The Top 5 Travel Bed Rails for Toddlers

When your toddler no longer needs to sleep in a travel crib, moving to a big kid bed can make packing for family travel a little easier. While there’s some huge benefits of no longer needing to lug around a baby travel crib, the beds in hotels and rental apartments can still look terribly high up for your little one. Especially if your toddler moves around a lot at night.

We’ve experienced this first hand while traveling with a toddler who frequently fell out of bed if there were no travel bed bumpers to keep him safely in his bed. This meant we needed to find a way to keep him from falling out of his hotel room bed while traveling.

We found we had two solutions to this toddler travel sleeping problem:

• Pack a toddler travel bed (which is what we frequently did), or
• Have your toddler sleep in the bed with some portable travel bed rails to make sure your toddler doesn’t roll out of bed.

Portable bed rails for toddlers are an excellent option for travel when your child will be sharing a bed with you (in a hotel room) or having their own bed.

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Investing in inflatable bed rails for your toddler’s bed is a small, but important thing you can do improve your child’s safety. This will ensure that both you and your child sleep easier at night. Thankfully these travel bumpers for toddlers pack small and won’t be a pain to carry around!

That’s mainly what makes inflatable bed rails for toddlers one of the most practical toddler travel essentials.

Here’s a list of the 5 best portable toddler bed rails that I think you should consider before your next family vacation with your toddler:

The Five Best Best Travel Bed Rails for Toddlers

1. hiccapop Inflatable Bed Rail for Toddlers

The hiccapop Inflatable bed rails are highly rated and are our top pick for travel with toddlers.

At 52 inches long, 4.5 inches tall and 7 inches wide, these travel toddler bed rails slide under fitted sheets easily, and makes installation a breeze.

Unlike most other inflatable bed bumpers that use only non-skid grip strips to keep them in place, the hiccapop inflatable bed rails feature silicon-bottom safety flap extensions that use your child’s weight to keep them anchored in place! This robust non-slip design allows for the most restful and safe sleep for even the most active sleepers.

The hiccapop inflatable bed rails for toddlers are made of safe, non-toxic materials, and are ASTM certified making them suitable for children of all ages.

Apart from being inherently water-resistant due to their durable materials, these portable bed rails for hotels also come with machine washable covers that make worrying about stains and spills a thing of the past.

A push-button quickly deflates the hiccapop inflatable bed rails making them easy to pack away in the included travel bag and toss in your suitcase. They are also made to fit all sizes of beds.

2. The Shrunks Inflatable Bed Rails for Toddlers

Made for traveling families, the Shrunks inflatable bed bumpers feature a unique inflatable technology that allows parents to inflate and deflate them whenever they need within 30 seconds.

These inflatable bed rails measure about 48 inches in length, 7 inches in width and 4 inches in height, making them compatible with beds all sizes. Responsibly made from materials that are free of BPA, phthalate and lead, The Shrunks bed rails are also extremely durable and safe.

With a travel toddler bed rail system, there is no need to worry about your child getting hurt. Once inflated, all you need to do is place the inflatable bed rail under your little one’s fitted sheet and let it do its job. Each Shrunks portable bed rail has a yellow strip to make sure it doesn’t move, and stays put under the sheets all night long.

Shrunks inflatable bed rails are another great option for making beds toddler-proof when traveling.

3. DreamyPanda Portable Bed Bumpers for Toddlers

The DreamyPanda portable bed bumpers are different than the other inflatable bed rails because they are made with memory foam and skin-friendly vegan bamboo cotton. What you’ll lose in compactness, you’ll gain in not having to worry about deflating or any holes.

While not waterproof, these portable bed bumpers do come with a removable cover that makes it very easy to keep them clean. Snuggly, lightweight and portable, these luxurious travel bed bumpers for toddlers are quick to install and put away in the included handy travel bag.

The DreamyPanda portable bed bumpers are also available in a range of sizes making them perfect for use with kids of all ages, and even adults. It is the perfect solution for sleeping when you travel.

4. Delta Children Inflatable Bed Rails for Toddlers

If you’re looking for a travel bed rail that stays inflated throughout the night and provides security against falling or slipping while looking discreet and clean, then look no further than the inflatable toddler bed rails from Delta Children. They come with everything you need, including a foot pump that makes it easy to inflate and deflate them quickly.

With secure seals that prevent air from leaking and a non-slip bottom that keeps it in place all night, these Delta Children inflatable bed rails ensure worry-free nights when on-the-go with little ones. 

At 48 inches long, 7 inches wide and 5 inches tall, whether your child is sleeping in a twin bed, a queen-sized, or a king bed, you can rest assured knowing they are safe and sound when using these portable bed rails.

Lightweight and portable, these travel bed rails are guaranteed to become your go-to during sleep time with your kids, whether at a hotel room or at a sleepover. Just fold it, roll it up, throw it into your carry-on or backpack diaper bag, and you’ll be ready to go! 

5. Sunnyglade Portable Bed Rails for Toddlers

The Sunnyglade portable bed rails are thoughtfully designed inflatable bed bumpers that feature airtight construction that easily supports up to 220 pounds without a leak. This means you will find each bed rail to be just as inflated when you wake up in the morning as they were when you put your kids to bed the night before.

Each Sunnyglade travel bed rail is 48 inches tall, 8 inches wide and 5 inches tall, making them easy to slip under sheets and fit any bed size. The 100% water-resistant bed rails also remain unaffected by spills and nighttime accidents, and even come with a compact carry case that make them even more convenient for travel.

When to Pack Portable Bed Rails for Toddlers

If you are traveling with a toddler who is an active sleeper, then having inflatable travel bed rails will help keep your toddler on the bed! Especially if you’ve recently moved your toddler to a big kid bed from their crib.

Here are just a few of the times when you’ll be glad you packed your portable bed rails for travel:

1. Unfamiliar Sleep Environment

When staying in a hotel or rental apartment, the sleep environment will be new to your toddler. Your child might have trouble sleeping or move around more at night. Keep your toddler in their bed by using a toddler bed rail on each side of the bed.

2. Create a Smaller Bed

If you’ve just moved your toddler to a big kid bed, having your toddler sleep in a hotel room bed might seem huge for your toddler. You can use the inflatable bed rails under a fitted sheet to create a smaller, more familiar bed for your toddler.

3. Extra High Beds

Regardless of whether you are staying in a hotel, at grandma’s house or an Airbnb, the beds are most likely to be much higher than your toddler’s bed at home. This makes it much more dangerous for active sleepers who might fall out of bed at night.

The best travel bed rails for toddlers, like the hiccapop inflatable bed rail or the Shrunks bed rail, will keep your toddler on the bed.

4. Sharing a Bed

Often sharing a hotel room with a toddler means you’ll also be sharing a bed. If you buy a two-pack inflatable bed rails, then keep one bed rail between you to help keep you from getting kicked all night long!

5. Kids Sharing Beds

Kids sharing beds is a great solution, but some kids seems to be practicing gymnastics when they sleep. Using an inflatable bed rail between the kids can help keep them from waking each other up as they move around in their sleep.

Benefits of Travel Bed Rails for Toddlers

While packing inflatable bed rails for toddlers might just seems like one more thing to pack, there are some benefits of using these instead of creating makeshift bed bumpers.

Here are some of the benefits of using a portable bed rail for travel:

1. Create a Smaller Bed

These portable bed rails fit under the sheet and can be placed where you need them to create a smaller and more familiar sleeping environment for your toddler.

2. Get a Better Sleep

Using a toddler bed rail between you and your child can help you get a better sleep by keeping those little feet from kicking you all night!

3. Take up Less Room

While pillows and rolled up blankets can also work, portable toddler bed rails for travel take up less room on the bed, leaving more room for everyone.

4. Stay in Place

Again, pillows and rolled up blankets can work, but they can get easily get flattened and move around, making them less reliable and safe for your child. Inflatable bed rails have grip strips to keep them in place. The hiccapop inflatable bed rail even has a silicon-bottom safety flap extension that uses body weight to keep it in place. And because they are inflatable, the bed rails should keep their size and shape all night.

5. Keep Toddlers in the Bed

This is the most obvious reason to use a travel bed rail, but it will keep your toddler in the bed. A toddler bed rail will help everyone get a good sleep while on vacation.

Other Alternatives to Inflatable Bed Rails for Toddlers

If you aren’t interested in buying more toddler travel gear, there are other alternatives to buying portable bed rails. Some aren’t as effective, but they can work in a pinch.

Our toddler is an extremely active sleeper, so when we share a bed or have him sleep in his own bed on a family holiday, we always need to put some precautions in place. Even while sleeping in a large queen size bed on his own, he’s managed to fall out.

Here are the best options we’ve come up with:

• When we haven’t packed our toddler travel bed, some ways we’ve kept him from falling out is by putting a rolled up blanket under the fitted sheet. The biggest issue with this option is that you don’t always have enough extra blankets available when you travel. The blankets can also get flattened over time or won’t be high enough to prevent your toddler from rolling out onto the floor.
  
  
• We’ve also used pillows around him, under the fitted sheets. This can work well in hotel rooms when you may have plenty of extra pillows. The problem with this solution is the pillows can move around and they take up a lot of room when sharing a bed (either yourself or with kids sharing).
  
  
• A pool noodle under the fitted sheet can be another alternative. This solution is best saved for road trips with a toddler when you have the extra space to pack a pool noodle – it’s not so good for airplane travel, when luggage space is tight.
  
  
• When possible, we always move the bed up to a wall when we can so we have one safe side.

While not perfect, the above alternatives to bringing inflatable bed rails for toddlers on your family trip will work in a pinch!

Do you have a long haul flight for your family vacation? A toddler airplane bed will make the experience so much better for everyone!

Our Preferred Option for Toddler Travel Sleeping

While he above travel bed rails for toddlers are all excellent options for your family travel needs, my preferred option, especially when traveling internationally and being limited on what I can pack, is to travel with an inflatable toddler travel bed with built in bumpers.

This solution gave our toddler his own space to sleep, allowing our older daughter to sleep soundly in a bed (she doesn’t move much). Sometimes we still find him on the floor from moving so much, but he rarely even wakes up when this happens!

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