Sleep plays a major role when it comes to the growth and development of the human body- especially for babies. This is why babies sleep for as long as 16-17 hours a day in the early weeks of their life (that’s a lot right?).
How Your Baby Mattress Affects Your Baby
However, quantity can never replace quality; and taking conscious effort to plan where your baby sleeps would go a long way in ensuring your baby gets optimal benefits from these hours of sleep.
Knowing this, as you try to keep the sleeping environment of your baby as conducive as possible, never underestimate the role a good mattress plays in delivering quality sleep to newborns and infants.
And If you’ve done so in the past, here’s an opportunity to rewrite your wrongs.
Impact of Mattress on the Health of a Baby
Want to learn how bad mattresses can negatively impact your baby’s sleep; and how to choose the best mattress for your baby?
Let’s get right to it!
The impact of a good mattress on a baby’s health is quite obvious- and the summary is that it makes your baby sleep better. At least much better, compared to if the mattress were bad.
Alongside quality sleep comes better spinal coordination, increased rate of brain development, enhanced physique growth and a basket-full of other benefits- which all add up to improved wellbeing and better health conditions of a baby.
But, the downsides of using a bad baby mattress also exist. Well, here they are:
Softer isn’t Safer
The term ‘bad’ is subjective to the context it is used. For a baby, a softer mattress doesn’t necessarily imply a safer bed, neither does it mean a good mattress.
When it comes to selecting a sleeping environment for a baby, most parents opt for the inclusion of softer bedding, including pillows and blankets, where the baby sleeps.
This is because these parents are under the impression that a soft sleeping environment reduces the risk of injuries and makes the child a little more comfortable. However, it does the direct opposite- cushioning increases the rate of infant death.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading implications of bad bedding on the health of babies. The 2500 babies who die annually in the US, due to this syndrome are witnesses to this fact.
What’s the cause? Smothering items on the bed such as toys and blankets could result in this phenomenon. It also affects the child’s sleep due to frequent wake-ups that these items cause, and definitely- that’s not good for your child’s health.
Skin diseases
A bad mattress can also be characterized as one that possesses lots of fungi, bacteria or viruses that can result in a myriad of skin diseases; which is definitely a spatter on your child’s state of health.
Back pain
Not just adults- babies also experience back pain. A soft mattress could be the culprit!
What Type of Mattress is Best for a Newborn Baby?
Understanding the impact of bad mattresses on your baby isn’t enough to wade off the negative consequences of your actions or inactions when it comes to picking a baby mattress.
Truth be said, it might be a little bit confusing as to which is the best; but then asides this Casper vs Leesa comparison at SleepDelivered.com (considering they are top choice mattresses, the comparison is really quite helpful), here are the key points you should look out for in a baby’s mattress:
Check out the Firmness
Not only will a firm mattress lower the chances of your baby experiencing SIDS but it also your child’s body structure, including the spine and neck bone areas- giving your kid a jumpstart to having a great physique.
To test the fitness, give the center a little push- it should snapback readily and not take the shape of your hands. Do the same for the edges. Remember, the faster it snaps back, the better!
The Right Size
A mattress should also fit into the crib of your child- completely, with no space left between the mattress and the crib. If some space is left, you increase the chances of your child encountering suffocation as well as higher prospects of entrapment hazards.
Breathable Mattress
Do you know those types of mattresses that encourage breathing irrespective of whether the child sleep faces upwards or downwards? Yeah, they should also top your list.
These mattresses would so help regulate your baby’s temperature, leaving little chances for overheating or suffocation to occur.