Be Fair Warned

Not all safety bed rails are created equal.

Evelyn fell out of her crib today. I heard the thump, I knew right away it was my daughter and not any of the stuffed animals or books she had in the crib with her, and I went flying up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs, I could hear Evelyn start to cry. I got to her door, swung it open, and there she was, standing right in front of me. As soon as I realized she wasn't hurt, my heart started beating again.

My daughter quit crying moments after I picked her up. And as soon as the crying stopped, she began to giggle. I guess she was a little proud of her new accomplishment of being able to fling herself from her crib. I called my husband and informed him that we had to convert our daughter's crib to a toddler bed and buy a safety rail TONIGHT (so she won't roll out of the bed).

Not realizing that not all safety bed rails are created equal (I wasn't exactly ready for the "big girl bed" transition so soon), my husband and I picked one up that looked to be in good shape from a consignment store. It was the only one with instructions attached, too. As my husband began figuring out how to attach the bed rail, he realized that the metal tubes that run under the mattress (holding the rail in place) were a bit longer than the bed is wide. Looking in the instruction booklet, he read that the safety rail wasn't designed to be used with a toddler bed, but a regular bed (meaning nothing smaller than a twin, which toddler beds are, including those converted from cribs, and nothing bigger than a queen). Of course, we had waited until just before our daughter's bed time to assemble everything. My husband offered to run to Target to see if they had any rails, while I entertained our increasingly tired two-year-old at home.

When my husband got home, he informed me that the only bed rail Target had was the Safety Toddler Bed Rail. Knowing now that there existed a difference, my husband searched the packaging to determine whether this particular rail could be used with Evelyn's bed. In a small warning label, he read to NOT use the rail with a toddler bed.

Most bed rails actually designed for toddler beds cost more money than the others. I was able to find one brand that had the toddler bed safety rail on sale and closer in price to the others. I'm curious how many parents today buy a regular bed for a 2- to 4-year-old child, how many buy a small toddler bed, and how many have convertible cribs. My guess is that enough parents at least have convertible cribs that the cost of a toddler bed bed rail could more closely match the cost of the regular bed bed rail.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank the Munchkin company for naming their non-toddler bed bed rail the Safety Toddler Bed Rail, and thank other companies for calling their safety rails for regular beds toddler bed rails, as well. It's not confusing at all. Nor misleading in the slightest. And if the small warning label on the packaging for the Safety Toddler Bed Rail says its not for toddler beds, maybe that should be mentioned on the Amazon site as well. (I just noticed it while searching for the toddler bed bed rails.)