Can a mattress be used by 2 kids?

[Emmoney]

Can anyone tell me why its not ok to use a mattress for more then one child *not at the same time lol* ? A relative gave us a used Kolcraft foam mattress that was rarely used and then a friend told me about 'icky stuff' that can get inside the mattress...what icky stuff?

Also, as far as SIDS risks, does the kolcraft meet standards from sids organizations?

[jkpalotay]

I'm really not sure if Kolcraft meets the SIDS standards, but I can venture a guess that the "icky stuff" inside the mattress would be sweat, drool, pee, spit-up, etc. (Obviously really only a problem if the previous owners didn't use a waterproof mattress pad). I also noticed that in the recent 5th (?) edition of BBB, they had a blurb in the mattress section regarding second-hand matresses. Their recommendation was to avoid used ones, because apparently the rate of SIDS is (slightly) higher for mattress used by another child, even a sibling. It has something to do with the icky stuff inside the matress, I believe. On a personal note, we used my SIL's crib and matress for DS, and had no problem. However, he wasn't really in the crib a lot anyway; he was much more of a co-sleeper. He's really only gone to his own bed now that he has a "big boy" twin bed. But I digress... Hope this helps!

Kelli

[Emmoney]

Ok thank you :) the mattress I have is all vinyl so its completely waterproof but we aren't comfortable using it anyways so we'll get a new one...

Thanks!!!