1YO ready for mattress?

Bubs has just turned one (YEAH!!) and we are thinking of putting him on a mattress on the floor.


He's not quite climbing out of his cot yet, but he's trying very hard and it's only a matter of time before I wake up to a sickening thump! Every morning he screams blue murder as soon as he wakes up at 6am. This lasts only until I lift him out and plop him on the floor, then he's quite happy to amuse himself for at least half an hour before I give him his milk at 7. My thoughts are that if he can get out of bed and keep himself amused with his toys then that will earn hubby and I an extra half-hour of sleep in the morning, and he won't feel so frustrated every time he wakes up.


As always, I have a list of questions as to whether this is viable at his age:


1) Bubs is a REALLY active sleeper. He turns 360, back to front, up and down -- you name it -- so I worry that he will roll off the mattress and wake up all the time. Does anyone have experience of how to deal with this?


2) I could put safety rails up, but wouldn't this make it harder for bubs to get himself off the mattress in the morning?


3) Bubs has a habit of standing up in his cot straight away if he does not want to sleep. How would this translate to the mattress? If I let him cry out, will he know to crawl back onto the mattress to sleep? Or will he just lie in a heap on the floor?


I guess I just want to know what the signs are that he is ready for the transition.


Many thanks!

My friend's baby does this, and she has used the baby dan in creative ways to help:


1. first to surround the mattress (with a bit of extra space around it), hung toys from the rails, etc...


2. and now they changed it to block off the doorway - so the baby can't fall asleep behind the door there is a 'gated' area around the door. Not sure if this makes sense, but imagine the door opens in, and you don't want the baby falling asleep behind the door so you can't open it. So they used the baby dan to make a 'wall' so to get into the room, you actually have to open the door, then open the baby dan gate. Baby has full access to the room, but always seems to start sleeping on the mattress, although does roll away at times :) It is very clever and works really well for them.

Thanks ladies, we'll give it a go!