Sleeping options

Having a safe place for your loved one to sleep at night can be hard.  All of our little ones have different needs and different capabilities. Beds are an expensive outlay so my best advice is don't just think about what they are doing now, think about what they might be able to do in the future.  You also need to think of how high the bed will need to to be for you to have the best access to your child.

You need to consider:

• Are they sitting up?  Are they likely to?
• Are they likely to pull to stand?
• Are they poor sleepers?  Do you need to worry about them getting out of bed whilst you are sleeping?
• Are you going to change nappies in the bed or dress the child?  How is the height for your back?
• Is the child going to get in and out of the bed themselves or do you need to be able to get portable hoist under it?
• Do you need to attach any equipment to the bed like feeding tubes?
• What sort of access do you need for making the bed?
• Do you need to be concerned about them accidentally hurting themselves either through sensory seeking or seizures?  Do you need a soft mesh like surround?
• Do you have a Houdini?  
• Is the child going to get very tall or do you need extra room for you to be able to sleep with them?

The above list is not exhaustive but the sorts of things I tried to think about and we still had to add to Owen's bed.

We were lucky my parents got a bed specially made for Owen.  It is basically a king single sized cot.  Both sides go up and down like a cot does, the height of the sides was limited by the fact I wanted to leave a gap at the bottom for portable hoist access.  To add extra height you will see there are hinged, fold down sides.  I also wanted it to be a high mattress so I could change and dress him on the bed.  Owen developed further than we hoped and now he is working on pulling to stand.  So he can't pull up on the side and tumble out we added a large stargazing tent I saw on another blog. It cost $100.00 and although not sturdy enough for a Houdini it meets Owen's needs.  It is full mesh so it has adequate airflow, it is  high so there is plenty of room for him to sit up, even kneel in bed, also room enough to use the portable hoist and it stops the worry of him falling out.

Other options:

I know some people swear by Special needs tent beds such as Nickel Tent bed and The safety sleeper.  There are also range of special needs beds with mesh walls or cot like railings. If you google "special needs beds" and look at the images a whole range come up.  Most people will tell you they are in the thousands and most are.

I have heard or other people using daybeds (particularly Ikea ones), turned around with the opening placed against the wall, trundle beds on the floor. Some people have used car beds. I have even heard of people using double bunks,  the top bunk is the roof of the bed, pool fencing and/or baby gates are secured around the sides for safety and access.  The thing is, Special needs beds are not one size fits all.  Good luck.