How do I choose the best mattress for my baby?
How to choose the best baby cot mattress or crib mattress is a common question asked by expecting and young parents. In summary, the mattress should properly support your baby well, fit your cot with no gaps, breathable and meet various standards and certifications.
Proper support
As the baby's spine is not fully developed yet, it is important to choose a mattress that adequately supports your baby in an ergonomic manner.
Excessively hard or firm mattresses are not suitable for the soft bone structure of your baby. You will need to find a mattress that provides the correct point-by-point elastic support. This relieves the spine pressure and yet still provides support your baby's head and body for healthy development.
It is not possible to accurately test the support of your cot mattress by pressing your palm down on it. You will need to find a mattress brand that tests with proper pressure sensors for an accurate measurements of support.
Grows with your baby
The mattress support that is required for a 3kg newborn is different from a 12kg 2-year old toddler. A mattress that is designed to support a newborn will be too soft to support the toddler, while a mattress designed for a 12kg child is too hard to support the newborn.
The ideal cot mattress should be able to adequately support this wide range of weights. To meet this design challenge, some cot mattresses are designed with 2 different sides, where one side supports the newborn and the other side is used for the growing child.
Breathable and ventilated
Your baby spends a lot of time on the cot mattresses. In our tropical climate, it is important to find a mattress that is breathable and ventilated so that the heat can be channeled away from baby. In particular, newborns below 6 months are not able to move or flip over, so a properly ventilated mattress is crucial to ensure a comfortable sleep environment.
Some mattresses have holes cut into the material, so air can pass through the mattress. This gives some form of breathability to the mattresses. Really well designed mattresses have ventilation channels in the design of the mattresses. This allows CO2 and heat to be effectively removed, giving your child a better sleep.
Some parents look to buy a plastic mattress protector to protect the mattress from diaper leaks or spills. Too often, these mattress protectors are not ventilated or breathable, and will be warm and unpleasant.
Hence, a good mattress with some integrated wetness protection will ensure that you wouldn't need to protect your mattresses with the plastic mattress protector.
Testing and certifications
Some harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene, VOC and flame retardants can be found in some mattresses, as they are used in the production process. These chemicals can cause nose and throat irritation, hormonal changes, impair brain development or are carcinogenic.
Protect your child by buying mattresses from reputable brands. Ensure that the brands have the correct certifications such as OEKO-TEX, Certipur, LGA or FKT. These certifications mean that the material of the mattress is independently tested to be free of these harmful chemicals.
Properly sized
The cot mattress should fit your cot with no gaps at the sides and ends. This is to ensure that the your baby does not get stuck between the cot and the mattress.
Some usual cot sizes are 60cm x 120cm, 70cm x 140cm or 70 x 131cm (27" x 52"), and you should ensure the mattress fits your cot size.
Traeumeland has more than 50 years of experience in producing top quality baby cot and crib mattresses. The mattresses are still made in their factory in Austria.