Things That Go Thump in the Night

In the past few weeks Zach has become an expert roller.  Leave him alone for five minutes and he will end up halfway across the room.  It's great fun to see him rolling around, ambitiously exploring our house.  One of my favorite moment of the day is when he wakes up from his naps and I hear him babbling happily in his room.  I'll peek in and he'll be on his tummy, far from his bed, having a conversation with the leg of the nursing chair.

As fun as his rolling is during the day, it is highly irritating at night.  He sleeps on a floor bed, and at night he'll roll off the bed while asleep.  We hear a "thump", followed by silence.  Sometimes he'll sleep on the floor for a while, so we leave him there as long as he seems comfortable (it's been so hot that I think he actually enjoys sleeping on the cool wood floor).

For the most part, though, after the thump comes some muttering, and then a plaintive wail for help.  He doesn't cry, but lets out a very distinct "aaaaaaaahhhh!" that clearly means "Come put me back in my bed!"  This happens two or three times a night... It's no fun having a baby who "sleeps through the night" if you have to wake up three times a night to plop him back on his mattress!

A resourceful friend to whom this was also occurring came up with the idea of sliding a rolled towel under the long edge of the bed that's not up against the wall.  We tried it last night and, wouldn't you know it, Zach slept through the night (and so did we!!).  The beauty of this solution is that he can still roll out of bed when he's awake, which is one of the main reasons for using the floor bed.  Our son can still enjoy his independence during the day, but has just the right amount of support to prevent night rolling.

Once he's able to crawl, we'll remove the rolled-up towel.  Then we'll let him roll out of the bed and encourage him to crawl back on if he wants to.

What challenges have you encountered while using the floor bed?  How have you modified the environment to support your child's needs?