The Best Mattress for a Baby

Buying a mattress for the baby crib can be an exciting experience for new parents. But it can also be one fraught with fears, especially when parents worry that the wrong choice in crib mattress could have serious consequences. Let's face it; no parent in his or her right mind wants to intentionally do anything to harm a child.

So when you're looking for the best mattress for a baby, there are some important things to consider. For the purposes of this article will focus on firmness, comfort, and support issues rather than taking up the argument over all-natural versus synthetic materials.

Mattress Firmness

Keep in mind that an infant is unable to lift or support his or her own head for at least the first several months of life. Until the head and neck muscles properly develop, the baby's head is at the mercy of someone or something else for support. Because of this, the firmness of the mattress plays an important role in your child's safety. Mattresses that are too soft can allow the head to sink, potentially posing a suffocation risk. But a firm mattress mitigates that risk, especially if that mattress is combined with a taut sheet.

Even after the first few months, when head support is not as much of an issue, you still have the question of your baby learning to move around and roll over in bed. Again, suffocation can be a risk on a mattress that's too soft. In fact, the softer a mattress is for both children and adults, the more difficult mobility becomes. Since a child naturally has less motor control over his own muscles while he or she is young, a softer mattress could potentially be deadly.

Mattress Support

Mattress support is just as important for your baby as it is for you. The support a mattress provides for your baby will be a huge contributor to how well he/she sleeps and how well their body develops as they grow. The best mattress must be supportive enough to carry the entire weight of your baby without sagging or pressure points. It also needs to be supportive enough to handle the increased weight as your baby grows, as well as the eventuality of them bouncing and jumping up and down in the crib. Although this sounds pretty complicated, most brand-new baby mattresses will provide adequate support until your baby is old enough to move out of the crib.

Just be aware that foam rail guards, pillows, and blankets can still be an issue even if the firmness of a mattress is correct. Any foam guards should fit around the perimeter of the crib snugly and be firmly attached to the rails so they cannot move. Blankets and pillows should be avoided except for what's absolutely necessary on cold nights. Lastly, toys and stuffed animals should be removed from the crib once the baby falls asleep.

Mattress Comfort

Unfortunately, as much as we want our babies to be comfortable in bed it's nearly impossible for parents to measure that in any way. You do need a mattress that is comfortable for your baby; that's true. But since you're not sleeping on the mattress yourself, and your baby cannot communicate to you their comfort level, the best you can do is observe. Thankfully, babies are resilient and don't have as demanding a comfort preference as adults.

You should resist the temptation to buy a baby mattress made of soft memory foam. Many parents who use these mattresses themselves think they'll be great for the baby because they offer such comfort. What they fail to realize is that the body conforming nature of memory foam is dangerous for a baby. You're better off sticking with a foam rubber mattress or a standard coil spring model. Both will offer adequate support and comfort without the suffocation risks of body conforming memory foam.