Husband and I have the sleepez 10,000 mattress and love it. I need a mattress for my 3 year old that daughter that will last until she’s grown. Looked at sleepez 7000 but that was still $1000 which is too much and seems overkill. Was thinking a 5" would be sufficient. Can you make any recommendations as to where I might find one that is not so expensive and what ILD would be appropriate.
Thank you
Hi paaschjc,
Children have much different needs than adults because their body shape is not yet as curvy and they tend to do better with a firmer surface. Their immune system is also not as well developed so I personally would pay more attention to the use of natural materials in their mattress (no memory foam in particular) or at least materials that have been tested for harmful substances and VOC’s and certified as safe by a reliable certification agency such as Oeko-Tex Standard 100 class 1 (for foam or fibers/fabrics) or Eco-Institut (for foam or fibers/fabrics) or at least CertiPUR certified (for polyfoam).
One good choice would be 6" of natural Dunlop or blended Talalay medium to medium firm latex with a stretch cotton ticking which would work very well and because it is also so durable it would provide a great base as they got older and their body shape and needs change and they needed a softer layer on top for extra comfort. You could also add a wool mattress pad if you wanted wool on top of the latex. Another good choice would be a good innerspring with natural fiber comfort layers which can also provide a good base for added toppers later on.
An example at SleepEz would be their “Special” which is here.
Another good choice would be here from Arizona Premium which is similar in blended Talalay and has a wool/cotton ticking/quilting.
Pure Echo collectionThe from My Green Mattress would be another good choice. One version has no foam at all and is just an innerspring with a natural fiber cotton/wool comfort layer and the other includes latex.
Something similar is also here if there is an outlet near you that sells this particular Berkeley Ergonomics mattress.
Another good choice would be here from Ikea (The Morgongava has replaced the Edsele) and while this is 7" of Dunlop latex, it is not 100% natural latex like some of the other latex choices and the 7 zone feature may not “line up” with a smaller child very well (although the zoning differential would be fairly small so it probably wouldn’t matter). I’m including this more as a reference point than as a suggestion.
Local manufacturers in your area may have similar options available.
All of these would make good value choices IMO and provide a good base for a topper down the road as needed.
Hope this helps
Phoenix
NOE: Ikea link was previously incorrect and led to the Elsfjord (5.5" of synthetic Dunlop latex) instead of the Edsele (7" of mostly natural Dunlop latex). Corrected on June 14th.
Thank you Phoenix. I’m considering the special from sleepez. Since it comes in two layers, would you suggest a medium/firm combination so that as she gets older, we can just add a soft layer on top?
Hi paaschjc,
Yes … I think that would be the option I would choose both for being better now and for it’s flexibility as a base for a topper later.
Phoenix
I will also be buying a latex setup within a couple months for my daughter which is the same age. I figured I would go with a 2 " soft layer and 6" base in medium from mattresses.net and just place the core on top since she shouldn’t need the comfort layer yet. When she gets older, I would just reverse the order so she could then start using the 2" soft topper.
The reason I’m going this route is that this saves you the cost of having to buy a new encasement/cover for the mattress to accommodate an additional layer if you only buy a core.
I thought about doing that too but I know that sleepez sells their toppers inside a washable cover so I figured I can just throw that on top of the existing mattress and with the waterproof cover and sheet, it should stay put pretty well. Besides, we just bought her the kura low loft bed from ikea and the mattress is not supposed to be taller than 6 inches. She will outgrow the loft bed before she needs the third layer.
Phoenix, can you expand on the Elsfjord a bit? I have a four year old who’s been on an old innerspring mattress with a 2" Costco novaform topper and I’m upgrading to something better. I got a frame and slats at IKEA, along with the Elsfjord, but I’ve gone back and forth on whether the mattress was a good choice. I saw another post in which you don’t recommend it, but I imagine that has more to do with weight/size of the presumed sleepers, ie it’s bad for adults but acceptable for kids. I do work a mile from the Sleep EZ showroom, so that’s the other option I’d likely consider.
Hi kgunner,
The main reason I prefer the Edsele over the Elsfjord is because of the ingredients. The link in post #2 in this thread was supposed to lead to the Edsele (which would fit the 7" 7 zoned description) but for some reason I linked it to the Elsfjord. I’ve now corrected the link … sorry for any confusion it caused.
The Elsfjord has the following ingredients,
Product description
Ticking/ Ticking: 68 % cotton, 32 % polyester
Comfort material: Synthetic latex, Polyester/viscose (rayon) fiber wadding, Polyester wadding
Protective fabric: Non-woven polypropylene
Fire-retardant interliner: 100 % cotton
The ticking is a natural/synthetic blend. This would be less breathable than a natural fiber.
The latex is mostly synthetic Dunlop. This is a lower cost and quality material and doesn’t have the same elastic qualities as more natural Dunlop latex and is also not as durable. It isn’t a “bad” material, it just wouldn’t be my preference when a higher natural latex content is only a little more. Even the Edsele doesn’t have the same quality of latex as many of the higher quality 100% natural Dunlop choices that are available but it’s certainly superior to the Elsfjord.
The quilting material is synthetic which again is a lower cost less durable, breathable, and temperature regulating material than wool.
Overall … the synthetic content of this mattress means that it would be a much less desirable option … especially for a child IMO.
I would also choose either of the “equivalent” SleepEz versions over the Edsele (either the “Special” with the unquilted cover or the 7000 with the wool quilted cover). Both of these use higher quality latex and other materials.
The SleepEz showroom also has some products that are available locally that aren’t available online.
Phoenix