<p>Though more serious injuries are relatively rare, why take a chance with this obvious and preventable hazard. Very serious injuries could result in a fall. I don’t think it should be dismissed lightly. </p>
<p>My D had an upper bunk with no guard rail a couple of years ago when she attended a summer program at a boarding school. Though she never fell, we worried about it constantly. She thought we were worrying too much, so she stretched some rope between the head and foot rails and put a big pillow on the floor just to placate us. In college this year, her lofted bunk does have a guard rail that extends half the length of the bed. So far, she’s only bumped her head a few times on the ceiling when she sat up in the morning. She finally put up a sign to remind herself to watch out for the ceiling.</p>
<p>My kids both slept in bunk beds. Neither ever fell out.<br>
If your kid doesn’t fall out of bed at home, he’s prob. not likely to fall out of a bunk.</p>
<p>The OP already posted that the kid fell out once so far. That is evidence that the kid isn’t like your kids. My D has also fallen out of bunk bed. Fortunately for her, she fell onto a futon & wasn’t hurt, but it’s not a good risk to take, especially since it can be so easily remedied!</p>
<p>S’s room had lofted beds which were supposed to have rails. When they did the room check-in checklist, the rails were one of the items they were supposed to check off because students frequently removed them. S & roomie never got them and did indicate on the form that they were not there. </p>
<p>geek_son is a toss-and-turner. He went from a queen bed to a lofted twin, close enough to the ceiling that he couldn’t sit up straight on the bed. Didn’t have any problems. FWIW.</p>
<p>Uh, yeah, if you want your S to be labled as total dork by the rest of the dorm. </p>
<p>I got stuck with a top bunk as did D. I never in all my or my kids years of college life heard of anyone falling out. if you Google *any *catastrophe, you will find instances of it!</p>
<p>I am also surprised by the comment of surprise that the top bunk would be left. My understanding is that no one ever wants it.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t believe it’s an issue, really. please let your S deal with it himself, since, as you say, he’s never fallen out of bed before.</p>
<p>Let’s see, “labeled a total dork” vs. “broken bones”…geez, tough call. </p>
<p>Seriously, though, I doubt that would happen–mocking people for wanting to be safe really doesn’t seem like this school’s house style. However, based on what I’m hearing here, I guess I can relax a bit. As long as he feels OK about it, I’ll keep my mouth shut.</p>
<p>(And BTW, to reiterate, no, he’s never fallen out of a bed–if he had, I’d already have done something about it, or insisted that he do something about it.)</p>
<p>I always wanted the top bunk, but I was in the minority. My roommates were all perfectly happy to let me have it, and I was thrilled not to feel like I was in a cave all the time. </p>
<p>The only time I fell was when I was climbing down off of my bed. I had my computer stretched out, and I tripped over the cord and fell pretty hard. I was fine (more importantly, so was the computer), but I saw stars for a couple of minutes. I’ve heard similar stories from other people. Falling out when you’re asleep isn’t a huge problem; being clumsy and falling while getting in/out of bed can be. Unfortunately, a railing wouldn’t have helped in this case (in fact, I suspect that a railing would’ve just been one more thing for me to trip over).</p>
<p>My kids like the top bunk too. I am sorry I misread that your kiddo has never fallen out of a bed. Both of my kids are “active sleepers,” and BOTH have fallen out of beds & D has fallen out of her bunk bed WITH a rail! In fact, we kept a futon beside her bed for years because she would often roll off her bed.</p>
<p>I’ve falled off while climbing down from D’s bunk, after making her bed in preparation for her returning home (only hurt my dignity). S has never fallen off the bunk bed he slept on for years.</p>
<p>My roommate and I bunked our beds freshman year, and it took a lot of getting used to. She never fell out but would use an extra pillow as a guard just in case.</p>
<p>Being scared of heights, I took the bottom bunk. Some nights I definitely freaked myself out by envisioning the top bunk collapsing on me while I was sleeping… LOL. All that being said, I’m sure he’ll be fine!</p>
<p>If your son is willing, have him request a guard rail. For liability reasons, I’m sure any school that is asked for one will provide it. I have fallen out of bunkbeds (more than once), and not when I was drunk. It hurts (and wakes you up pretty darn fast), although I was never seriously injured. My sister fell from the top bunk and broke her arm. It does happen.</p>
<p>Our D at UCONN did take our “toddler” railing/guard rail for her year in a bunk, it worked out OK for her. (Fisher Price brand) No one made fun of her for it or anything, she just felt safer. Asked S if he wanted to take it & he declined & is in a lofted bed, with his desk & bureau underneath him.</p>
<p>A lawyer who’s daughter was going to UConn insisted they give his D railings…he had handled injuries from falls. They got them quicker than you can say “lawsuit”.</p>
<p>I believe I said this in a similar thread, but first year, I was on the top bunk, my mom insisted we request a rail (My school has them available upon request) and I did.
Just two weeks later I was on the phone sitting on my bed and my hand grazed the rail. It swung down. Luckily my roommate saw it coming and dove, but the rail left a sizable gash in the post of the bed her head had been a second before.</p>
<p>I didn’t use the railing after that.
This year I have a loft and the rail was already on the bed, so I haven’t moved it because there’s no one under me, but if it starts falling again, I will remove it after the first time.
The one time I came close to falling, I was drunk, went to sleep and then suddenly woke up an inch from the edge about to fall. So my brain registered the change in how firm the bed was under me and woke me up. Your mind is designed to do this. Didn’t you people see Inception?</p>
<p>About the above article, it’s a tragic story, but why was there a nearly fifty year old woman on a bunk bed? Her reflexes would have been much much slower than that of a college student, and who knows how much easier it made it for her to die from the blow to the head.
It says there that the bed was not lofted by the school, just by the student or student’s family. This already makes it less stable.</p>
<p>It is a horrible story, but nowhere near anything that is going to be a recurring problem.</p>
<p>I always chose the top bunk the various semesters in college where we had to do that to get living space. I figured if it was going to crash down I’d want to be on the top. We have bunk beds in our “bunk room” and the boys, when they were young, preferred the “bunk room” to their individual rooms. No one ever fell out. I guess it’s one of those things… if you’re nervous use the rails. Only this generation would be worried about bunk beds. They were a necessary thing in the older homes where not eveyrone gets their own room. I’ve heard kids on these forums whine about having to sleep in a twin bed (because they’ve always had fulls or queens) - not in our family, our kids’ bedrooms aren’t big enough for anything but twins. Good grief…what a soft life some of our kids have had!</p>
<p>I am a UNC student, and I happen to live in the dorm community where the mom fell out of the lofted bed and died… The fact that I was writing about bunk beds/lofted beds only a short time before that happened is so strange.</p>
<p>From what I understand, the mom was staying with her daughter (a freshman) in the days before school started. What happened was a horrible freak accident - anything can happen if you hit your head a certain way. I think at most colleges, the students are responsible for lofting their own beds - no one from the university comes to help you. Many people have requested railings since that tragedy, and I know several people who have delofted their beds too. My roomie and I will be keeping our beds firmly on the ground for the rest of the year!</p>