After all my research it came down to two companies. Naturepedic and LifeKind. We decided to go with the Naturepedic quilted (non waterproof) mattress. We have a Naturepedic waterproof crib cover, and I am also thinking about adding a wool puddle pad (or crib pad). The little man isn’t sleeping in his crib too much right now though… so I’m not as worried about adding the wool right now.
After doing all my research, we decided on the Naturepedic quilted mattress. Initially I kinda wish I went with LifeKind. LifeKind uses natural materials, like wool, to make it flame resistant. I’m a big fan of wool and keeping things simple and easily understandable. However, Naturepedic’s mattresses are GOTS certified. I always feel 100% comfortable when I see this certification. It’s the certification I always look for, the most stringent certification out there for textiles. Naturepedic doesn’t use wool to make their mattresses flame resistant. According to Naturepedic’s website “At Naturepedic, we take a different approach. Organic cotton is a far superior filling material and is significantly less flammable to begin with, allowing for more creative solutions. Our exclusive fire protection system is based on the unique fire-retardant properties of baking soda and hydrated silica permanently bonded to cellulose.”
As far as why I didn’t go with one of the waterproof mattresses – it’s made with 100% polyethylene which they also state meets food contact standards. That doesn’t make me feel any better. I don’t feel we have the best standards in our food industry (GMOs anyone?). So I decided to do the waterproofing with wool (which I haven’t gotten to yet). We already have the Naturepedic waterproof crib cover. When we bought it I was less educated about this stuff and trusted the sales person when they said it was all organic cotton. Turns out there is a plastic liner between the two layers of organic cotton but for me, for now, that’s ok. The nice thing about Naturepedic though is that has the GreenGuard, GOTS and other certifications on all of their products. Like I said above, I always feel 100% comfortable when I see the GOTS certification.
Don’t be misled by the many different choices of organic crib mattresses out there. They can have some organic material and be labeled organic. They can also have organic cotton in them then be covered in a nasty plastic. To be labeled organic is one thing and to truly be organic and non-toxic is another. Basically, it only comes down to these two companies on a large-scale. There are smaller scale companies that focus on natural bedding who sell crib mattress. We have a small, local company that does this in our area – Soaring Heart and Holy Lamb Organics. Both sell adult and crib mattresses along with sheets and mattress protectors. We purchased our mattress (and mattress protector) from Soaring Heart and our comforter and sheets from Holy Lamb Organics. Both are great companies!
natural baby mama 