Crib Mattress Safety Measures

Crib mattresses provide infants with a firm sleeping surface to reduce suffocation hazards and to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

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Government regulations mandate crib mattress dimensions to ensure baby safety, with standard mattresses designed to fit snugly within each crib and minimize head entrapment or suffocation risks between mattress and crib.

Size

There are various kinds of crib mattresses on the market today. The most commonly used is a standard crib mattress meeting strict CPSC size guidelines designed to prevent head entrapment and suffocation risks for infants. When placing this type of mattress into a crib, no pillows, blankets, or other materials should be present that could present potential suffocation risks for babies.

Crib mattresses should measure 27 1/4 inches wide and 51 3/4 inches in length. Furthermore, it should not exceed 6 inches thick to reduce the chance of your baby becoming wedged between it and its side of the crib.

Foam mattresses typically have thinner profiles while innerspring ones are generally thicker and heavier. Material choice also has an effect on cost; foam models typically start around $150 while more costly types can exceed $300. In addition, material also impacts firmness levels of crib mattresses.

Firmness

Although you may prefer soft mattresses for yourself and your infants, this isn't what they need. Infants who sleep on too soft a mattress increase their risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Firm mattresses decrease this danger while providing resistance needed to support proper skeletal and muscle development as they roll over, push up, turn over and stand in their cribs.

To test a mattress's firmness, press on both its center and edges with your hand. If the mattress snaps back quickly without conforming to your hand's shape, it should be suitable for your baby.

Make sure the mattress fits securely into the crib, without gaps or cracks around its edges, to prevent children from being trapped between it and the side of their crib or bed frame. Use the two-finger test to test this: If more than two fingers fit between its edge and that of the crib side, then it's too small.

Durability

Crib mattresses marketed as being "breathable" may claim to promote baby safety by preventing "rebreathing" of carbon dioxide, which has been suggested as one of the primary factors contributing to SIDS. But according to Goodstein's analysis, there is no proof that such materials prevent SIDS or are any safer than innerspring or foam options.

She emphasizes the importance of selecting a mattress with suitable dimensions for your crib, noting that any gap between it and its sides poses an increased suffocation risk for baby.

Certifications such as Greenguard Gold Certified, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), and CertiPUR-US should also be sought when searching for a crib mattress, which indicate that its foam has been made free from ozone depleters such as PBDEs or TCEP, lead, heavy metals and formaldehyde, with low VOC emissions. In addition, secondhand mattresses should be avoided to prevent illness spreading.

Safety

Safety measures are critical when it comes to providing your baby with a secure sleeping surface. Look for mattresses marked as MADE SAFE, which certify that none of their chemicals pose known or suspected health risks (Ban over 6,500 chemicals such as flame retardants, carcinogens, and endocrine disruptors!). Also look out for certification from GreenGuard Gold which ensures your crib mattress does not emit chemicals into indoor air quality and pollute it with chemicals that pollute indoor air quality.

Crib slats should not exceed 2 3/8 inches (roughly equivalent to the width of a can of soda) and should not be cracked or missing. There should also be no corner posts taller than 1/16th of an inch that could trap infant clothing and pose a strangulation hazard.

CPSC staff's NPR proposes new requirements in Section 5.7 for coil springs and other protruding components that could cause infant laceration injuries, such as protruding coil springs. They include cyclic testing requirements similar to impact tests used to test full-size crib mattresses.