My 20-month-old officially moved into a proper bed in March! It might seem early but honestly, the cot was a waste of time for this prolific co-sleeper and my back is already happier laying in his little bed, than it ever was bending over to get him out of his cot and then sitting in a rocking chair for an hour, before giving up and putting him in our bed.
My eldest, now 4, still sleeps in the floor bed we got him when he was about 2 and it really is a revelation. It’s like his whole sleep pattern changed when he was in his own bed – although his brother isn’t quite following that pattern.
We decided to go for a bit of a Montessori approach to beds. As much as I’m sure both boys would have preferred a novelty race car bed (my husband too to be fair!), I wanted something low that they could get in and out of themselves, safely, and I didn’t have to worry about them rolling out and hurting themselves. I didn’t want anything that was a mattress directly on the floor, as that can cause some bacteria build up in the mattress as it has no space to “breathe”.
I thought I’d do a bit of a review and comparison on both of their beds, and as I built them both single-handedly, and have spent plenty of nights sleeping between them both, I figured I was well-versed.
Ruben, the 4-year-olds bed, was this one from Amazon.
Wooden Treehouse style bed
The price fluctuates but it was around £85-£90 when we got it and didn’t come with the mattress. We bought that separately from Argos, but I will warn you, the bed itself is a weird size and needs 80 x 160cm mattress. I accidentally bought a slightly too big mattress which hangs off the end a little but is still okay. I love the design, and so does he. Sometimes we will hang a sheet over the top of the “roof” and create a bit of a den and get cosy to read books.
I will say that my second child is, as second children often are, a lot wilder than my first. Ruben is very sensible and careful most of the time. He was never much of a climber, and when we put him in bed (up until a few months ago) he just never really got out of it. It was a dream. But Indiana is our little adventurer and I had visions of him trying to scale the roof of the bed. I just wasn’t sure if it would take it to be honest! It is a great bed, but doesn’t feel quite as sturdy as Indie’s. That’s not to say I think it would fall down, but it certainly wouldn’t take too much swinging on the bars from a rambunctious toddler. (I also have to admit that once or twice, I have sat on it a little heavily and broken a slat or two. That might say more about me than the bed though!).
So after a bit of 3am night-feed research, I came across this little beauty from Bed Kingdom.
We got it in white, with the mattress and bedding package, to save having to go to the shops separately. The bed alone was £119, so not really much more than the bed from Amazon, and there are a few different options for mattresses. We went for the Noomi Eco foam Mattress which was an additional £99.99 but it is 100x more comfortable than the one Ruben has at the moment and as we spend so much time laying with him to get him ton sleep, it’s worth every penny. Then the 7.5 tog duvet and pillow (which is really for me during aforementioned sleep cuddles) was £24.99.
I love that the Bed Kingdom bed still has the house motif, but isn’t as imposing in the room. Indiebug has the smaller bedroom and there are some cute decals on the wall that I really didn’t want to be covered up, so this was perfect. It also feels a lot better quality, and more sturdy.
Both were easy enough to build. Probably because I am a flat-pack champion, and also potentially because I bodged together an electric Allen key. But I did them both entirely by myself – except for a small bit of help from the children while doing the Bed Kingdom one.
I really like both beds, but I do have to say that I prefer the Bed Kingdom one the most. It came next day with free shipping, and the customer service was great. It is a better size if you’re looking for a single (which I thought I was when I bought Ruben’s from Amazon… my bad!) and just seems like a better quality product. That said, I think the Amazon bed is a lovely design and creates a lot of opportunities for play too.
If you are looking for a cute, house-themed toddler/young child bed, I hope this has helped you with your decision. This isn’t a sponsored post or an ad (sadly), I just want to get back into shouting my thoughts at the internet and this seemed like a good place to start.