I’m looking for an organic chemical free mattress…I’ve narrowed it down to naturepedic and mygreenmattress! I live in bowling green, ky and I can’t find any local places that sell what I’m looking for.
Do you prefer one over the other? Cost is definitely an issue since im replacing both kids full size mattress and our king. But if im putting this much money into these mattresses I want to make sure that im definitely getting chemical free and comfortable! Any help would be sooooo much appreciated!
You didn’t mention the specific mattresses you are considering (both Naturepedic and Mygreenmattress make a range of mattresses) and I didn’t see any specific questions in your post so I can’t really make any specific comments but I can certainly provide you with some general information that may be helpful with “how” to choose between them.
The first thing I would consider is how important an organic certification is to you since many people that are looking for an organic mattress are really more interested in a “safe” mattress and organic certifications and safety certifications are very different from each other. There is more about the different levels of organic certifications in post #2 here and some of the benefits of an organic certification in post #3 here and there is more about the different types of organic and safety certifications in post #2 here.
There is also a lot more information in post #2 here and the more detailed posts and information it links to about safe, natural, organic, “chemical free”, and “green” mattresses and mattress materials that can help you sort through some of the marketing information and terminology that you will encounter in the industry and can help you differentiate between them and answer “how safe is safe enough for me” or “how natural is natural enough for me” or “how green is green enough for me” and that can help you decide on the type of materials and components you are most comfortable having in your mattress or on the certifications for harmful substances and VOC’s that may be important to you. These types of issues are complex and are generally specific to each person and their individual sensitivities, circumstances, criteria, beliefs, and lifestyle choices.
Once you have decided on the safety or organic certifications that are important to you then you will be in a much better position to ask about any of the mattresses you are considering and decide whether any of the individual materials and components in any mattress you are looking at or the mattress “as a whole” meets your “safety”, natural, or organic criteria.
My Green Mattress uses Talalay latex in their latex mattresses and there isn’t any Talalay latex that has an organic certification although there is Talalay latex that is 100% natural that doesn’t use any synthetic latex in the manufacturing process. Naturepedic uses certified organic Dunlop latex in their mattresses that contain latex. All the latex you are likely to encounter (either Dunlop or Talalay that is made with either natural or synthetic rubber or a blend of both) will have a reliable certification such as Oeko-Tex, Eco-Institut, or Greenguard Gold and based on actual testing I would consider any type or blend of latex to be a very “safe” material in terms of harmful substances and VOC’s.
There is more information about the 3 most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase in post #13 here which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on suitability, durability, and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase to “fine tune” a mattress or the exchange/return options that are available to you).
Since the most important part of the “value” of a mattress purchase is how well you will sleep on it … post #2 here has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for.
When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs and firmness levels to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
While I can’t speak to how any mattress will “feel” for someone else in terms of firmness, “comfort”, or PPP because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances … outside of PPP (which is all about how well you will sleep on a mattress) the most important part of the value of a mattress purchase is it’s durability and in terms of durability a mattress is only as good as its construction and the quality and durability of the materials inside it (which is all about how long you will sleep well) regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label.
Both of the manufacturers you are considering use high quality and durable and “safe” materials in their mattresses and there are no lower quality materials or weak links in any of their mattresses that would be a “weak link” in the mattress or would compromise the durability or useful life of the mattress.
As you probably know My Green Mattress is one of the members of this site which means that I think very highly of them and I believe that they compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency. A forum search on mygreenmattress or a term specific site search on “my green mattress” (you can just click the links) will bring up many more comments, information, and feedback about them.
Naturepedic is also a high quality option and I think highly of them as well although they are generally in a higher budget range compared to other similar mattresses. A forum search on Naturepedic (you can just click the link) will also bring up more comments, information, and feedback about them as well.
Once you have narrowed down your options to a list of finalists that are all choices between “good and good” and none of them have any lower quality materials or “weak links” in their design and if there are no clear winners between them (which is usually a good indication that you have done some very good research) then you are in the fortunate position that any of them would likely be a suitable choice and post #2 here can help you make a final choice based on your local testing or mattresses you have slept well on, your more detailed conversations with each of them, your confidence about PPP and the suitability of each one, their prices, your preferences for different types of materials, the options you have after a purchase to fine tune the mattress or exchange or return the mattress or individual layers, any additional extras that are part of each purchase, and on “informed best judgement” based on all the other objective, subjective, and intangible parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in the Bowling Green, KY area (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines I linked earlier in this reply) are listed in post #4 here but you will need to make some phone calls to the manufacturers and retailers on the list to find out if there are any local mattresses that would meet all your criteria.
Thank you so much for the amazing advice!! I just keep re reading it taken it all in! I know the naturepedic is just outside of our budget. I have narrowed it down to yhe mygreenmattress pure echo and the IKEA morongava. I would love to know which you think is best as far as which is the safest? It is for my 3 year old and he will
Have it as he grows up and I want a mattress with the least amount of chemicals or harmful ingredients! Thanks so much!
While the only way to know the specific amount of any substances or the chemical composition of all the materials in a mattress (whether they contain natural or synthetic chemicals) would be to test for every chemical that could possibly be inside it in a lab (which would probably involve reducing the mattress to ash and would destroy the mattress) I personally wouldn’t have any safety concerns with harmful substances or VOC’s with any of the materials in either mattress and I would certainly consider the materials in both of them to be “safe enough” for a young child.
In addition to that neither one has any lower quality materials or weak links in the design that would compromise the durability or useful life of the mattress so either one would be a suitable choice in terms of firmness and durability and the choice between them would really be a preference and/or budget choice based on your “best judgement” or even your “gut feel”.
While they are different types of mattresses (one is an all latex mattress and the other is an innerspring/natural fiber mattress) that will have a different “feel” … one thing that may differentiate them may be that the Pure Echo would probably have firmer edge support which may be a factor if you sometimes sit on the side of the mattress with your 3 year old for “story time”.
Thank you!!! Can you offer suggestions for a mattress protector!? I read your advice and I ended up going with the mygreenmattress mattress pure echo and talalay latex topper…what’s the best affordable protector for theaters!? And does the protector pad cover the topper as well!? I just want to make sure these new mattress is protected in the safestoar organic way!
I’m not certain why you added the topper (it probably wasn’t necessary) but either way congratulations on your new mattress
You certainly made a great quality/value choice.
There is more about the pros and cons of different types of mattress protectors and some examples of each of them in post #89 here. With a 3 year old I would make sure that the protector you choose can protect against any “accidents” that are likely to happen.
I bought toppers for our other 2 sets of mattresses that’s we can’t afford to replace with organic mattresses right now! Some mentioned the pure echo was kind of firm and my sons bed is also our guest bed when family is in town so at least Id have a topper on hand if it is as firm as others Say
While the firmer sleeping surface would be better for your son … it’s a good idea to have a softer topper available for when you have guests that prefer a softer mattress.
