At what age did you remove the safety rails from your DC bed?

[HIU8]

DS is almost 4 1/2. He has a captains bed with one side against a wall. On the other side there is a safety rail that has been there since he started using the bed 2.5 years ago. He has never fallen out (of his bed, or any other bed). He does not even sleep near the railing--as in not up against it. Next to the railing he has a body pillow that he likes to hug when he is falling asleep. Sometimes he turns and the top of his head is near the railing and his feet are near the wall. I would like to remove the railing. DS, however, is not good with that. We talked about it and he said he didn't want it removed. DS is the type of child that has to be convinced (long and hard) to do something before he will try it. Should I leave it alone and revisit when he is 5?

[o_mom]

If he doesn't want it removed and you have no pressing reason to, then I would leave it. DS1 was around 5 when we switched to a twin bed with no rail from the toddler bed.

[Momof3Labs]

We still have a rail on DS1's bed. When we tried to take it off, he fell out again (he's a very, very deep sleeper). He sleeps pretty close to the rail, and the bed is quite high off the ground. I have no problem keeping it on there - it isn't a big deal either way IMO.

[KrisM]

I'd just leave it there. If it isn't bothering him or if there isn't another reason to take it off, leaving it seems fine.

We never had a rail - just a twin boxspring and mattress on the floor. Neither kid fell off more than once.

[HIU8]

I guess I will wait for him to tell me that he wants it off. Meanwhile, the mattress sits on a platform that is covered in some material (this platform sits on top of 3 2x4's that are attached to the bed). The legs on the bedrail have ripped holes in the material on the platform (not a big deal, just annoying since the rail doesn't get moved).

[JBaxter]

I never had rails on any of their beds

[Moneypenny]

We started DD with no rail and she was fine for a couple of months and then suddenly started falling out. We stuck a rolled up beach towel under her fitted sheet at the edge for several months and just removed that a while ago (she's 4.5 now). Maybe your DS would accept a compromise of removing the rail and replacing it with the towel? It seems like the rail would make it a pain to make the bed while the towel is no problem at all.

[DebbieJ]

Originally Posted by JBaxter

I never had rails on any of their beds

We never used rails here either. He's only fallen out once or twice.

[Wife_and_mommy]

I had wanted to remove my then 4.5yo when a friend of hers fell out after the rail was removed and broke her clavicle. We've already had one child with a broken bone in the last year so it's not a risk we're willing to take for the foreseeable future. DD doesn't seem to care that it's there either.

[g-mama]

Originally Posted by JBaxter

I never had rails on any of their beds