So those of you who know me know that I do not trust big corporations. You might call me a conspiracy theorist, but when a company that has $20 million invested in a product does their own internal research to tell you that product is okay, I'm going to be a bit skeptical.

It is a fact (not argued) that chemicals go into the making of children's mattresses. Obviously. Chemicals go into the making of all mattresses, by law. Why? Because mattresses have to be flame resistant. Ooo, that sounds good. I want one of those. But have we ever stopped to wonder HOW they are making flammable items nonflammable?

The answer may shock you.

The chemicals that your child's conventional mattress is laced with may include boric acid (a roach poison), arsenic, phosphorus, antimony (a heavy metal, like lead, that resembles arsenic), silicon, and formaldehyde. Quotes from the CDC on Antimony: “Failure to conceive, an increase in the number of spontaneous abortions, may cause heart to beat irregularly or stop...Prolonged or repeated exposure may damage the liver and the heart muscle...Antimony tends to accumulate in the liver and gastrointestinal tract....At the lowest exposure levels tested, the adversity of the effects was considered to be serious...The cancer effects are cumulative. Every exposure contributes to the overall lifetime risk of developing cancer.” These chemicals leech through the top layer of the mattress. I'm not making this up - it has been shown in laboratory studies that when your child sleeps on an unprotected, conventional mattress, he or she is literally breathing in fumes from cancer causing agents like ARSENIC and FORMALDEHYDE. There are no labeling requirements for these chemicals, and no government regulation except that your mattress MUST contain them. (As of June 2007, organic and toxic free mattresses can be legally available for purchase if they are properly labeled NOT flame retardant. Your chances, by the way, of dying in a mattress fire are somewhere near the neighborhood of one to a million. If my child is going to be breathing in rat poison for 15 hours a day, I think I'll take my chances on the fire.)

As if that weren't bad enough, a researcher in New Zealand has determined that, when reacting with a common fungus found in mattresses, these chemicals leak a toxic nerve gas that, if a child's face is close enough to the mattress, will literally poison them, as nerve gas will tend to do. It will cause their nervous system, including heart and lung function, to stop, killing them in their sleep. "Back to Sleep" may very well have helped because it is causing the child's face to be further away from these toxic fumes. In fact, ALL of the risk factors of SIDS can be explained by this (clinically proven) hypothesis.

I have heard this from multiple sources (and, it makes sense). Let me quote you from a recent article some disturbing news: "A 100% successful crib death prevention campaign has been going on in New Zealand for the past 8 years. Midwives and other healthcare professionals throughout New Zealand have been actively advising parents to wrap mattresses. During this time, there has not been a single SIDS death reported among the over 100,000 New Zealand babies who have slept on mattresses wrapped in a specially formulated polyethylene cover."

Why do we not know about this?

While an organic crib mattress will cost you at least $250 and upwards of $500 for a good one, you can buy a cover for your existing mattress for $35 (tax and shipping!). Now I don't know a lot about this issue, I've only been reading up on it for a few months, but what I've read alarms me enough that $35 doesn't seem like too big of an investment. It's at least something that, as parents, we should definitely look into.

Healthy Child article on SIDS
Explanation of Chemicals
What's in a Child's Mattress
Buy a Crib Mattress Cover