The Best Daybeds for Kids

The two capacities, and why they are never the same

Every trundle daybed publishes two numbers and almost every listing shows them in small print. The daybed takes one figure; the trundle, which is a shallow frame on castors a few inches off the floor, takes considerably less.

Read the trundle column as the real limit. A 225 or 250 lb trundle is comfortably fine for a child, a sleepover guest, or a light adult. It is not a second grown-up guest bed, and the listings never say so in those words. If the trundle genuinely has to hold an adult, the frames that publish the capacity for it are in the best daybeds for heavy people.

The mattress ceiling nobody reads

A trundle has to clear the underside of the daybed frame to slide away. The mattress on the trundle is what eats that clearance, so a maximum thickness exists on every frame whether or not the maker states it.

Eight inches is the figure the GIANTEX twin daybed publishes and it is the one we would plan around generally. That buys a real mattress rather than a pad - an 8-inch memory foam twin is a normal bed for a child - and it is the ceiling the daybed category settles on. The full sizing arithmetic is in what size mattress for a daybed, and the mattress shortlist is the best daybed mattresses.

The GIANTEX twin daybed’s honest limitation is the same figure read the other way: eight inches is also the limit on comfort. You cannot fix a thin mattress on this frame by buying a thicker one later, because the thicker one will not fit under the daybed.

Two children in one footprint

Second is the DHP Astoria twin: 77.5 by 41.5 by 41.5 inches with two full-size standard twins in the floor space of one, on metal slats rather than a bunkie board, with the trundle on four castors - two locking, two free. For shared rooms and regular sleepovers this is the most useful shape in the category.

The reason it is second is the 200 lb trundle, the lowest trundle figure here, and the frame height: 41.5 inches of tube steel is the tallest thing on this page, which in a small child’s room is both a climbing proposition and a lot of visual bulk.

Third is the Amazon Basics full daybed, which gives you a full-size daybed at 76.5 by 55.5 inches with a twin trundle under it and only 69.5 lb of frame. A full daybed is the right call for a child who will still be in the bed at fifteen. Powder-coated tube frames creak, though, and this one is rated 400 lb on top and 250 lb below - you hear it when someone turns over.

The low option, for a small child or a small room

Fourth is the AFI Nantucket, and it is the outlier here on purpose: 34 inches tall instead of 41, in wood rather than tube steel, 77.25 by 42.25 inches. Seven inches of frame height is a meaningful difference in a young child’s room - less to climb, less to fall from, less bulk in a small space - and wood reads as furniture rather than as a bed frame.

The costs are clear and we would not downplay them. 200 lb of capacity, which is a light-duty, one-person frame and not something for two children to bounce on. No trundle, so it sleeps one. And the low back gives very little to lean against for daytime use, which is half the point of a daybed.

Who should buy which

Buy the GIANTEX twin daybed if you want to get the mattress right first time. Published capacities on both beds — 250 lb daybed, 200 lb trundle — two standard twins, 73 lb to carry.

Buy the DHP Astoria twin for a shared room or frequent sleepovers. Two standard twins in one footprint, four castors, 400 lb on top - and the lowest trundle figure on the page.

Buy the Amazon Basics full daybed if the child will outgrow a twin. Full daybed plus twin trundle in 76.5 by 55.5 inches, and the lightest trundle frame here at 69.5 lb.

Buy the AFI Nantucket for a young child, a small room, or a room where the bed has to look like furniture. 34 inches tall, wood, 200 lb and no trundle.

For a baby’s room the question is different and it is answered in the best daybeds for a nursery. For teenagers the futon route is often the better one - the best futons for kids and teens covers it.

And if the room has to be a sitting room or a playroom for most of the day rather than a bedroom, a daybed is the wrong format however good the frame is. The convertible shortlist judged on the thing that matters when a child operates it — the hinge, not the mattress — is the best sleeper sofas for kids rooms. The format that clears the floor completely, with the anchoring and capacity caveats that come with it, is in the best Murphy beds for kids.

Whichever frame you land on, budget separately for the back. A daybed arrives with no back cushions at all, and bed pillows against the rail are the reason most of them never get sat on — the wedge shape that works is in the daybed bedding guide.