<p>I had my mattress on the floor back in college as did my roommate and most others on my floor. (We stored our bed frames in the storage area of the dorm.) We did this because it was the cool thing to do back then. How times have changed!</p>
<p>I slept on a top bunk and never fell out. S slept on lofted bed freshman year and never fell out. Chances of falling out are pretty low. After a few nights, she’ll get used to being up high if she decides to loft. She can always use extra pillows around the edge in the meantime. S and rommate did have a futon under one of the lofted beds that provided a floor level place to sleep if it became necessary (sickness, friends sleeping over,etc.)</p>
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<p>True, but there’s a potential for far more serious injury if someone falls from a loft or top bunk than a regular bed.</p>
<p>I am certainly up there with the worriers at times. I guess this is just one of those things that I wouldn’t worry about!</p>
<p>We got in the room first, and son decided to get the bed which was not lofted, leaving the other bed for the roommate. H tried to talk him into getting the lofted one for more space but S just would not hear of it. We went out and buy his other things like mini fridge and microwave, etc.,By this time roommate already moved in and the lofted bed was already taken. Now son decided to loft the bed because there is no room for his stuff. Oh well, now S and H had to do the lofting of the bed themselves. (All materials needed were stored in the closet)The bed is a little lower than roommate’s bed, but enough height for the fridge. I also worry about him falling out of bed especially because he is not used to sleeping in a twin bed- he has a full sized bed at home. Another worry is hitting his head when he stoops to get something out of the fridge. So far I have not heard any untoward happening, so all must be well. But then again, it has only been two nights.</p>
<p>We moved our daughter in yesterday. We already knew she had the top bunk. At Orientation she did not sleep because she was afraid of falling out so we went the dorky route and took one of the Fisher Price mesh guards with us. Left it in the car, first she said when saw no rail was “please,go get the baby railing.”
S
he said she does not care if people laugh at her. It will stay until she is comfortable and sure she will not roll out.</p>
<p>We had the Fisher Price rail too! It’s been passed onto another family member though…</p>
<p>My D too has sleep in a full size bed since she was two. She’s never had the twin bed experience. </p>
<p>It is ultimately her decision, and knowing how she likes to have her “stuff”- she may have to give it a try so she can gain extra storage/living space…</p>
<p>The rail is a standard part of many colleges’ “certified” lofts. Not only is a safety issue, but it provides a place to clip lamps and fans and such, so it has utilitarian purposes.</p>
<p>My son says that while most students loft their bed on top, some build lofts that go over their beds and put futons or chairs on top–like a porch. Don’t ask me how–I haven’t seen it and can’t visualize it well. But it would be another option for somebody who didn’t want to sleep on top.</p>
<p>Kids do fall out…</p>
<p>That said, my kid hated the lofted bed because he couldn’t easily just hang out on his bed. Also, there were fewer places for his friends to sit in his room. He took it down after a couple of weeks freshman year.</p>
<p>My d lofted last year and got very ill from sleeping under an a/c vent. Falling out was definitely not the problem…but I do wonder if sleep quality is affected by worrying about being in a precarious location.</p>
<p>ldgirl tells me most freshmen get over the lofting thing after about a month of climbing the rungs of their bed to get into their bed, and smacking their heads on the ceiling every morning or bumping their foreheads on the lower rail as they go into their dressers or to sit in their desks. Sure enough, this year, I noticed the upperclassmen in her dorm had their beds near the floor and only new freshman were lofting. </p>
<p>Her solution for maximizing floor space? She raised her bed just one level off the floor. It is about the height of a four-poster bed. She filled the area under her bed with plastic drawers and stowed a TON of stuff under there. She has a extra-long bed skirt hiding her storage area. She then went for the daybed effect…buying a good quality body pillow that was dense enough to serve as a bolster along the wall…and her bed is now a very comfortable couch during the day. (True bolsters are sold at JCP btw…)</p>
<p>For her desk area, she bought two desk hutches from the housing service, spray-painted them to match the decor and my husband used “L” brackets to stack and secure them to each other and the wall. The wall holes are small, near the ceiling and can be filled with spackle at year end. Her shelving now goes all the way to the ceiling and takes up no additional floor space. She has a small walk-in closet where she put another tall, skinny book shelf (from BBB) for laundry and other grocery supplies.</p>
<p>Instead of a futon, she and her roomie have folding papasan chairs (VERY comfortable) which store under her bed should more sitting room be needed.</p>
<p>Unless someone regularly falls out of bed they shouldn’t worry <em>at all</em> about it. Like, personally, I’ve never fallen out of bed in my life, so I don’t regard the height when thinking about how safe I am - because one has to fall out for the height to matter in the first place. :)</p>
<p>A lofted bed does not have to be 4-5 feet off the floor - it can be as little as 2 cinder blocks high off the floor - to be very effective as far as providing other ‘livable space’ - and still function as a flop place - enough room to stash a square box fridge - storeage boxes - maybe even a stero - bit stuff - like skiis, etc…</p>
<p>Here’s how my kid’s friend fell out - during the night his mattress started to shift a little on the bed, and the next thing he knew, he was on the mattress but with nothing under the edge of it. Ouch! He did a job on his ear, which he hit on his desk on the way down.</p>
<p>I noticed in looking at the rooms in S’s freshman dorm last year, which were very small rooms, that lofting the beds meant that there was nowhere to sit except the desk chairs, so further furniture (futon) was “required.” </p>
<p>S and RM used the bed raisers from BB&B, which allowed them to put plastic units with drawers under their beds for lots of storage! And they still had plenty of sprawling space for themselves and their friends.</p>