What You Need to Know When Buying a Baby Mattress

Your mattress must have these basics: firm, supportive, and waterproof (not just water resistant). It needs to maintain these features through the time the item is in use - a Moses basket mattress for 4 months, a crib mattress for 9 months, a cot mattress for 3 years, and a cot bed mattress for 5 years.

You can add other features such as comfort, breathability, temperature control, durability, washability, and hygiene. These will add cost to the mattress, and there are several articles on this website that will explain all of this in detail.

The mattress must fit safely - there should be no gap larger than the width of two fingers if you push the mattress up to one side.

Compliance Standards

There are some new regulations coming out on mattresses, including a reduction in fire safety requirements. Every mattress on sale now will pass BS EN 16890. To be honest, it's not a very strict standard - very basic, and it really needs upgrading.

Features Explained

Firmness

Lying your baby on its back avoids suffocation, aids breathing, and supports spine development.

Support

This means maintaining firmness without denting or dipping as your baby's weight increases over time.

Waterproof Protection

Don't be fooled by "water resistant" - this is not the same thing. Waterproof protection is required to keep urine, vomit, and sweat away from the mattress core, whether your mattress is made of foam, fibre, or coir and wool. This prevents the build-up of bacteria and the potential release of harmful gases.

Breathability

This ties in with waterproofing. Waterproof and breathability are opposites, yet both are vital. There are ways to achieve both - please see other information on this site. We've covered this subject in detail.

Comfort

A firm mattress can feel like a brick, but there are mattresses that maintain their firmness while also feeling welcoming.

Temperature Control

Going on from breathability and waterproofness - there's always a risk of your baby overheating, even when following good ventilation guidelines. Some babies generate more heat than others. There are fabrics such as CoolMax backed with a spacer fabric like MaxiSpace that offer temperature control and breathability.

Washable and Hygienic

The cover on your mattress needs to be removable and machine washable, preferably at 60°C - the temperature required to kill the bugs. Or wash at 40°C and add an antiseptic to your wash. Think about getting a spare cover - always needed at 3am when the nappy fails! (Grandad did the nappy!) Just unzip the stained one and zip on the clean one.

Durability

This comes at a price. For instance, you wouldn't get all the above benefits buying a fibre mattress for a cot bed. To be honest, you'd be fortunate if a fibre mattress offering just the basics lasted for a year.