Monthly Archives: November 2018

Is your baby’s crib mattress firm enough?  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends babies should be put to sleep on their back on a firm mattress.  BUT HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR BABY’S CRIB MATTRESS IS FIRM ENOUGH TO KEEP THEM SAFE?

Australia/New Zealand firmness testing

The SafeSleep air permeable crib mattress is the only crib mattress in the United States that has been tested and passes the Australia/New Zealand standard 8811.1:2013 – Method 1: Sleep surfaces—Test for firmness.  This test is the only standard to formally address the issue of minimum safe firmness for all crib mattresses including bassinets and pack and play sleep surfaces. Don’t you want reassurance your baby’s crib mattress is firm enough?

Issues with safe sleep recommendations

Putting your baby to sleep on their back is not always enough since your baby will begin to roll around four months when SIDS rates are highest.  The SafeSleep Completely Breathe-Through crib mattress allows a baby who is lying face straight down to breathe normally right through their mattress.   Many pediatricians give parents false assurances that once their baby can roll, they “should be fine”   Scientific research tells us differently.  According to a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, infants who are placed on their back and roll to their tummy for the first time have a 20% increased risk of SIDS/asphyxia.  These rates are even higher for babies who are swaddled.  According to published research from The American Academy of Pediatric Safe Sleep experts, death of infants found on their tummy on a fiber filled crib mattress continue to occur because we have no way to prevent these infants from rolling. 

Once these infants roll, do we know if their crib mattress is firm enough to keep them safe?

Air permeable crib mattress testing

Recent testing conducted by both International SIDS/SUID experts and the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s accredited research scientists,  prove air permeable crib mattresses are safer than crib mattresses containing fiber fill and other core materials to prevent CO2 rebreathing  and air way obstruction which is associated with asphyxia, suffocation, and SIDS incidences believed to be caused by “rebreathing.”  

These studies were conducted using a firm crib mattress as a comparison.  Even through the firm crib mattress passed the recommended “crib mattress being firm enough” test, they were shown to retain high levels of carbon dioxide which can be very dangerous to a sleeping baby.  

The test data on the air permeable “breathe-through” crib mattresses by SafeSleep has been reviewed by several neonatologists including Dr William Fox, Medical Director of the Infant Breathing Disorder Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; pediatric sleep experts including Dr James Kemp, Co-Director of the Sleep Laboratory at St. Louis Children’s Hospital; and physiologist Dr. Thomas H. Shaffer, Director of the Center for Pediatric Lung Research at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children and all agree the data is sound and compelling.  The SafeSleep infant mattress significantly reduces the risk of rebreathing of CO2 when the infant rolls prone.  This data supports earlier peer-reviewed publications demonstrating lower CO2 accumulation on air permeable mattresses when compared to fiber filled mattresses that were considered to be crib mattresses that were firm.