Our son is about to turn 3 so for his birthday we wanted to upgrade him from a crib with toddler rail to an adult sized (twin) bed. He’s outgrowing his crib and we were lucky his came with a toddler rail so its definitely time for the upgrade.
Besides cost, our biggest concern was him falling off a much larger and higher bed.
I figured I’d try a simple little DIY to help ease our boy’s transition to a big boy bed using a few cheap pool noodles.
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trial and error
We’ve had a few issues with our son falling off the crib in the past, despite the crib rail, from all the moving around. Now that we got him a larger bed that’s much higher we’ve been a little concerned.
When we did all the shopping for his new bed we got a removable toddler rail but it didn’t fit right with the bed frame. So, for that night, we decided to use the pool noodle I had used in his toddler crib to prevent him from falling off.
Back when I had first tried this, I placed a pool noodle under his sheets on the edge of the bed and some pillows on the floor. So we repeated the same thing for a few days but this morning I woke up to the sound of him falling off while asleep.
It was heartbreaking.
Returning the bed isn’t an option and getting a rail isn’t what we want at the moment.
I did see some pillow type bed bumpers on the market online running for about $25-$40 each but since we just spent way over $600 on the entire bed (frame, mattress, sheets, covers, pillow…. that shit adds up way too fast), I was looking for the cheapest and easiest temporary solution.
Resorting back to the original pool noodle idea, I decided to buff it up this time, with three noodles stacked into a triangle.
Slide through below to see the step-by-step process. It’s very simple.
If you do prefer to buy something, the removable rails or this cushioned one, which has great reviews. I kept the cushioned one in my shopping cart in case my pool noodle idea failed.
problem solved!
At the Dollar Store I picked up 3 random pool noodles (each $1), and of course they have tons since its Summer. Then I taped them together into a triangle, and inserted them under the mattress protector (if you don’t have one you can just put it under the fitted sheet).
The original pool noodle idea is great but one was not enough to keep him from rolling off, which is why I decided to stack three of them to form a taller barrier.
I don’t think he’ll be falling out now!
Readers:
How was your toddler's transition to a big kid bed?
What kinds of struggles have your kids had at night?
My name is Paula and I’m a mom of two scrumptious cuties. Thanks Mommy Blog became a project for me to help guide other new moms and current moms through any of my own personal experiences and struggles. My hobbies include singing, doing jigsaw puzzles, baking, designing and trying to stay creative.
This is a great idea. My daughter is almost three and we are getting closer to transitioning her to a big girls bed. I have never seen anything like this before and for only 3$!