I am awaiting delivery of my new 8" Bio Sleep Concept Sublime All Natural Mattress Futon with 3" Organic Latex Core, Cotton & Wool and am looking to encase it with an organic breathable cotton mattress encasement (without any waterproof barrier membrane) to keep it clean, fresh and free from dust mites and other allergens.
Has anyone had any experience with either the Organic Cotton Dust Mite Bed Bug Mattress Cover Encasement from healthychild.com
or the Organic Cotton Allersoft Mattress Encasing from allergy.com. They both sound like quality products and are pretty similar in their descriptions with the exception of the one from healthychild.com also being bed bug proof which comes with a heftier price tag. I do not have bed bugs but I do live in NYC where it has been a know problem in movie theaters & department stores. I also live in a 14 building apartment complex where there has been news over the past few years of some apartments in some of the buildings being infested. The thought of a maintenance worker leaving me a present after fixing a leaky faucet kind of makes me cringe.
For the mattress protector, I really want to stay in keeping with an organic chemical free product made of either cotton, wool or a combination of both, that fits securely without bunching up and offers some moisture protection and comfort. The GLO Organics Cotton & Wool Fitted Mattress Pad from thegreenlifecostore.com sounds cozy and while the wool itself is not organic, they told me that it is harvested in an ethical manner. However, it is quite pricey.
Any advice or other recommends are appreciated.
Thank you.
I don’t have any personal experience with a of the products you are mentioning and hopefully one of the members that does will see your post and share their experience but I can make a few comments about them that may be helpful.
There is also more about mattress encasements in post #2 here that may be helpful as well.
Organic Cotton Dust Mite Bed Bug Mattress Cover Encasement from healthychild.com
This has a pore size of 4.91 microns which would be suitable for allergens and it also appears to have a zipper that is designed to prevent bed bugs from getting through so this would be suitable for both allergens and bed bugs. The National Allergy Supply description here (they own the bugshield trademark) lists this as 4.8 microns but that is close to the same.
Organic Cotton Allersoft Mattress Encasing from iallergy.com.
This also appears to have a pore size of 4.91 microns but they don’t mention anything about bed bugs or a zipper system that would prevent bed bugs from getting through so this one may only be effective against allergens. Other than this they appear to be very similar.
Neither one of the mattress encasements would be water resistant so if this is also important then as you are suggesting it would be a good idea to use an additional water resistant or waterproof mattress protector on top of this. This way you could keep the allergy/bed bug encasement around the mattress on a semi-permanent basis and remove the protector on a regular basis to wash it. There is more about the pros and cons of the different types of mattress protectors in post #89 here.
I’m also not familiar with this mattress pad but I would personally prefer to have wool inside a quilted mattress protector and cotton as the cover rather than cotton batting with a wool fabric because wool won’t pack down as much as cotton and is more water resistant and temperature regulating as well
Congratulations on your new futon mattress as well
Thank you for the feedback. I’m still trying to decide between the 2 organic cotton mattress encasements I mentioned in my first post. It’s just a matter of my determining how important the bed bug protection thing is to warrant the extra cost. Other than that one aspect, I feel confident they would both perform very well in protecting my futon from dust mites & allergens while staying in keeping with an organic & chemical free sleep environment.
As far as mattress protectors go, I do see your point about the merits of wool quilted inside a protector vs the wool being the outer fabric itself, so am continuing my search. I did come across the Natura Organic Wool-Filled Fitted Mattress Pad at dreamsoftbedware.com which sounds like it would be perfect with the exception of it not being washable. Any thoughts on this one? I can’t seem to find out what the thickness is and the Natura website is not much help. When I do a google shopping search, I can find the right picture (diamond quilted cotton cover & fitted sheet style) but after clicking the “shop” button for the on-line stores offering it, it shows the same image that you mention in post #89 as being the wrong image that Wayfair is showing for this product.
If all else fails in my search for a wool quilted mattress protector that has a little substance to it, is organic AND washable, or at the very, very least chemical free in its processing, I was thinking to just get an all organic cotton protector with organic cotton fill - the Natural Mattress Pad with Organic Cotton Fiber (best priced at myorganicsleep.com) which is made by Organic Textiles, is machine washable & dryable and reminds me of the old school all cotton mattress pad I had as a kid. My mom still has an all cotton one that is in great condition (she won’t part with it), and while I do love the idea of all organic cotton all the time, I am really keen on a wool one for all it’s wonderful properties.
One other question I have is, if down the line I do eventually need to soften up the sleeping surface of the futon a bit & decide to get a thin wool pad/topper (still trying to figure out the difference between a pad and a topper) would either the Natura Wool or the Cotton Mattress Pad take away any of the wool topper’s temperature regulating properties or perhaps even enhance them if using a wool protector? I know I would need some type of protector over a pad/topper so am trying to anticipate my present & future needs without having to purchase another protector down the line. I have my eye on these 2 wool pad/toppers at the moment in case the need for one arises and would love to get your thoughts - the 1.5" Sleep and Beyond Organic Merino Wool Mattress Topper from goodnightnaturals.com and the Organic Eco-Valley Wool 1.5-inch Queen-size Mattress Pad - Overstock™ from overstock.com.
As a side note, about 10 years ago I spent 6 months sleeping on a Gold Bond 6" or 8" Cotton Futon with a single foam core. I can’t recall which thickness exactly but I found it to be comfortable so I am really hoping the 8" Sublime Futon with 3" latex core, cotton & wool with either an organic wool or cotton protector over it will blow that comfort level away and eliminate the need for any additional comfort layer. Then again, that was 10 years ago
Again, thank you and anyone from the mattress underground community for sharing your knowledge.
There is a description of their organic wool mattress pad on the Naturaworld site here. It is certainly a high quality product (organic cotton and organic wool) but according to their description it has 10 oz/yd of wool so I don’t know if the wayfair description is for a different product or if it just lists the amount of wool incorrectly. If it has 10 oz of wool then it would be a little thicker and being more of a mattress pad rather than a mattress protector it would have more of an effect on the “feel” of the mattress. As you mentioned it also isn’t washable so it would be a good idea to put it out in the sun once in a while to “refresh” it. The “wrong” image is their reversible wool on top mattress pad here.
There is really no specific definition of either one or a dividing line when a mattress pad becomes a topper but in general terms a topper is thicker than a mattress pad which in turn is thicker than a protector. There is more about the differences between them in post #10 here.
There isn’t any way to quantify this outside of your own sleeping experience because there are too many variables involved but I would doubt that it would take you outside of a comfortable temperature range with either one.
You can see my thoughts about wool mattress toppers in general in post #8 here and the posts it links to and there are also some comments and sources for wool mattress pads and toppers in post #3 here that include some comments about the Sleepysheeporganic wool toppers (that use eco-valley wool) and Sleep & Beyond (including a link to a post about their Merino and their Shropshire topper). I don’t have any personal experience with either of the toppers you listed so I can’t really make any meaningful comments about either of them specifically.
