HARD mattress

[tlwpeanut]

DH and I have been struggling for months with DS's horrible sleeping habits. All was fine until Thanksgiving when he was sick and we were out of town and resorted to putting him in bed with us to get him to sleep. Since then, he just wouldn't sleep for more than a couple of hours in his crib. I kept on thinking that maybe it was the ear infections he kept getting or something.

I finally decided to try an experiment. I went to a fabric store Monday on my way home from work and picked up some really think batting. I put that between the mattress and the mattress protector. Monday night DS slept from 7:45p to 3:15a without a peep. Tuesday night he slept from 7:45p to 5:45a before awakening. Yippee!

My in-laws are flying in to visit this weekend and will want to buy something for my son, so I'm thinking a new mattress might be in order. I believe we have a Simmons Baby Beautyrest Backcare VII. We basically picked our mattress based on price--not the most expensive, but not the cheapest. We now need to get something that's actually COMFORTABLE. Any suggestions?

-Tracy

[amp]

I can't make a comparison since I don't know anything about the mattress you have, but our mattress was middle of the road as far as cost and firmness. We are very happy with it, and DS sleeps very well on it. It's the Sealy Baby Ultra Soft for $60 at BRU.

ETA: For safety reasons, I would not recommend that you use any thick batting or other material under the sheet. A quilted thin waterproof pad is about all you want there.

[tlwpeanut]

I'm certainly not advocating batting as a long-term solution, but this was a cheap way of testing to find out whether it was the mattress that was causing the problem or if he really had a sleep issue. After reading book after book on baby sleep, I had to think that there was something else wrong. I'm certainly not going to go out and waste more money on mattresses without knowing for sure that it's the problem.

Did he sleep better in our bed because he liked being with us and was experiencing separation anxiety or because our bed was just softer and more comfy? Now I know the answer and have a solution. I just have to find the right mattress for him.

Thank you for your recommendation and I'll take a look at that mattress this weekend.