I recently found a product that saved me from waking up to a screaming toddler in the middle of the night, and I thought it was worth sharing (because no one enjoys that, right?).
When we upgraded Mia from her crib to her toddler pallet bed after redoing her room, we made sure to keep the bed close to the ground just in case she rolled out. She had previously been sleeping in her crib (which had been converted to a toddler bed), but it still had a small guard rail on one side to prevent her from falling out. Her new pallet bed would be her first experience sleeping in something without sides.
For the first couple of weeks, she did great at night and never fell out of bed. But then we started having occasions where she was rolling out and unto the unforgiving wood floor in the middle of the night; waking herself up from a dead sleep and giving me a heart attack after hearing a loud “thud” followed by screaming. I started to fear she was going to break her arm or hit her head one of these times, and decided I needed a solution.
I was totally against the attachable guard rails; they would have been too big on her little bed (which only holds a crib size mattress) and I wasn’t crazy about how unflattering they would look, either. After searching around, I found inflatable bumpers and foam bumpers that were placed underneath the sheets and created just enough height to keep your toddler from rolling over and out of bed. They also seemed much less cumbersome than the guard rails.
After price comparing, I settled on the Magic Bumpers, and I couldn’t be more pleased. They were super affordable compared to the inflatable bumpers I had found, and were the perfect size for her little bed (most of the inflatable ones were longer to fit a twin-size mattress). I paid only $16.99 for two 24” rails. Because I was only using them on a crib size mattress, these two were all I needed. If you had a larger mattress, you would purchase two sets of these and place each set end to end to create 48” rails on either side of the bed (two sets of Magic Bumpers sell for $28.99).
I would suggest making sure you have tight-fitting sheets to help hold the bumpers in place. I have never had a problem with mine moving or shifting, but the company that manufactures Magic Bumpers does sell adhesive felt pads to place on your mattress to hold the foam bumpers in place for only $3. I purchased these, but never ended up needing them.
Now we never have to worry about Mia falling out of bed (big sigh of relief). Sure, her bed isn’t quite as cute with the bumpers on, but I guess that’s just life with a toddler. If you’re looking for a solution to transitioning your kids to a big kid bed, I would highly recommend these. It saved me a lot of stress!
UPDATE: Although these bumpers are phthalate free, bpa free, lead free and latex free, some customers complained about the fact that they were sprayed with a potentially harmful fire retardent. Because of this, the company created Honest Foam Wedges, which contain no fire retardent. So if you are concerned about such a thing, there are options available! Just know that because of this, (as stated by the company) the product cannot be marketed as a child’s product as it would not meet CPSC regulations for fire-retardancy.
Disclosure: I am not receiving compensation from Magic Bumpers for this post – I simply enjoy the product and wanted to share. There are affiliate links to Amazon.com in this post, however, and I do receive compensation for sales made through those links.