Home Mattress Tips Guide for Parents During Their Toddlers’ Bed Transition

Guide for Parents During Their Toddlers’ Bed Transition

Parents will understandably experience stress when choosing from among their choices in beds for their toddlers. At their age, toddlers are too large for their cribs but too small for their parents’ queen-sized beds, among other reasons. There’s also the fact that several factors should be considered when buying beds for toddlers, from their age to their height, weight and personal preferences.

Here are other things that you should know about making a successful transition for your toddler. Keep in mind, too, that price isn’t the most important factor although you will likely get what you paid for.  No wonder sensible parents will choose well-known mattress brands like Serta, Sleepwell, and Spring Air.

Skip the Toddler Bed, If Possible

The current consensus among health experts is that toddler beds may be the rage among parents but these beds are likely to be unnecessary expenses. Toddler beds, by the way, are essential bed frames that ensure children sleeping in them will not roll out of them during their sleep and get a snug feeling akin to being in their cots.

Why are toddler beds unnecessary expenses? First, toddlers can quickly outgrow them because of their growth spurt. You, the parents, will even think that their costs are too much to pay for given the short span of their use. You may, of course, repurpose the toddler bed but it may also just gather dust in the attic until the next toddler comes along.

Second, toddler beds usually have smaller mattresses than regular-sized beds. When your toddler outgrows his toddler bed, you have to buy a new mattress so there’s another expense involved. You can again repurpose the mattress, such as into smaller pillows, but its cost could have been used for buying a regular-sized bed and mattress instead.

Third, toddler beds may not be suitable for the needs and wants of certain toddlers, such as heavier and taller toddlers. You will find that making the transition to a regular-sized bed makes more sense for this reason.

But this isn’t to say that toddler beds don’t have their merits. If your child is finding the transition to a “big bed” more challenging, then a toddler bed is a good choice.

The bottom line: Be sure to consider the pros and cons of toddler beds first before buying one of them for your child. You may find that it’s unnecessary in more ways than one.

Never Skip on a Good Mattress

Don’t be like the parents who sleep on $4,000 mattresses while their toddlers sleep on cheap mattresses for whatever reason there may be. Just like adults, toddlers also need good spinal support for their overall health and wellness. Indeed, doctors in the know consider spinal support as the most important aspect when choosing mattresses for children!

In toddlers, their spines can grow by as much as 1.5 centimeters during the night. The growth spurt primarily comes from their intervertebral discs (i.e., the discs between their vertebra) filling up with fluid composed mainly of water. Without supportive mattresses during their sleeping periods, their spines are placed under stress that, in turn, can increase their susceptibility for permanent health issues in their spines.

Even when children’s spines are highly flexible, the added stress from sleeping on non-supportive mattresses will likely increase their risks for future health issues. These can include back pain, sleeplessness and restlessness, and even insomnia, which kids have also been known to experience.

The takeaway: The right balance between firmness and softness isn’t just for adults’ mattresses but for children’s mattresses, too, especially with their spine still in development.  Look for a firm mattress that provides sufficient support for the spine yet also provides softness for comfort.

A few tips in this regard.

  • Always take into account your toddler’s personal needs and wants in a mattress and its bed frame. Your child, for example, may prefer a bed with a “Cars” theme so look for one with a car-shaped frame. Your toddler will be more likely to take to his big bed when he likes its design and style.
  • Choose a mattress with an innerspring system as your first choice. Innerspring-type mattresses provide effective skeletal support and body comfort via satisfactory conformance, as well as be less affected by moisture from the body and the environment. In other words, these are best for kids with still-developing bodies.

Foam mattresses including memory foam aren’t recommended for toddlers because these don’t provide the same supportive properties as innerspring mattresses. Plus, these eventually conform to the shape of the user’s body, which should be avoided in children whose bodies are still in their development stages.

Be sure to choose mattresses and beds that can be easily cleaned, too. Dust mites, among other bed inhabitants, aren’t something to be trifled with, especially where kids’ health is concerned.

Conclusion

Toddlers deserve the best mattresses, too! You, the parents, should carefully choose from among the dozens of choices since your toddler’s overall health is at stake here.

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