Kids mattress suggestions?

So we are looking for a less toxic twin mattress for our 3 year old and a crib mattress for our 9 month old. The bed from the mattress company we currently have refuses to say what type of flame retardants or plastics are used and I’m wary enough to invest in something new and from a company that will tell me what’s inside. At the minimum I would be happy with a silica based fire retardant.
The onnnnly crib/twin mattress company I can find that is under $300 (crib…$650 twin) and openly states they use silica/rayon for FR is the brand Naturepedic. They are as pricey as an all latex/wool cover bed. I just wonder if you have any direction on this. I gather it’s not your specialty, but do you have any input?
Do you think a 3 inch twin latex tipper would be supportive enough for a 3 yr old? Ikea kids mattresses are about three inches so I made a far fetched conclusion that 3 inches would suffice. I can’t afford a lot but can’t see any other options but spending a lot in order to have less chemicals. Any thoughts on if a latex Mattress would be Better for baby or toddler than an innerspring mattress?
I have hunted and searched for a “healthy” affordable twin bed and just now thought to ask you! I Hope you have any input! Thanks so much for any help Mister Phoenix. :slight_smile:

Hi Rachierad,

There are quite a few posts on the forum that talk about more natural and healthy choices for children and include a number of links to some very good sources as well.

You will find links to most of the better children’s threads and posts in post #2 here.

For a 3 year old probably yes (as long as it wasn’t too soft) but I would tend to go a little thicker so that as they grew into a pre-teen and a teenager it would still be suitable as well.

I personally think that a latex mattress with wool such as this (the wool is the fire barrier) is an ideal choice for a crib mattress as long as it’s firm enough and in a twin version (perhaps slightly softer but no softer than a medium) would be a great choice for an older child as well.

Phoenix

I’m set to order a latex mattress for our toddler but not sure what ILD would be best. Any suggestions? 25 or 28 or 31 ild Dunlop or 28 or 32 ild talalay? Is what I’ve been going back and forth about? Thanks for any help mister!

I just saw in your link that 28/32 ILD is a good medium firmness. But I’m assuming that’s in Talalay. Is Dunlop’s ILD similar to Talalay? Would a 28 Dunlop be as firm as 28 Talalay? And are you familiar with Foam Order.coms natural sense Dunlop? I was considering either:

3 Inches 25 ILD All natural latexco Dunlop Topper with
1 inch 28 or 31 ILD natural sense Arpico Dunlop

Or
4 inches of 28 ILD Natural Sense Dunlop
(this is a "returned in like new condition item…kind of iffy about that)

Only two options under $400 that we can afford! Better than the 3 inch Ikea toddler mattresses I hope.

Also, I was looking on Arpicos website and saw a section on Fire Retardant latex. I Understand this is to meet other countries (UK) laws, but is it possible to end up with this flame retardant latex in the US? Wouldn’t choose latex if that’s a possibility sense it’s greatest appeal is its tendancy to be mostly natural for me. Hope that stays in the UK!

Hi Rachierad,

ILD is measured at 25% compression of a 6" test layer of latex and at this exact percentage of compression would be the same in Talalay as in Dunlop. If you compress Dunlop more than 25% however it gets firmer faster than Talalay so it would be firmer for those who sank into the layer more. At shallower compressions it would be softer. I would also keep in mind that latex doesn’t come in exact ILD’s. talalay has a plus/minus in the range of 2 ILD arcoss the surface (a variation in the range of 4 ILD from the softest to the firmest) while with Dunlop the variation can be larger and it will also be firmer on the bottom of a layer than on the top. You can read more about the ILD variation in Dunlop in post #4 here.

Yes … it is 100% natural Dunlop which is similar in quality to the 100% natural Dunlop sold by many other suppliers or that comes from the same or other Dunlop manufacturers.

Keeping in mind that Dunlop doesn’t come in a single ILD and these would probably be the midpoint of an ILD range … I would tend towards firmer (32) but if for some reason that you believed based on your knowledge or your children that they may prefer softer then I wouldn’t go lower than 28.

In theory it would be possible if that’s what US manufacturer ordered from them but a manufacturer would be able to tell you what they carry and I doubt that a lot of manufacturers would order this vs the regular 100% natural Dunlop.