How to Choose A Crib Mattress for Your Baby

When it comes to buying the right crib mattress for your precious little one, safety and comfort are paramount.

To help you with this, here are some helpful buying tips to make your life easier, giving you more time to enjoy life with your little cherub.

Think of the Safety Considerations First

One of the initial things to consider is how firm the mattress is. Soft and bouncy seem like a good idea, but an extremely firm mattress is, in fact, a better option, because it offers greater safety for your baby, as advised by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Soft sleeping surfaces increase the danger of SIDS and create a suffocation risk for infants.

You should not lay your baby down to sleep on an adult mattress or any other soft surface either. If you are worried about your little one’s long-term comfort, be sure to check out this guide on the highest rated breathable lovey blankets for babies – our top picks 2019.

Do Your Research on the Mattress

As we mentioned at the top of the article, there is a lot of choice available to you and mattress materials are among them. Knowing whether to choose hypoallergenic, dual-core, organic, foam, pocketed spring, or coil spring can leave you with more questions than answers.

It’s worth taking the time to do a little bit of research to learn about what benefits and potential problems each material comes with. This will help you to make the choice you feel satisfied with.

Essentially, all mattresses come with their pros and cons, so the key is to about decide what is best for you and the newest member of your family.

The size of the mattress is important too. To be as safe as possible, your child’s mattress has to be a good fit. There shouldn’t be any more than two fingers of space between the side of the mattress and the frame of their crib. If the gap exceeds this, your baby is at risk of becoming trapped between the two, with potential harm or suffocation as a result.

What Other Considerations Are There?

Mattress vents, which permit increased airflow and make it easier for moisture to escape, are a good feature to keep in mind. This will prevent mildew, mold, and odor. These are recognized by the presence of small, reinforced holes along the sides of the mattress. The more ventilation holes on the mattress, the better they will be for effective airflow.

Organic mattresses are rising in popularity too. This is because growing numbers of researchers and medical professionals cite that chemicals left over from the manufacturing process have the potential to aggravate existing medical conditions and potentially even cause new and dangerous health-related issues.

If you’re looking to create a chemical-free environment for your child, then opting for an organic mattress is often one of the best places to start.

Important Points to Remember

Take these crib safety pointers away with you for guidance and a greater sense of peace of mind over your child’s well-being:

• The mattress support should be able to hold firm. Check that it does this by giving the mattress support a shake, pushing hard on the support from underneath and thumping the mattress from the top.
• Depending on the type of mattress, you should turn it regularly to uphold its shape and rotate it head to foot so that both ends are equally used.
• Use a mattress cover under the sheet to protect the crib mattress or use a quilted crib pad as one side is waterproof.
• Fitted sheets should be used with a crib mattress.
• Plastic sheets should not be used; they can affect your child’s breathing.
• The use of pillows, sheepskins, stuffed toys, quilts, or comforters, should be prohibited in the crib. Items such as these can inhibit good air circulation around your child’s face.
• Top sheets aren’t advised until your child reaches the older toddler stage because babies have the potential to get tangled in a top sheet.
• Second-hand mattresses should be avoided unless you know the specific history of it.
• If the mattress gets wet, never put your baby back on it until it has fully dried, and don’t dry clean the mattress because this can leave chemicals behind that are potentially harmful to your child.