i personally don’t think it’s *purely* marketing tbh 😭 mattresses are one of the few things kids have hours and hours of close contact with every single day, and conventional mattresses really can contain a mix of polyurethane foams, adhesives, flame retardants, fiberglass etc depending on the brand/materials.
that said, i also don’t think parents need to panic or feel like they’re harming their child if they *don’t* buy a super expensive organic mattress. sometimes online “low-tox” spaces make it sound way more black-and-white than real life.
the way i personally think about it is:
\-mattress are long-term purchase
\-toddlers spend an enormous amount of time there
\-off-gassing and breathability and material quality matter more to me here than they would for, say, a random toy box
so if the budget comfortably allows it, i do think something like the Naturepedic 2 in 1 Organic Kids Mattress is a pretty thoughtful investment. especially because the waterproof side for potty training years is genuinely practical and not just organic marketing.
i’ve also noticed a lot of parents in more conscious parenting spaces seem to land in the middle ground of
prioritise organic/cleaner materials for mattresses and bedding if possible, but don’t spiral into perfectionism. which honestly feels healthy to me.
and personally, i’d rather buy one well-made mattress that lasts 10+ years than repeatedly replace cheaper low-quality ones 🤍
We have a Naturepedic mattress which my husband and I both feel is just ‘okay’, but that may be because we ordered too soft. We recently bought their kids twin mattress, but have found that the latex smell is stronger with it than our mattress and it isn’t going away so we are returning it. I don’t dislike the smell of latex (to me it smells a bit like play dough), but I like things to largely smell like nothing.
I am starting to wonder if different batches of latex have different amounts of smell and that partially accounts for varied reviews on the smell of latex mattresses. I’ll also note that some people are much less sensitive to smell and could hardly notice a smell on the kids mattress that is much too strong for me
Jumping in since Naturepedic came up. Totally fair question on the PLA layer — we get asked about that a lot. It’s a plant-based fiber (usually from sugarcane) that we use in some models for performance. It’s not petroleum-based plastic, but if your goal is “only natural fibers,” I get why it might be a dealbreaker.
For kids specifically, our mattresses (like the Organic 2-in-1 and Verse) are made without polyurethane foam, flame retardants, or adhesives, and they’re certified GOTS, GREENGUARD Gold, and MADE SAFE.
For a 3-year-old, the Organic 2-in-1 is usually the one people look at because it has a firm waterproof side for the potty-training phase and then you can flip it to the quilted side as they get older. It also comes with a 100-night trial. If you want to compare materials/model-by-model, the kids lineup is here: [https://www.naturepedic.com/mattresses](https://www.naturepedic.com/mattresses)
If you tell me which model you were looking at (and what “all natural” means to you), I can point you to the closest fit in our lineup or tell you if it’s probably not the right match.
I second naturpedic!!! I told my husband we are buying one for ourselves when we need to replace. Ours is double sided and we got the waterproof/breathable cover which is probably over kill but as a FTM it made me feel better lol.
Sprung for a a Naturepedic mattress for crib transition which then just morphed into co sleeping. I’m now sleeping on the Naturpeidc and it’s very comfortable.
Hey! This is the one I got. Saw just now the reviews about the smell but I never noticed any.
[https://www.naturepedic.ca/2-in-1-organic-kids-mattress-buy](https://www.naturepedic.ca/2-in-1-organic-kids-mattress-buy)
I ended up not buying Max and Lily because the sample we got really turned me off. We found some solid pine furniture at a local furniture store and bought that. It didn't have any third party certifications, but while in the store I attempted to close my head inside one of the dresser drawers to see if there was a smell and didn't notice any, plus they were really solid pieces, made from wood sustainably grown in the USA, and spending $$$ locally fit our values. We ordered a new bed and dresser, had them delivered and assembled. They are solid, no smell, and look great in the room. The dresser even has some fancy locking system that won't allow more than one drawer on a single side to be opened at a time, so it greatly reduces the chances of tipping. Overall we are super happy.
I was THISCLOSE to ordering Max and Lily before getting that sample. Thanks for sharing your experience - hopefully it will help others avoid the same fate!
FYI to other readers, Max and Lily and Plank and Beam are literally the same pieces, so I'd consider this a fair warning for either brand.
We bought solid pine furniture from a local furniture store and a Naturepedic kids mattress because we found a great deal on one. It is one of the fewer lower profile mattresses that will support a larger person.
We are very happy with the bed and dresser - they are solid, have no smell, and look great in the room. The dresser even has some locking mechanism that only allows one drawer on each side to be opened at a time to reduce the chances of tipping over. The mattress is ok - very springy, you can feel the edge, I don’t find it that comfortable. We did find it helpful to actually go to a furniture store and see stuff in person. My kiddo wouldn’t climb into the bed with a standard, taller 11” mattress on it (kept saying it was too high) but climbed onto a bed with a 7” mattress on it, which is how we narrowed down our mattress selection to something lower profile but still with a higher weight capacity.
fabric-decoder
