Bathroom Baby has a room AND a bed now?? Life's good for T1.

[Wolfie]

My mom told me that on one of the many occasions I climbed out of my crib, I caught my foot in the string of toys that was hanging above the crib. She heard me crying in a weird way and when she ran in there, I was dangling by my ankle upside down over the floor. I think that's when I got a regular bed.

You must've been an odd child to be 40 months younger than your little sister. :lol:

Lol, riffles. Going to correct the OP.

[Wolfie]

No where did I accuse you of harming your children.

You may have a memory but that doesn't mean you understood what the statement meant nor the consequences if you continued to do such. We can all have vague memories of childhood.

I have hideous allergies and I can sleep on a floor bed just fine. It's about cleanliness. Keep it clean, make an effort to eliminate the dust surrounding the bed, and keep a schedule up in order to keep the area clean. You should be doing that anyway. There are loads of ways you can expose your children to allergens, you can't keep everything from them at all times.

I actually have many more specific childhood memories than vague ones- it's so bad that the family jokes about it.

Yes, there are so many you can't avoid, and some that are actually good to expose your children to, like pets, but why, when it is something that you CAN control, and a risk for future allergies, ignore it?

And yes, I don't live in a dump. I have a cleaning schedule. But I've lost friends over animal allergies. Seriously. I've gotten e-mails accusing me of making up the swelling sinuses and throat just to hurt them.

[FundiesInMyFamily]

I wonder if she's set herself up with any new therapists or resources now that they're in San Fran. Probably not. These are T1's formative years and who knows what kind of attachment/socialization damage she's already done to him with the way she treats him.

[B5SnowDog]

Lol, riffles. Going to correct the OP.

:D My dad loved holding his little sister when she was a baby. He tried to get her out of her crib once but lost his balance while trying to climb out with her in his arms. Luckily, he landed on his seat and he didn't drop her.

[BlackHawk]

I actually have many more specific childhood memories than vague ones- it's so bad that the family jokes about it.

Yes, there are so many you can't avoid, and some that are actually good to expose your children to, like pets, but why, when it is something that you CAN control, and a risk for future allergies, ignore it?

And yes, I don't live in a dump. I have a cleaning schedule. But I've lost friends over animal allergies. Seriously. I've gotten e-mails accusing me of making up the swelling sinuses and throat just to hurt them.

That is awesome you have such specific memories. I can tell you what carpet I had a child and that's about it really. That doesn't mean that before 2 you had the capability to process and understand the risks associated with climbing out of your crib.

Then you have/had shitty friends, sorry to say. If you try to control every allergy your child may be exposed to then any one with carpet is doing horrible harm to their children according to your logic. It's ridiculous.

I think you are getting a bit defensive over everything I state as if I am personally attacking you. I am not attacking you in any way, just the statements you make here. I never stated you live in a dump. I'm just stating the simple things you can do to prevent being afraid of a floor bed.

[Libby Liberal]

I don't have a problem with Montessori style beds, but if you are going to do it, you have CHILDPROOF LIKE CRAZY. Jenna? Put these weird floating shelves up at the perfect intervals for T1 to climb up them. And thought it was appropriate for the baby to sleep in a darkroom with chemicals over his head. So...poor baby.

[Ridiculous]

Here's my toddler's bedroom from when we first set it up for her*:

Note the floor bed. She's 22 months and has slept on the floor bed since she was 10 months old (before that she co-slept). I change her sheets once a week (more often if we have a potty accident... and yes, there is a waterproof pad on the mattress). When I do that, I flip the mattress. I vacuum 3x\week and lift the mattress to vacuum underneath each time. I am pretty sure she's not suffering from mold or dust exposure.

Honestly, I don't care if you have your toddler sleep in a crib, a bed on a frame, a floor bed, a hammock, or whatever. It's a bit silly to act like the floor bed is some sort of horrible child neglect, though.

*There have been changes over the last 12 months to accommodate an increase in toys and climbing abilities, as well as some decorative additions. :-)

[aelar]

My 15 month old has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor since she was 8 months old and outgrew the travel pack-n-play we were using instead of a crib. We never got a crib because we knew we'd be putting the mattress on the floor. Although we did do a general babyproof of her room, we also installed a baby gate around her bed area, to make a giant crib because we have a play structure in the nursery for her, and some windows that we have to keep open in the summer, so it's not quite safe enough to let her be completely unsupervised for long periods of time. The gate is only closed when she's asleep and we're out of the room, otherwise she has full run of the room. As soon as we get new windows installed, we will probably start leaving the gate open for naps, and by two I expect there won't be a gate either.

Considering how often she rolls off her little mattress onto the floor, I'm glad her bed is on the floor though we will eventually raise the bed up for more storage, going higher as she gets older. Right now, we're not at all worried about dust and mold. We live in a dry climate, we put the mattress in a waterproof allergy-resistant cover to prevent dust mite and other issues, and the bed gets picked up at least once a week when we change the sheets, so we would spot any issues starting. We don't have the world's cleanest house, but then there are studies that seem to indicate that a moderate amount of dirt, dust, and germs help prevent allergies (good thing, because my husband, the SAHD is not a neat freak, so our house will never be squeaky clean).

The floor bed with gate is really a wonderful setup for us, and everyone who sees our nursery tells us that it's a great idea, and I think we've influenced some people to try it themselves when they have babies. It's not the usual, but I certainly haven't heard anyone say anything about my child not having a real bed. Of course it's a real bed! It's a nice big bed that I can share with her at night, and that she can roll around on with her toys during the day (she has LOTS of toys and books), and that she can get in and out of whenever she wants. She will tell us when she wants to go to bed, by flopping on it and waiting for us to come in to read and nurse.

It's completely different to choose not to use a bed frame so that your child can have more independence and more easily explore her world, versus not having a bed frame because you don't want to spend money on your child, regardless of whether it is appropriate for your climate and living conditions or not. I agree that we can't tell anything about ThatWife from where her son is sleeping, though I would imagine that going from a pack-n-play to a regular bed would be a big adjustment, since he was trapped in a small area for so long, that he couldn't roll out of. Personally, I suspect the mattress on the floor is for the convenience of not having to worry about him falling out of bed, rather than to give him more freedom and opportunity for enrichment, but it's a good sign that at least he's finally out of a crib.

[Morton Fan]

I wonder if she's set herself up with any new therapists or resources now that they're in San Fran. Probably not. These are T1's formative years and who knows what kind of attachment/socialization damage she's already done to him with the way she treats him.

I know she's mentioned that he's attending preschool, and apparently last week they "tried out" a therapeutic preschool that would be in addition to the first. It sounds a bit like she's outsourcing him, but at least a preschool will provide toys, structure, interaction, and care - more than he seems to get from TW.

[Morton Fan]

My 15 month old has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor since she was 8 months old and outgrew the travel pack-n-play we were using instead of a crib. We never got a crib because we knew we'd be putting the mattress on the floor. Although we did do a general babyproof of her room, we also installed a baby gate around her bed area, to make a giant crib because we have a play structure in the nursery for her, and some windows that we have to keep open in the summer, so it's not quite safe enough to let her be completely unsupervised for long periods of time. The gate is only closed when she's asleep and we're out of the room, otherwise she has full run of the room. As soon as we get new windows installed, we will probably start leaving the gate open for naps, and by two I expect there won't be a gate either.

Considering how often she rolls off her little mattress onto the floor, I'm glad her bed is on the floor though we will eventually raise the bed up for more storage, going higher as she gets older. Right now, we're not at all worried about dust and mold. We live in a dry climate, we put the mattress in a waterproof allergy-resistant cover to prevent dust mite and other issues, and the bed gets picked up at least once a week when we change the sheets, so we would spot any issues starting. We don't have the world's cleanest house, but then there are studies that seem to indicate that a moderate amount of dirt, dust, and germs help prevent allergies (good thing, because my husband, the SAHD is not a neat freak, so our house will never be squeaky clean).

The floor bed with gate is really a wonderful setup for us, and everyone who sees our nursery tells us that it's a great idea, and I think we've influenced some people to try it themselves when they have babies. It's not the usual, but I certainly haven't heard anyone say anything about my child not having a real bed. Of course it's a real bed! It's a nice big bed that I can share with her at night, and that she can roll around on with her toys during the day (she has LOTS of toys and books), and that she can get in and out of whenever she wants. She will tell us when she wants to go to bed, by flopping on it and waiting for us to come in to read and nurse.

It's completely different to choose not to use a bed frame so that your child can have more independence and more easily explore her world, versus not having a bed frame because you don't want to spend money on your child, regardless of whether it is appropriate for your climate and living conditions or not. I agree that we can't tell anything about ThatWife from where her son is sleeping, though I would imagine that going from a pack-n-play to a regular bed would be a big adjustment, since he was trapped in a small area for so long, that he couldn't roll out of. Personally, I suspect the mattress on the floor is for the convenience of not having to worry about him falling out of bed, rather than to give him more freedom and opportunity for enrichment, but it's a good sign that at least he's finally out of a crib.

I agree with a lot of your last paragraph, but the bolded stands out to me. I, for one, DO believe we can "tell [some]thing about That Wife from where her son is sleeping." Someone who has a spare room for "computers" and yet lets her child (until about 2.5 years old, mind you) sleep in a pack-n-play in the bathroom shows me that she's inconsiderate and foolish.

[Witsec7]

My DD dismantled her crib with her nimble fingers at about 15 months. She neatly stacked all the washers, bolts and screws in their own piles. She did sleep with her crib mattress on the floor for about two months until we found a bedroom set that worked.

[aelar]

I agree with a lot of your last paragraph, but the bolded stands out to me. I, for one, DO believe we can "tell [some]thing about That Wife from where her son is sleeping." Someone who has a spare room for "computers" and yet lets her child (until about 2.5 years old, mind you) sleep in a pack-n-play in the bathroom shows me that she's inconsiderate and foolish.

Oh yes, I completely agree that keeping your baby for any length of time in a bathroom, much less past the age when they would be able to climb out of their crib, is totally wrong and unsafe. What I meant was that her son -now- having a bed on the floor doesn't, in and of itself, say much of anything about how much ThatWife has or hasn't grown as a person and a parent since the bathroom baby days. Having the mattress on the floor doesn't mean that she's become some super involved Montessori parent, and it also doesn't mean that she's a horrible mom who is too selfish to buy her kid a bedframe. I suspect that her reasons are closer to the latter than the former, but a bed on the floor by itself isn't much to go on to analyze her parenting style. But it's an improvement, regardless of her reasons.

[emmiedahl]

I had a mini-Houdini in my oldest and he slept in a toddler bed from about 7 months onward, because that was the age when he first thumped the shit out of his head climbing out of the crib. I figured if he could get out of a damn crib, then he should be able to maneuver out of a toddler bed without a problem. Toddler beds are fine, mattresses on the floor, whatevs. I am sure I slept in some interesting places when I was young because my parents were poor and creative. My current toddler sleeps in our bed and sometimes his sibling's beds because it is use valuable space on a bed of his own when he is opposed to sleeping alone.

I hope little T1 finally gets his own space, and that the bed on the floor is not the only thing in that house he can claim as his own. I hope he has somewhere to put his toys and toys to put there! However, knowing ThatWife, I fully suspect that she is just too damn cheap to buy a proper bed and that he will still be limited to four of the most boring toys he owns because he plays with them wrong.

[snarkbillie]

I put my kid in a toddler bed once I figured out they could get up and down off the couch without help. I figured it was only a matter of time before they were trying to scale the walls of the crib. I did put a gate up until they were ready to be potty trained so they couldn't wander the house unattended. Even though I scrupulously baby-proofed it didn't seem safe for them to be wandering around when I was asleep. I figured baby-proofing was not to keep a baby out of stuff, but only to hinder them long enough for a parent to get there to move them away from whatever it is they were messing with.

[Vex]

This is slightly OT, but why on earth are they having a second child? They clearly don't like the baby they already have! They do not seem like 'kid' people at all.

[emmiedahl]

This is slightly OT, but why on earth are they having a second child? They clearly don't like the baby they already have! They do not seem like 'kid' people at all.

I imagine it has to do with their religion's emphasis on breeding. After all, ThatAsshole won't get his own planet if Jenna shirks her duties on Earth. Also, I think TW sees T1 as broken and wants a model that does what it is supposed to do.

[OkToBeTakei]

What on earth with the mattress on the floor thing? Most toddler beds are what? 2-4 inches from the floor. Does it have some merit or is it just an economic choice?

Anywhere is better than the bathroom it has to be said. :lol:

[Patsy]

Mattresses on the floor might allow for exploration, but as if that's what TB did it for. She's deleted her "day in the life" from when BB was eight months old, but as I recall she was locking the kid in a playpen for hours on end while fucking around on the 'puter. She doesn't engage with him in any way - smiling, talking, or playing - she threw away his toys because he wasn't playing with them the way she thought was right and he left them around the living room - she used to wrap him in three nappies at night, til his little legs looked almost dislocated, so they'd be even more absorbent.

[ElphabaGalinda]

Mattresses on the floor might allow for exploration, but as if that's what TB did it for. She's deleted her "day in the life" from when BB was eight months old, but as I recall she was locking the kid in a playpen for hours on end while fucking around on the 'puter. She doesn't engage with him in any way - smiling, talking, or playing - she threw away his toys because he wasn't playing with them the way she thought was right and he left them around the living room - she used to wrap him in three nappies at night, til his little legs looked almost dislocated, so they'd be even more absorbent.

I agree, no way did TW put T1 on a mattress on the floor for any good reason. And she's not going to make her home very safe for him to explore, because you don't lock a baby in a playpen for hours, or not even hold teh bottle when you're feeding him, and suddenly care about exploration.

[ILoveJellybeans]

I wish I could adopt this kid, his mom doesnt seem to want him.

Reading this forum makes me want to adopt half the kids in these families though.

[slickcat79]

I imagine it has to do with their religion's emphasis on breeding. After all, ThatAsshole won't get his own planet if Jenna shirks her duties on Earth. Also, I think TW sees T1 as broken and wants a model that does what it is supposed to do.

Agreed. And I find that funny and sad at the same time.

[lilwriter85]

I imagine it has to do with their religion's emphasis on breeding. After all, ThatAsshole won't get his own planet if Jenna shirks her duties on Earth. Also, I think TW sees T1 as broken and wants a model that does what it is supposed to do.

I also think religion plays into them having more kids. As much as I dislike Christian and Stephanie Nielson, they at least are content with having children unlike Jenna and her husband.

[ilovetchotchkes]

Tchotchke toddler's bed (a double bed FWIW) is on top of its box spring, on the floor. As is mama and daddy's tchotchke's bed. He kept falling out of bed.

That and OUR bed- the frame we had was on wheels and it scratched up our oak floors horribly. (Why the fuck was the bed on wheels, i have no idea. But it kept creeping away from the wall and we'd end up a foot from the wall with all the pillows on the floor every damn night)

We don't plan on getting a bed frame for us until we need a new mattress because we're upgrading to a king at that point. For Toddler boy, we're eventually going to get one of those bed frames from IKEA with the drawers underneath- his room is really small. If you all saw a picture you'd be all "Where the hell are his toys?" (answer: taking up 3/4 of our family room and the entire enclosed front porch!!!). -

I have no problem with a mattress on the floor if its for "baby not falling out of bed " purposes. But I have a feeling TB isn't doing it for that reason.

And *snarky look at her blog* it appears miss TW wasn't wearing her magical undergarmies on her wedding day....

[2xx1xy1JD]

I don't have a kid yet, no, but that doesn't matter. I don't have to have children to know that I will be trying a floor bed and that letting your children climb out of a crib is dangerous. Just because you don't think it's sanitary doesn't make that true. I'm not sure what having or not having children has to do with that.

You were under 2 and your parent "forbade" you from climbing out? Seriously? You were a small child who couldn't understand the safety issues. They made a choice to give you a bed on a frame. And that is fine. Just as if they had given you a floor bed.

My kids had floor beds. They preferred it, esp. as it was less intimidating for them to get in and out.

I don't see why they would be unsanitary. If dust collects under "real bed", wouldn't that be a bigger allergy risk?

[Witsec7]

I'm calling peanut butter on this thread. :lol: