What Sort of Bed Rails to Choose
When it comes to buying a bed guard to fit to your children's beds there are many choices. Broadly they can be split into a few categories though which should help you understand what's on offer a bit better and to help you make your choice.
The traditional bed guard is usually made of wood. It is quite a large and cumbersome thing and usually forms a large side to the bed it is being fixed to. It will have slats in it and when its fixed it will not look that much unlike a cot.
The difference between using a bed with a traditional toddler bed guards and a cot is that the rest of the bed is not usually enclosed too. The sides are the areas that need the protection from the guard so either two are fitted or the bed is pushed up against the wall to form another ‘side'. With a cot the child is enclosed on both sides and both ends.
The other difference with a bed and bed guard is that it is detachable. This means that your child can lay in bed without being penned in by the rail when you are reading bed time stories or are otherwise attending to them.
One of the disadvantages of these traditional wooden bed rails is that they are heavy and can be hard to keep fitting and unfitting from the bed. This is why the design has moved on somewhat and many people prefer the alternatives.
The more mainstream alternative is a more lightweight version of the traditional bed guard. However rather than being made from heavy wood it is usually made from a lightweight cloth material. The cloth material is usually positioned over a more rigid structure of plastic piping. This form of guard is fitted in a similar way to the traditional guard by fixing it to the open side of the bed.
Rather than having wooden slats so that the child does not feel completely enclosed and trapped the cloth alternative usually has some form of meshing with holes in so that the child can still see out. These alternatives come in different shapes and sizes and some of them are foldable and can be used for travelling quite easily.
A newer design still involves the attachment of two inflatable tubes on either side of the bed. These are held in place by a specially designed sheet and they can be inflated to the required degree to be able to keep your child in place. These inflatable guards have the advantage that they do not make tall sides to the bed and the bedding can be pulled over the top of them to make it feel like a big bed.
The traditional bed guard is usually made of wood. It is quite a large and cumbersome thing and usually forms a large side to the bed it is being fixed to. It will have slats in it and when its fixed it will not look that much unlike a cot.
The difference between using a bed with a traditional toddler bed guards and a cot is that the rest of the bed is not usually enclosed too. The sides are the areas that need the protection from the guard so either two are fitted or the bed is pushed up against the wall to form another ‘side'. With a cot the child is enclosed on both sides and both ends.
The other difference with a bed and bed guard is that it is detachable. This means that your child can lay in bed without being penned in by the rail when you are reading bed time stories or are otherwise attending to them.
One of the disadvantages of these traditional wooden bed rails is that they are heavy and can be hard to keep fitting and unfitting from the bed. This is why the design has moved on somewhat and many people prefer the alternatives.
The more mainstream alternative is a more lightweight version of the traditional bed guard. However rather than being made from heavy wood it is usually made from a lightweight cloth material. The cloth material is usually positioned over a more rigid structure of plastic piping. This form of guard is fitted in a similar way to the traditional guard by fixing it to the open side of the bed.
Rather than having wooden slats so that the child does not feel completely enclosed and trapped the cloth alternative usually has some form of meshing with holes in so that the child can still see out. These alternatives come in different shapes and sizes and some of them are foldable and can be used for travelling quite easily.
A newer design still involves the attachment of two inflatable tubes on either side of the bed. These are held in place by a specially designed sheet and they can be inflated to the required degree to be able to keep your child in place. These inflatable guards have the advantage that they do not make tall sides to the bed and the bedding can be pulled over the top of them to make it feel like a big bed.
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