Bunk and Loft Bed Dangers

What a terrible tragedy for your family. I’m glad your son is making progress. I’ve long been a rail proponent, mostly because I’m an overly cautious person and suspected a fall could be serious.

When my D was moving in freshman year, the roommate and mom had lofted D’s bed - and pushed it in front of the window!!! This was so the other girl could fit all of her unnecessary stuff in the room by shoving D’s desk, etc. under her lofted bed.

The minute we walked in the room and I saw D’s bed, I called D back into the hall and said don’t worry - this is not happening. (D was as upset as I was and did not want to sleep high up, especially by a window, even if there had been a railing.)

I nicely told the roommate that D was not sleeping lofted by the window- that it was not a safe arrangement, and that roommate needed to adjust her things so D could have her half of the room. I am still shocked that another parent thought that spot was ok for a stranger’s kid.

How unbelievably rude! If someone wants to loft their own side, that’s their business, but to loft someone else’s? I’ glad you stood up! I confess, I’m not a real fan of lofting. It just seems so unstable to me.

Wow, thats pretty ballsy psychomomma - to just loft your roommate’s bed without asking her. I want to purchase a rug for my son’s dorm room but won’t do it without having my son discuss it with his roommate first - his roommate is coming from China so it’s doubtful he’s bringing his own rug. But I still think it’s common courtesy to coordinate any decisions that affect their shared space. I would never in a million years imagine it was okay to loft someone else’s bed.

Haha, yeah, you can imagine how close I was to going ballistic! Stress level was already high. There had not been any contact before move-in, so everything was a big shock. I literally thought, “ok, so you want my D to fall out this 15th floor window so you can have this room to yourself??” My Ss were able to contact their roommates, and ask if they wanted a rug, if they had a color preference, if it was ok that they bring their fridge from home instead of renting, etc.

Good for you, Mama Bear! It’s appalling that they would ever think that was okay. A student recently actually rolled out of a window off of a loft bed and she is not okay.

The dorm S will be in has all the beds lofted. The ceilings are 10 feet high, so the beds are lofted up pretty high. They do all have rails though.

Just a couple of years ago, our friend’s daughter fell out of her lofted dorm bed while sleeping. She had a pretty bad concussion and couldn’t read or attend class while she recovered. She came very close to dropping out that semester which would have cost her, her full ride scholarship.
With a lot of tutoring, she was able to catch up. Her father made a safety rail for the bed.
We take those safety rails seriously now.

@RADRailMom Have you considered doing a Change.org petition to get the word out there and possibly help with legislation ? I’d certainly be willing to sign if you start one.

Thanks for sharing your story.

Do you mind me asking where your son goes to school? InigoMontoya?

Pokey Joe, do you know if the school even offered rails?

CarolinaMom, we started Rail Against the Danger earlier this year and have been very active with The University System of Georgia to instigate change in Georgia policy. I didn’t consider the petition avenue, but I may look into that. We are mainly approaching everything from an awareness standpoint. Did you see our videos/website?

No I haven’t. My son will be a Freshman at CofC in the Fall. He will not be in a lofted bed. I am an occupational therapist and have always been concerned with lofted beds.

Sorry, Carolina Mom. Meant to include the

http://www.ajc.com/news/lifestyles/too-cool-for-a-bed-rail-dont-fall-for-that-tech-st/nq6DC/

http://specials.myajc.com/superman/

bopper, thank you for suggesting the Parent Forum. I am a newbie to College Confidential so it was a great suggestion! I have gotten almost 900 views and the day isn’t over yet! THANKS!

Years ago when my son was a child I built bunk beds for his room. Once I climbed into that top bunk I knew rails would be required for safety. I hope your son makes a full recovery from his accident.

I know a kid who fell out of a lofted bed and hit his head on the desk below. He had to drop out for the semester, go home, get lots of treatment but ended up being fine. Now in law school. But it was scary for a while though.

There was a kid at Georgia Tech in the '80’s that fell out of a loft bed and hit his head on a chair and died on the floor This has got to change!

Bradley University. Can’t say for sure that all beds have safety rails, but the ones where we toured did and you can see them in the following videos:

At about 3 min in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doyFUYIFvaI
At about 2:20 in: http://www.bradley.edu/campuslife/reslife/housing/halls/heitz/index.dot

The university has been converting many of the dorms to lofts and it looks like they’ve had safety in mind.

Prayers for your son RADRailMom

Thank you, InigoMontoya. We are so blessed that he is okay. He really defied the odds. Something so easily avoided almost killed him.