Safety Rail with just Mattress?

lalabee0425

So we ordered the conversion kit for Keira's bed. It's a Young America crib and the full bed will have those slat rails and just a mattress--no box spring. Can I use one of those safety rails with that? Don't they typically slide between the box spring and mattress? I'm not sure how it would work with just the mattress since the mattress will sit down into the bed itself..... ?  Does anyone use a rail with a bed like this?

becki777

Caleb is in a converted crib to a toddler day bed, and we use one of those rails. They technically can only be used on a twin or larger mattress with a box spring. 

On Caleb's crib, the rail is really tight. It has a metal disk that would latch between the mattress & box spring. That disk rests on the edge of the mattress support, with the mattress on top. Even when he leans over the edge of the rail, its never come close to flipping. 

So you may have to play Mcgyver - but I feel sure you can make it work!   

lah1177

We converted Ashley's crib to a toddler bed and now a full size bed and like you said, there is just a mattress, no box spring. We have bed rails and we just stuck them down in between the mattress and the bed frame. They are not sturdy, but sturdy enough she is not going to fall out of the bed. We were not able to use the metal pole things that slide in between the mattress and box spring and attached to the bed rails. We have this one

 https://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Fold-down-Double-Bedrail/dp/B001VYBK58

and as you can see, it can just slide in between the bed frame and the mattress. (sorry, I do not know how to do the link).

JennLuvsMatt

We used cable ties to attach the legs on the safety rail to the slats on the bed to keep it from flipping

jenwill

When we did the big girl bed transition we bought one of those safety rails to use on her converted crib (to toddler bed). However the rail was HUGE and actually ran the full length of the bed for the most part-which to me felt like it was defeating the purpose of the transition, b/c she couldn't get out of the bed. It also felt like it could flip if she leaned against it too much. We ended up putting a body pillow below the bed for the first couple weeks to cushion her fall (which in a toddler bed is only about a foot or so (and onto a carpeted floor). She's only fallen out of the bed a handful of times-so it's actually worked well.