Are bunk beds safe to sleep in?

by michelle.sundvick | June 2, 2008 at 11:43 am

2216 views | 11 Recommendations | 16 comments

Who knew bedtime could be this dangerous? When it comes time to transition children from a crib into their first "big kid" bed, here are a few things to be aware of before deciding to purchase bunk beds.

They're a staple of children's bedrooms, school dorms and overnight summer camps, but those double-decker bunk beds beloved by kids of all ages are responsible for a raft of serious injuries each year and even some deaths.
"Everybody has probably slept in one at some point or another in their lives," says Lara McKenzie of the U.S. Nationwide Children's Hospital, principal author of a study on injuries related to the bi-level beds, published in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics.
"Everyone wants to feel safe and secure while resting or sleeping, yet bunk beds are really a common source of injury among children and adolescents."
Between 1990 and 2005, her study found a staggering 572,580 children and youth were seen at U.S. hospital emergency rooms for bunk-bed-related injuries alone, an average of 36,000 a year. Almost 94 per cent of those injuries occurred in the home and 72 per cent were caused by falls.
Other injuries arose from striking or hitting the bed, jumping from the bed, ladder-related incidents, bed malfunction and entrapment.

Lacerations, bruises most common injuries
McKenzie's data shows lacerations (torn and ragged wounds) are the most common type of injury, especially among kids under 10, followed by bruises and scrapes, fractures, concussions and strains or sprains.
The most common site of injury is the head, neck and face area, with children under age six more likely to suffer trauma there than older youngsters because their higher centre of gravity tends to make them fall head-first. Almost 40 per cent of head and neck injuries involved concussions, the study showed.
Most fractures (almost 68 per cent) occurred in the upper body, with children aged six to 13 at increased risk for broken arms and other upper-extremity bone breaks than older children.

These types of injuries are bound to happen when you have young children sleeping in beds high off the ground. What is more surprising is the proportion of injuries amongst older adolescents and young adults.

"The thing I found really interesting in our study is we had that spike in the 18 to 21 age group," said McKenzie, with that age range experiencing twice as many injuries as teens 14 to 17.
"We don't really know why the college-age individuals 18 to 21 years old experience more than double the number of injuries ... The older age group probably sleep in bunk beds more often, in their college dorms or in the military, for example."
McKenzie said the researchers were not able to tell from the data, taken from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance Survey maintained by the Consumer Products Safety Commission, what proportion of accidents occurred while sleeping or just horsing around.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/06/02/bunk-beds.html

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Dave Keating

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 02:27 on June 3rd, 2008

michelle.sundvick, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Jawilco

at 05:43 on June 3rd, 2008

This is a bunk Bed that I built for my Boys. One night my son that sleeps on the top bunk missed a step and fell. He was hanging upside down with his leg caught in the ladder. It really scared me and my wife. He had a bruise on his leg for a few days.

Jawilco has contributed a photo to this story.

Dreawd

at 06:02 on June 3rd, 2008

This is my youngest son Taite. He is now sleeping in these beds at 17 months of age. We felt they were unsafe for our 3 1/2 year old to sleep on top. So we separated them and now have two TWIN beds. I feel much more comfortable with the twins rather than the bunks.. and maybe once the boys are much older we can put them back up. For now twins is best :-)

finadrea has contributed a photo to this story.

inanckaragoz

at 06:30 on June 3rd, 2008

Well, those bunk beds don't belong to me. I am not that messy :D
The shoking thing was that i was watching a TV series on my laptop and suddenly i realised something was moving down there and saw it! Disastrous! I'm so afraid of animals :S The door had been closed for hours, I don't get how s/he broke in! Perhaps s/he broke in hours ago and hide him/herself. :-s

It was so hard to get him/her out of the room! S/he was not afraid of us at all! My friend pulled the blanket under her but she didn't bother!

She wasn't afraid of us, we were afraid of her!

PS: I wasn't that close to her, I zoomed with my camera. I'm not that audacious!

inanckaragoz has contributed a photo to this story.

NikWatt

at 06:59 on June 3rd, 2008

Would've been nice if you'd actually asked my permission on using one of my photographs - and I doubt if The Royal Navy or The Queen would see your suggestion that the bunk beds on the Royal Yacht Britannia are, in any way, unsafe?

kaiuhl

at 07:10 on June 3rd, 2008

This is my bunk bed. It's a full-sized (in mattress terms) loft bed from Ikea, hand-assembled over 6 painful hours. It fell on me in the process, spraining my ankle from the impact.

kaiuhl has contributed a photo to this story.

mich.michabo

at 07:49 on June 3rd, 2008

Apart from catching my hair in the bed springs above when sitting up, I had no problems using a bunkbed when growing up. Sharing a bunkbed with your sibling can cause arguments as to who gets top bunk!

mich.michabo has contributed a photo to this story.

kitchenkam

at 08:25 on June 3rd, 2008

After being told that these beds were indestructible, the twins had to try it out.

kitchenkam has contributed a photo to this story.

cheeka-beeka

at 08:28 on June 3rd, 2008

When we decided to have our girls ages 7 and 2 share a room, bunkbeds were the obvious solution. We searched for a long time and let the girls come with us to check out the beds. Originally I wanted the beds that in the future, would seperate and become seperates...But watching our 2 year old climb on the ladder, up and down, up and down was so scary. We opted for the stair case bed. This way we were confident that when our 2 year old did climb on the ladder she couldn't fall through. The stairs are a great accent on the bed and also are full of extra storage, since on the side of the bed each stair is another drawer. Of course we still get nervous with her "visiting" her sister on the top but we are very confident in our decision and so far have had no injuries.

angrysalad

at 09:25 on June 3rd, 2008

No accidents yet.

angrysalad has contributed a photo to this story.

Thomas_Shaw

at 14:35 on June 3rd, 2008

Typical bunks where Navy enlisted personnel sleep while onboard ship stand 3 high. The small amount of space in the "coffin locker" below your mattress and one of the narrow "stand-up lockers" is the only personal space a person gets. All uniforms, civilian clothing, and other personal items had to fit in these throughout the time a person is onboard the ship.

Thomas_Shaw has contributed a photo to this story.

cmdphotos

at 14:41 on June 3rd, 2008

My son preparing to sleep in the bunk bed that I addapted by bolting together two normal beds. He never fell out. The only problem that arose was that he kept his sister awake by telling her ghost stories!

cmdphotos has contributed a photo to this story.

neon_gloss

at 17:06 on June 3rd, 2008

For the first and last time in my life, I slept in a bunk bed. I was assured that it would be safe, but being the worrisome person I am, I slept on the top bunk. I was afraid to move, and it took me a few hours to get down in the morning. I've heard too many stories to be comfortable sleeping in a bunk bed.

jasoux

at 21:34 on June 3rd, 2008

I've had pretty good luck till now - especially after reading the stats and injuries in the story.

The bunks in the photo I submitted were from inside an alpine climbing hut - so in this case the idea of falling from your bunk will probably be superseded by the thought of falling from the mountain as you make your way to your cabin with bunkbed ...

galbrathenator

at 04:28 on June 12th, 2008

This was simply a bunk bed at a university that I stayed at during a science fair in Japan. They were extremely uncomfortable.

galbrathenator has contributed a photo to this story.

Mai Selph

at 04:51 on June 18th, 2008

For one, it obstructs movement and lacks space if you are tall. When you are sleepy and groggy and have forgotten where you are at, you may risk blacking out, because, yes, you guessed it, you have hit your head on the base of the top bunker when sitting up suddenly!!!

Note: This photo was taken at the Generator Hostel, Berlin, Germany.

Mai Selph has contributed a photo to this story.