I just converted by daughters crib into a bed, as she is now of the age she does not like being stuck in bed. She is fine climbing in and out of bed, but i am afraid she will fall out sometime in the night. We have hardwood floors, so I don't think it will feel very good to fall out of bed. My question is, what can I put down below the open side of her bed to cushion the fall? I need something that won't slide around too much on the floor, too.
I had problems with my daughter falling out of bed when I converted her to the toddler bed, too. Just put a blanket on the floor next to her bed. You can put that rubbery shelf/rug liner underneath to keep it from slipping too much. Also, you might want to tie a small pillow to the leg of the bed so she doesn't bump her head on it. Don't worry too much though. She probably won't even wake up when she falls out of bed. It takes a little while, but eventually they get to a point where it doesn't happen as often.
At 22 months she is old enough to handle the toddler bed. You might add a rail for the time being if she continues to fall out of bed. I doubt that a few falls will hurt her any. You can also roll a blanket and put it under her sheet to act as a deterrent to her rolling off. When my granddaughter was 18 months old we put her in a toddler bed and it worked fine. She had begun to try to climb out of her crib and we were worried that she would take a nasty fall. She fell once or twice from the toddler bed, but a big bonus was that she would tell us when she was ready for a nap and get into her 'new' bed on her own and go to sleep!! Good luck with your new sleeping arrangements.
You might want to try putting up a railing along side the bed. They make ones that are not the full length of the bed so she can still climb out easily when she wakes up. This way she's completely safe from falling out but can still get out easily on her own.
Put a cushy blanket down, or a couple ones. Have you thought about a guard rail. I dont know the technical name for them, but they latch on to the side of the childs bed and protects them from rolling out. They're like 18 bucks at walmart or kmart. My daughter had a convertible crib. She didn't sleep in it very long before we got a toddler bed, but it wasn't very high up off the ground. I would imagine yours isn't either.
