Our son is about to turn three and 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 solution to help ease our boy’s transition to a big boy bed using a few cheap pool noodles to create a toddler bed rail bumper.
* This post includes Affiliate Links.
Free Resource Library
Get access to download all my freebies all at once.
- Your information will be kept safe and spam-free.
Upgrading to a big Kid Bed
Upgrading our child to a big kid bed was such an exciting milestone.
We purchased his bed frame from IKEA, with drawers underneath. A mattress and pillow from Target. On our list, we also had a mattress protector, bedding, and a bed rail.
We took him with us to do all the shopping early that morning so we could have everything set up for him by nap time. He was so excited and got to pick out his new bedding set- he was between spiderman and minions. It was a lot of fun but the bill adds up quickly!
And turns out the bed rail we picked up didn’t work out. So I had to come up with a quick and affordable bed bumper solution to prevent my toddler from falling out of bed.
trial and error Bed Rail Bumper
We’ve had a few issues with our son falling off the crib in the past. Despite having a crib rail, he moved around so much while sleeping and would fall out through the opening.
Now that he’ll be sleeping in a larger bed, which is much higher and completely open, 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. For that night we decided to use an old pool noodle I had used in his toddler crib to prevent him from falling off, hoping it would help.
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.
There are some pillow type bed bumpers on the market online running for about $25-$40 each. But, since we just spent way over $600 on all the bed stuff, 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.
the diy bed Rail/bumper solution
At the Dollar Store I picked up three random pool noodles (each $1), and of course they have tons since its Summer.
Then I taped them together into a triangle and inserted them under the mattress protector (if you don’t have one you can just put it under the fitted sheet).
My original pool noodle idea was great, but one was not enough to keep him from rolling off. By stacking them I could form a taller barrier.
Slide through below to see the step-by-step process, it’s very simple.
If you do prefer to buy something, the removable rails or this cushioned one, which has great reviews. I kept them in my shopping cart in case my pool noodle idea failed.
Readers:
How was your toddler's transition to a big kid bed?
What kinds of struggles have your kids had at night?
Free Resource Library
Get access to download all my freebies all at once.
- Your information will be kept safe and spam-free.
My name is Paula and I’m a mom of two scrumptious cuties. Thanks Mommy Blog became a project for me to help guide other new moms and current moms through any of my own personal experiences and struggles. My hobbies include singing, doing jigsaw puzzles, baking, designing and trying to stay creative.
This is a great idea. My daughter is almost three and we are getting closer to transitioning her to a big girls bed. I have never seen anything like this before and for only 3$!