Need Evidence of Benefits of Organic Mattresses

Here is an article that sites studies and research.

http://www.healthychild.com/toxic-sleep/has-the-cause-of-...

P.S.
If you do get an organic mattress, we use a Naturpedic, and it has been wonderful!

We use an organic mattress (I just don't like using anything that I know off gasses nasty chemicals), but I don't really believe it causes SIDS. Much of what I've seen about SIDS in New Zealand is actually funded by the company that makes the mattress wrap they promote, although I'm no expert.

I've also read the following from the study: "a final report of "The Expert Group to Investigate Cot Death Theories: Toxic Gas Hypothesis", published in May 1998, concluded that "there was no evidence to substantiate the toxic gas hypothesis that antimony- and phosphorus-containing compounds used as fire retardants in PVC and other cot mattress materials are a cause of SIDS. Neither was there any evidence to believe that these chemicals could pose any other health risk to infants."[46] The report also states that "in normal cot-like conditions it is not possible to generate toxic gas from antimony in mattresses" and "babies have also been found to die on wrapped mattresses.""

There are a few recent studies that found that breastfeeding significantly reduced the risk of SIDS (a NZ study showed FF infants were 3x as likely to succumb to SIDS and a German study showed that exclusive BFing at 1 month cut the risk of SIDS in half).

Anyway, I do use an organic mattress for the baby. I don't have hard evidence it's better, but conventional mattresses use lots of nasty chemicals that break down and off gas, and a baby spends more than half the day lying on top of it! I found a great deal and spent a little extra money for the naturpedic one.

If you google "sids study, New Zealand" you'll get links to the information found, and many summaries of the extensive study. Evidence strongly suggests that toxic gasses from fire retardants and other materials in non-natural mattresses may well be a major cause of SIDS.

I have personal experience that convinced me this could be the case, many years ago. I have suffered from chemical sensitivities for nearly a quarter of a century, and one of my most difficult symptoms is called "central" sleep apnea, in which my nervous system simply does not signal my lungs to take a breath when my blood oxygen drops. This is caused by suppression of my central nervous system, and that suppression can be triggered by any number of neurotoxins or other chemicals that cause my body to become too acidic.

When I began using all-organic bedding and avoiding proximity to most synthetic plastics and all possible toxins in laundry products, that problem became much less severe and exhausting. Before I switched, I would literally have to wake every minute or two, all night long, to draw a few deep breaths when my breathing became too shallow. My dreams were constantly of drowning or smothering. (I still get those symptoms when I've been out in public and received exposures from someone's perfume or bathroom air fresheners.)

I watch babies sleep, and their breathing is extremely shallow. If their little bodies do not get the signal from their central nervous systems that their blood CO2 is too high and O2 is too low, they may simply never awake from the typical deep-sleep cycles that are common during the first year or two. My own experience has convinced me that there are many modern chemicals that can cause this reaction (some of which are ingredients in air "fresheners" and household wonder cleaners, too). Every time I hear about the tragedy of another crib death, I wonder what products were in that baby's breathing zone.

I'm glad you're asking this question. I think it's so important that I bought my new grandson a natural latex crib mattress, along with a moisture-resistant wool mattress pad and organic bedding. A few years later, his parents bought him a natural latex "big boy" mattress, which is guaranteed to last at least 20 years, and probably longer (they've only been available for about 20 years, so nobody is really sure of the life span).

You can also google the New Zealand studies of SIDS. Their SIDS deaths decreased 80% b/c of encasing their mattresses and/or using organic material.