I wouldn't put a kid younger than 6, for sure, but probably not until they were 8 or 9. My cousin once fell out of a bunkbed, hit a wall & broke his jaw. Now, I'm a little paranoid about them!
my girls are 4.5 and have been in bunkbeds for about 4 months. they LOVE the beds, and while i was a bit nervous to begin with, the girls have been PERFECT when it comes to safety. i think that it depends on the kid - and on how they'll be used. we use the beds just for sleeping, not for playing, so they don't bother fooling around in a dangerous way in them. one of my girls was getting up 5x per night - until the bunkbeds. now she stays in bed all night. it is wonderful! stephanie
We debated about it for our two, but decided against it simply because one is always getting out of bed early and I would hate to hear that sound-especially at 6 in the morning. We ended up deciding against it and, actually I am kind of glad we did over the last couple of months Ian have woken me up in the middle of the night because he has fallen out of the bed on his head and can not get up. Feet in bed, elbows and forehead on the ground. More times than I would like. I think we will look at lofts when they are about eight
I wouldn't allow even my very compliant, follow all the rules child in a top bunk until at least six. I am just not willing to compromise safety. After six, some kids are more accident prone than others. That child would stay on the bottom no matter how old he/she was!
DH and I also have a disagreement over this he thinks they will be in bunk beds around 4, I say no about 7. I just recently saw a report on the Today show and they said manufacturers are setting new regulations for bund beds and that they really are not safe for young children. I can tell my boys will be using them for everything but sleep and I don't need them getting hurt. My SD fell off her uncle's bunkbed when she was about 7 and had a nice size lump because they were jumping off of the top bed onto the dresser..yikes!
Mine have been using theirs since Dec .. they were 3 1/2 at the time. I havent had any problems. They are very good sleepers and neither one gets up very often during the night, especially Jesse, he's on top. Knowing my 2, I didnt anticipate any problems and was right. Not every child is the same though .. you know your kids best.
My niece has a bunk bed (4years old) and it has the double bed on top. She does great, but because of the size it allows my SIL to lay with her and read in bed. Once my girls saw her bed, they have wanted a bunk bed. We will wait a few years since my girls move a lot during the night.
My oldest was 3 1/2 when he got moved into a low loft/bunk bed (been since January) . It's not as high as a traditional bunk. He has done great. He rarely gets up in the middle of the night. Now we have triple bunks, but they are separated into 2 low twins and one loft, so the younger ones are down low. It depends on your kids.
The boys' first real bed was a bunk bed. We did have them un-bunked till they were about 3, but since then they have been fine. Jason gets down in the middle of the night to use the bathroom & has never had any problems. It really depends on the child. Their bed now is a top only loft bed so they are both up top. We bought that right after they turned 5.
I don't think I'd even consider it for our girls (who never get up in the middle of the night and have never fallen out of their beds) until the recommended age of 6.
We're going with bunk beds that have a trundle. THey'll use the lower bunk and trundle for a while, but that still leaves the top bunk for visiting cousins or older friends. At some point I imagine they'll start to use the upper bunk.
