January 13, 2008

Crib Mattress


We spent yesterday morning educating ourselves on the virtues of crib mattresses and then ventured out to the shops to purchase ours. The literature on the web recommends finding the heaviest one if you're going with foam because that means it's the most dense and wont conform to your baby's shape which could result in suffocation and increased risk of SIDS. For inner-spring mattresses (most common) we were recommended to find one with a coil count above 130 and a steel gauge below 15, as well as some form of border wire or rods in the corners and sides for perimeter support. Bottom line, the firmer the better. One of the consumer review sites we read also said that a quality mattress will cost somewhere between $90-200, anything less than $90 likely being too soft and anything more than $200 likely having unnecessary bells and whistles.

We took this information and made our first stop at Target where we were very disappointed to find only two options, neither of which met the specs we were looking for. I know that their online store has quite a few additional options however without knowing exactly which mattress we wanted we felt uncomfortable making the purchase online, site unseen. So we headed to JCPenney and then SEARS and again found little to no selection, but on the advice of a saleswoman at SEARS made our next stop at Babies "R" Us. There we found an entire wall of crib mattresses, complete with lengthy descriptions and the ability to feel each of them prior to purchase. We settled on the Serta Perfect Balance Organic Crib Mattress and called it a day. Be warned, there are ALOT of bad crib mattresses out there!

Babywait status:
- Babywait (referral) = 5 weeks and 5 days.
- Babywait (treadmill) = 9 consecutive days, at least 30 minutes per day!

7 comments:

LISA said...

Thanks for the mattress info!

Stacie said...

Atta girl on the whole babyweight subject. I'm in the same boat...only I ride bike. I try to get in one hour per day. But alas, there are days when it's 0 hours on the bike.
Forsbergs

Brooke said...

Wow, that's great mattress information. I always find Babys'r'us to be so overwhelming. However, they do have the best selection.

Amanda said...

I was overhwelmed when we started mattress hunting ourselves-a while ago. We purchased a spring mattress with a bell and whistle ;)
But, we love it. Obviously, we're not the ones that are going to sleep in it-so I look forward to finding out how it actually "works".

But, congrats on buying the bed. Each purchase makes it feel one day, one step closer, huh?

Rebecca said...

I'm glad you all did the reasearch so now we don't have to :)

Yay for one more thing for the nursery! It's getting closer and closer!

Gretchen said...

Ahh- Rebecca beat me to the chase! All the same, thanks for doing all the mattress homework!
I love the crib! That didn't come from Babies R Us, did it?

Gretchen said...

I just spent about ten years trying to find this post- and am so psyched to have completed my goal! Again- thanks for posting this ever so long ago... I knew I would need this info eventually!