Bed Rails

Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Bedrails for a bed without a box spring

June 2006

We recently bought the Thomas bed from Pottery Barn kids for my son. It requires no box spring, the mattress sits directly on the bed frame, which I thought was fine until I realized that all of the bedrails out there require a box spring in order to install. Has anyone run into this problem before and have any suggestions??? milla

Try Safety 1st. We have the portable kind which was great for traveling: http://www.safety1st.com/product.asp?productID=892
cozy kid

Bed rails for toddler's new twin bed

Oct 2003

In a few months we'll be transitioning our toddler from a crib to a twin-sized bed. What type of bed rail should we buy? Any advice about features to consider or brands that are good/bad would be appreciated. Thanks! Liz O.

You probably don't actually need a bed rail at all; we never used one and our son's bed is rather tall. Besides the fact that our boxspring-less captain's style beds won't really accept one, I was more concerned about the danger of a baby getting trapped between the rail and the mattress than the possible risks of a baby falling out of bed.

If you are worried about falls, try putting the twin size mattress on the floor at first, so that if he (she?) does roll out he will only fall a few inches. But even if he does fall out of a standard height bed, he isn't likely to hurt himself. It's happened to most kids I know, including my own, and none are any worse for wear. Just make sure there's a well padded carpet or mat next to the bed, and that the wooden blocks and other hard toys get put away or moved away from the bedside before bedtime. Holly

We like our Evenflo soft bed rail. It folds down so the kid can get in and is easy to put back up. It has a mesh center stretched around a metal rail. We got it at ToysRus. jennifer

Rails to keep baby in our queen-sized bed

Aug 2003

Our *very* active 6 mo. old has recently waged a strike on the crib and will only fall asleep in our queen bed (I used to leave him in the crib for naps & early eves and then bring him to bed later). I'm looking for some bedrails that will keep him in the bed while he rolls & crawls before he conks out (supervised, of course) and then sleeps by himself. I think our mattress is extra thick, so I'm looking for some that are pretty high. It would also be great if they flipped down when not in use. I just checked the archives but didn't see any specific brand recommendations -- I know that there are several companies that make them. I'd love your suggestions on which ones to get and where to get them. wish they made family cribs

One Step Ahead sells the ''Smart Guard Ultra Bed Rail'' which it bills as the longest and highest bed rail made. ''Large enough for a queen-sized mattress''. You would need two, just be sure to keep them firmly against the mattress. Also, I saw a double bed rail at ToysRUs a bit back which had straps under the mattress to keep the two rails firmly affixed. Good luck. Rachel