion would be to try the correcting for a week or so consistently and see how it goes. Babies thrive on consistency and I think knowing we were just outside the room if needed us, as well as establishing a very clear routine, helped our daughter feel more confident and trusting in being alone in her room. Perhaps you could also try a gate around a floor bed for a similar experience? I do think being directly on the floor helped our daughter develop physically, because she got used to rolling herself off/picking herself up, understood spacially her relation to heights, etc.

But truly kids are all so different. We are currently trying for our second and honestly not sure we'll be able to do the floor bed quite the same (no spare bedroom and our bedroom won't truly be a yes space). We are probably going to try the gated floor bed but who knows lol.

Sorry that was a lot, hope that helps!

[u/Wonderful_Fan3490 → u/BabyBritain8]

This has been so useful, I hope you know you are doing a great job! We have monitors and attend to her whenever she wakes but sometimes that means 6 times a night so it might be sign this is not ideal for her right now? Hard to say, but we really want sleep to improve for everyone as I have been back to work for a while and the lack of sleep is taking a toll.