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Rolled-up towel keeps kid from rolling out of bed

in: Sleep

Amazon: Sea to Summit DryLite Towel

Veteran Parenthacker Kim-Anh found a quick, easy hack to keep her sleeping kid from rolling out of bed.

When we removed the bedrail from my youngest son's twin bed, I felt like I was sleeping with one eye and ear open to make sure he didn't fall out of bed. We've been sleeping a lot better since we started using a hack we came up with while traveling with the kids and staying in hotel rooms.

We roll up a large towel (a blanket might work, too) into a long roll, and then shove it under the bed's fitted sheet to keep it in place at the edge of the bed. This helps to give kids a physical reminder if they roll up against it during the night.

It's not foolproof, but seems to be enough to keep my son from rolling off the side of the bed.

I love how this hack doesn't require packing anything extra in your suitcase.

Related: Turn the changing pad into a soft landing pad next to a "big kid" bed 

More: Bed-related hacks

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About Asha Dornfest

Asha Dornfest is a writer, parent, and insistent optimist living in Portland, Oregon. She is the author of PARENT HACKS, co-author of MINIMALIST PARENTING, and co-host of the Edit Your Life podcast.

Comments

  1. lisa says

    May 3, 2012 at 5:56 am

    we have done this with a pool noodle while on beach vacation.

  2. Rob O. says

    May 3, 2012 at 6:43 am

    Yup, we used the pool noodle tucked under the mattress pad as bumpers for our son when he first moved out of the crib to his “big boy” bed.

  3. Susan says

    May 3, 2012 at 7:12 am

    Under the sheet. Brilliant! And pool noodles?! Love that too!

  4. Asha Dornfest says

    May 3, 2012 at 7:27 am

    Lisa: We’ve got “pool noodle as bed rail” in the archives!

  5. Nicole K says

    May 4, 2012 at 4:30 am

    We never used bed rails. Our boys both moved to a twin sized bed on a normal frame a few months before their second birthday. We put the bed against the wall on one side and keep the crib mattress on the floor on the other side. The idea is that they do fall out of bed a few times and learn to limit themselves but they land safely on a mattress. Yes – they wake up and it messes with their sleep but a lesson is learned. I like the towel idea for travel though. We were just out of town and this would have been REALLY helpful for our 23 month old who is still in training instead of the bed sharing we wound up doing. (The bed sharing was a nightmare and no one got much sleep)

  6. Monster LadyGaga says

    May 5, 2012 at 2:42 am

    The superior bass along with the exceptional isolation technologies make SOLO HD more outstanding. http://monsterbeatsstudio.us

  7. Amerisleep says

    November 3, 2012 at 3:56 am

    Going to a king tempurpedic mattress to the floor has done some damage. 😉 My flight leaves back to LA tomorrow. A beautiful long vacation almost

  8. Hanna B says

    April 10, 2015 at 1:51 pm

    Thanks for the idea. We actually did purchase this bed rail: http://www.bedrailstore.com but our son got stuck in it and it was trouble after that until we used your idea.

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