Big kid mattress

August 2, 2015 5:04 PM

Our 3 year old kitschjunge is ready for a big boy bed. I hope a new twin mattress will last him a good ten years. However, I'm concerned about all of the conflicting information I see about conventional polyurethane mattresses (offgassing) as well as more natural options like latex and wool (allergens). Did you research kids mattresses, and what did you ultimately decide was the healthiest option? And while I'm trying to be frugal, I'll splurge for the right purchase.
posted by kitschfrau to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

I don't know where you are located but if you are in New England give Yankee Mattress a try. After a ridiculous amount of research I decided flame retardants were my number one concern. I was pleasantly surprised to find out a local mattress company based in Western Mass used silica.

Their prices are great and the mattresses are super comfortable too. My husband and I can't wait until my mattress dates out and so we can get one for our bed!
posted by a22lamia at 5:42 PM on August 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I like this blogger's product guides: Mattresses. We went with Naturepedic because we couldn't spend a fortune and her only objection to it was the food-grade plastic cover, which I was okay with.
posted by xo at 5:45 PM on August 2, 2015

Tuft and Needle mattresses are very comfortable and certified by a group called Certipur (no flame retardants, formaldehyde, etc, etc.). Should be perfectly safe long-term. I got one that someone had tried out and decided not to keep, so any small amount of smell that they might have had initially when they unwrapped the package (though not a problem) was gone by the time I got it.
posted by three_red_balloons at 6:33 PM on August 2, 2015

I got a Tuft & Needle latex mattress 2 months ago and I love it. No smell that I could discern, and I got it brand-new. I had heard that latex mattresses are the best for folks with back pain (which is me, for about a year now), and I must say my back pain is totally gone now. Although relief from pain was my driving force, it's also good to know that T&N is made of natural materials. I would not hesitate to put an infant or child on one.
posted by RRgal at 7:39 PM on August 2, 2015

Room and Board sells mattresses that are made in the US and without chemical flame retardants. I did a lot of research looking into mattresses for myself and my son, and while I like the idea of latex I never found them comfortable in practice. I ordered a Room and Board queen-size encased coil mattress for me and an innerspring bunk mattress for the boy; both have been great. Definitely worth the somewhat higher price vs. a traditional mattress to avoid the issue of PBDEs, in my opinion.
posted by Jemstar at 7:37 AM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]