Am I nuts for not replacing a crib mattress for second child?

[TonFirst]

When my daughter was born 2 years ago, I briefly thought about replacing our Colgate Classica, read the research, and decided to use the Colgate that we'd bought for our son in 2004. No regrets. I called Colgate (they're manufactured right here in Atlanta - our crib mattress is as local as our food!) and even they said that they didn't recommend replacement unless the mattress was a huge mess. Thankfully, we avoided huge blowouts and messes and, honestly, our mattress has never come in contact with anything funky since we use those fantastic Land's End waterproof mattress pads. I wouldn't worry about it unless your mattress was a real mess.

That said, I also was comfortable reusing the mattress because it was OUR mattress - I wouldn't be comfortable using a second-hand, thrifted, or even a borrowed mattress unless I knew the owner really well.

[ThreeofUs]

I didn't, even though they say you're supposed to, but the new mattresses STINK.

Ours didn't smell at all and was nice and firm - unused, in fact, as our refluxy DS1 hated his crib, lol!

Frankly, this sounds like a way to generate more sales to me.

I'm not saying it causes SIDS, I'm just saying that anything that reeks of chemicals can't possibly be good. Particularly non-organic ones with flame retardant. Those things give ME a headache when I walk down that aisle at BRU, no way would I put a new baby's face right up to them. I'd also air out any carpet before putting it in a nursery.

Exactly.

[AshleyAnn]

DD's mattress is a handmedown from a friend. Its a coil mattress and didn't seem worn at all to DH and I. If it were foam I'd have considered replacing it because it does breakdown more. It is ever so slightly softer than I'd consider a 'firm' mattress but I couldn't find anything firmer in a reasonable price range.

[DebbieJ]

My almost 7 mo is using the mattress that my 6 yo used in the crib. No problems whatsoever.

[PGTB]

I've never understood/bought the SIDS connection with used mattresses - I would assume new mattresses with flame retardants would off-gas more than an old one, but I'm willing to be persuaded otherwise if there's good evidence to the contrary.

From what I read it's not really the actual flame retardant chemicals but the gases that are emitted by the common household microorganisms like fungus that digest them. Basically certain flame retardants contain phosphorus/antimony/arsenic that are actually digested by fungus organisms (which are otherwise not harmful and widely spread) and are metabolized by these organisms into neurotoxin gases. So, the older the mattresses would have higher levels of these harmful gases since there would be more microorganisms on them and the chemicals would be more unstable with age and easier to break down and metabolize by these organisms.

http://www.stopsidsnow.com/FactsAboutCribDeathSIDS.html

The gases are heavy and would hover close to the surface, so in most cases where the babies sleep on their backs (which is what is suggested to prevent SIDS) their breathing organs are removed far enough to not inhale large enough quantities of these gases. We may think it's the posture that matters, but it could be just the fact that the baby's face is further away from heavy gases. lack of things in the crib that trap air also facilitate circulation of the gases away from baby's face.

So, basically the off-gassing would happen even if the mattress is old and as far as neurotoxin gasses it would be worse with the older mattress.

The suggestion is to cover the old mattress with the plastic that would stop the gases from collecting on the surface and getting into baby's airways. It's the whole Babesafe advertisement I guess telling you to cover your matresss and then you are safe.

I think if you cannot afford another mattress, to give yourself a piece of mind you can just wrap it up in a plastic cover (they suggest polyethylene food grade plastic) or buy a Babesafe cover on the internet, which is much cheaper than buying a new mattress.

But I do get skeptical of all this info too because it's very convenient for the baby goods companies to say that old mattresses should be thrown away as they are dangerous and we should all rush and buy new ones or buy BabeSafe covers for them. Better for their bottom line, so you tend to wonder if this is really some tangible research info out there or its' just benefiting the corporations producing baby goods.

The only thing that I was able to find out that made me decide to avoid any flame retardant treated indoor objects is the fact that PBDE based retardants have been officially banned in Europe and I believe Canada for a while and that they are about to be banned in the US (have already been banned in the state of Washington). Basically, there is an official ban on these things and that made me swing my vote towards being careful to avoid them as much as I can. PBDEs apparently are concentrated in high amounts in humans now and in breast milk. I am sure mine will be full of that stuff since I've been sleeping on a memory foam mattress pad during the entire pregnancy and year before that without as much as an ounce of knowledge of that stuff being harmful until recently, oh well. Nothing to be done about that really.

HTH

[ThreeofUs]

From what I read it's not really the actual flame retardant chemicals but the gases that are emitted by the common household microorganisms like fungus that digest them. Basically certain flame retardants contain phosphorus/antimony/arsenic that are actually digested by fungus organisms (which are otherwise not harmful and widely spread) and are metabolized by these organisms into neurotoxin gases. So, the older the mattresses would have higher levels of these harmful gases since there would be more microorganisms on them and the chemicals would be more unstable with age and easier to break down and metabolize by these organisms.

That does help, thank you, at least in understanding the reasoning behind it.

Now, our mattress is protected by at least three layers (with cover and pads) - trust me, it's still rock-hard! - of plastic and we have a ceiling fan going all the time. (I used to keep my hood operational at all times in my lab, too, lol!)


Does make me wish I had bought a different kind of mattress, though....

[citymama]

From what I read it's not really the actual flame retardant chemicals but the gases that are emitted by the common household microorganisms like fungus that digest them. Basically certain flame retardants contain phosphorus/antimony/arsenic that are actually digested by fungus organisms (which are otherwise not harmful and widely spread) and are metabolized by these organisms into neurotoxin gases. So, the older the mattresses would have higher levels of these harmful gases since there would be more microorganisms on them and the chemicals would be more unstable with age and easier to break down and metabolize by these organisms.

http://www.stopsidsnow.com/FactsAboutCribDeathSIDS.html

The gases are heavy and would hover close to the surface, so in most cases where the babies sleep on their backs (which is what is suggested to prevent SIDS) their breathing organs are removed far enough to not inhale large enough quantities of these gases. We may think it's the posture that matters, but it could be just the fact that the baby's face is further away from heavy gases. lack of things in the crib that trap air also facilitate circulation of the gases away from baby's face.

So, basically the off-gassing would happen even if the mattress is old and as far as neurotoxin gasses it would be worse with the older mattress.

The suggestion is to cover the old mattress with the plastic that would stop the gases from collecting on the surface and getting into baby's airways. It's the whole Babesafe advertisement I guess telling you to cover your matresss and then you are safe.

HTH

This is SUPER helpful. Thank you. This wins my vote for most helpful post of the week! Wow, I had no idea, but this makes a lot of sense. Now I'm concerned about the co-sleeper we're borrowing from a friend that has sat in her garage for 4 yrs. Lots of time for microorganisms to work on those pesky chemicals. Where can I get the plastic covers you mention?

[Krisrich]

You can also buy just a new mattress for the co-sleeper from armsreach.com. Hope this helps!

[ett]

We did not replace the mattress between our DS's.

[PGTB]

This is SUPER helpful. Thank you. This wins my vote for most helpful post of the week! Wow, I had no idea, but this makes a lot of sense. Now I'm concerned about the co-sleeper we're borrowing from a friend that has sat in her garage for 4 yrs. Lots of time for microorganisms to work on those pesky chemicals. Where can I get the plastic covers you mention?

I think Babesafe advertises them. They are in New Zealand I think. YOu can go to the babesafe.com website to check out the links there, I think you can order from them, not sure. I think there are other companies that carry similar mattress covers even for adult mattresses. I would google it.

Good luck!