Selecting the Right Crib Mattress

What kind of crib mattress to purchase?

The first months of a baby’s life are often the hardest for the parents, who may have to arise many times a night to attend to the baby. It’s normal for toddlers to awake during the night well into their second year. If your baby kicks the mattress throughout the night, fear not, because this is normal. A third of parents of babies report “a significant problem” with the sleep of their child (Armstrong, Quinn, & Dadds, 1994, in case you’d managed not to notice).

First of all, you should be using a crib mattress like Newton Wovinaire. Suffocation in an adult bed is the principal cause of death from injury for infants below one year of age in the state of Florida. If you employ a sofa, soft mattress, waterbed, or whatever, the baby may not be prevented from rolling out of bed. Don’t be swayed by claims that a product can reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (crib death) because there is no evidence that they do.

Infants spend around 70 percent of their time asleep and the wrong choice of mattress can condemn your baby to suffocation during sleep or neck and back pain; read some reviews or other comparisons such as the one by the Sleep Judge. Keep abreast of the website of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be sure that a product has not been recalled.

How to find the right crib mattress

To find the right crib mattress, press it with your palm to see that it quickly returns to shape. Make sure it has vents on the sides, which make the pad flexible. Vinyl covers are ideal, being easy to wash and not allowing liquids to soak through. Nylon covers are more expensive but desirable because they can stretch without tearing.

Ensure that the mattress fits. If you have to change it, make sure the new one is the same size as its predecessor, with the mattress fitting tightly to all four sides of the crib–it should be possible to insert no more than two fingers betwixt the mattress and the crib side. Many a toddler has had to attend ER because they were caught between a crib mattress and the side of the crib, which can in the worst cases lead to suffocation.

Check the mattress regularly to see that it remains in good condition; if it’s soft or damaged, it’s time to get a new one, for instance because a soft mattress can increase the danger of suffocation.

Things to avoid

Do not use comforters, pillows, quilts, or toys in the bed because these can present a suffocation hazard; even a bottle is a danger of this nature and babies who fall to sleep with a bottle in their mouths are more prone to tooth decay because milk sugars are on their teeth all night. If you absolutely must have something, make it an infant sleeper or wearable blanket.

And….don’t forget that selecting the right crib….one that is safe and supportive for the mattress of your choice is as important.