Organic Crib Mattresses

organic crib mattresses made from cotton, wool & other natural materials

Why Choose an Organic Crib Mattress?

You know you should be choosing organic foods and cleaning products, and have likely read about the dangers of chemicals & environmental toxins. But many new parents are choosing organic crib mattresses for their nursery, and with good reason. Babies spend about 70% of their first year sleeping - typically in their crib - so it makes sense to make sure your baby's crib is safe and healthy.

But what could be so bad about a conventional crib mattress? Could a crib mattress really be unhealthy?

In short, yes - a lot is wrong with conventional crib mattresses. Crib mattresses are basically just a chemical jumble of plastic, polyurethane foam and flame retardents. These manmade materials actually produce gas, otherwise known as "off-gassing," and this gas is toxic.

As your baby sleeps on a conventional crib mattress he breathes in this toxic gas, and since he's sleeping in his crib 70% of the time... well, you get the picture. Research is beginning to link off-gassing to everything from SIDS to the common cold.

An organic crib mattress avoids the issue of off-gassing completely because they use only natural, organic materials that have no gas to "off." Organic crib mattresses are made from a wide variety natural materials, ranging from wool, which has the added benefit of being naturally flame retardent, to natural rubber.

Other options exist, such as buying a used mattress that is several years old and has time to off-gas most of it's chemicals, or wrapping a new mattress with a special material designed to seal in the chemical gas. Neither of these methods is foolproof, but they will significantly reduce the toxic load from a conventional mattress.