How to Use and Choose a Toddler Bed Rail

Author Name: Heidi Holvoet, PhD

A toddler bed rail protects your baby or older child from falling out of bed.

A good one effectively helps your toddler transition from crib to bed in a safe and no-fuss way. You can also use a safety bed rail or bumper arrangement to set up a secure co-sleeping arrangement at any age.

When choosing which one to get, as with any product, your child's safety is the main concern. As a rule of thumb: the smaller your baby, the stricter the safety precautions you will need to think of when choosing and installing the bed rail.

The main risk will be for a young baby to get stuck between the safety bed rail and the mattress, which can be fatal for a little one.

But also at any later age you need your child in bed safely both to prevent injuries and to avoid unnecessary awakenings.

Which type of safety bed rail is best for you?

That depends on what you will use it for:

• As a toddler bed rail to transition from crib to bed
• As a family bed bumper to keep your baby from falling off when co-sleeping

Let's see how to make your best choice for either use.

Choosing a toddler bed rail to transition from crib to bed

Moving from the familiar protective crib to a big bed is a big step for your baby. A toddler bed rail helps with this transition in 2 ways:

• It protects your child from falling out of bed, which avoids getting hurt and traumatized about sleeping in the big bed
• It creates a more cozy, hugged sleep environment, which effectively improves sleep (often under-rated, but a pleasant place to sleep truly helps!)

When selecting, I recommend you check each of these requirements:

1. Pay attention to how the rail is attached to the bed. A large part of the material must slip under the mattress to prevent it from crashing down.
2. Even better: have a sturdy top-of-mattress attachment to avoid any gap at all. This is especially important for smaller babies.
   
   A good top-of-mattress rail is the Safety 1st Secure Toddler Bed Rail (pictured at the top of this page).
3. What I also like is when, once installed, you can fold the standing-up part down without needing to un-install the whole thing. That is very convenient at bedtime, for example when you're sitting on the bed together to read. Or when changing the sheets.



4. Some, but not many, have an extra pocket on the outside. Really practical to put in a small toy or book. Nice to have, but it's not an essential feature.
5. To be safe when using a single bed rail, you would need to place the bed against at wall. The "open" side is then protected by the rail itself as in the picture to the right.
   
   No wall to place the bed against?
   
   No worries, there are affordable double bumper arrangements as in the picture to the left. Or a double rail, like the Summer Infant Double Sided Bed Rail .

See my article When and how to transition from crib to bed for more about helping your toddler move to his big bed.

Choosing a safety bed rail for co-sleeping

In line with the co-sleeping safety guidelines , a safety bed rail helps prevent your baby from rolling off when co sleeping in your bed. Place the rail on mom's side of the bed: baby lies between you and the rail.

Please be careful, it is very (!) important to have no gap at all between the mattress and the rail. Unfortunately that is often the case with the classical fold-down toddler bed rails.

To avoid this, you need a "top of mattress attachment" bed rail that has no gap at all. I found the Safety 1st Secure Top (as in the picture at the very top of this page) suitable but decide which one will be safe in your own specific set up.

Another great option is a bumper arrangement of this type:



Humanity Family Bed Co Sleeping Pad

Article Author: Heidi Holvoet, PhD - Founder, senior sleep consultant



Heidi Holvoet, PhD, is the founder of the Baby Sleep Advice website and movement, an award-winning author, baby & toddler sleep consultant with 15+ years experience as well as a certified lactation counselor.

Over the years, Heidi has received several awards inluding a Mom's Choice Award (MCA) and National Parenting Awards (NAPPA) for her Baby Sleep Advice website, programs and books. Also, Baby Sleep Advice was awarded "Most Trusted Infant's Sleep Solutions Company 2023" in the Benelux Enterprise Awards 2023.

Heidi continually conducts personal research and participates in continued education and in that way stays up to date with current scientific and pyschosocial infant care.



She is also a member of the Association of Professional Sleep Consultants of which she was one of the earliest contributors. She obtained her PhD degree in physics at the University of Ghent in Belgium.

Heidi is passionate about helping babies and their parents sleep more and better, with her trademark approach that has been proven and praised time and again by parents worldwide to be effective and truly no-tears. Respect for you as a parent and your baby, is at the heart of Heidi's warm and kind support. Her approach always keeps in mind a baby's needs and abilities at any given age, is based on pediatric science and the most up to date knowledge in infant care and sleep science.

As well as the award-winning baby sleep programs, Heidi offers popular 1:1 consults and easy-access 30-minute SOS Sleep sessions.

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