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When a woman is pregnant, we say she's "expecting". For soon-to-be mothers,
that doesn't just mean she's expecting a baby - she's expecting giggles and
coos, dirty diapers, tiny toes to keep warm, and a little one to help stay
healthy for years and years to come. There's so much concern over the
minutest choices a new mom makes, it's hard to keep it all straight. The most
important detail I've ever heard regarding an infant in its first year is
this - your new baby, between the ages of birth and one year, will sleep more
than 70% of the time. Given that statistic, where your new baby sleeps is
probably the most important decision you have to make before you welcome him
or her into your house. In this article, I'll discuss the health benefits of an organic crib mattress
and why it's best for your baby; but first, let's look at some of the dangers
of traditional crib mattresses and how they might be linked to SIDS (Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome).
What is SIDS?
New and expecting mothers have heard about the danger of SIDS over and over
again, but we're rarely given an answer as to why it occurs. We're told the
cause is unknown and that little can be done to prevent it. We'll wake up
dozens of times during the night just to make sure our baby is breathing. We
lay our babies on their sides, swaddled with blankets at their back, just to
make sure they don't roll over and sleep in a prone position - a common
belief of a contributor to SIDS. However, new research has brought us closer to understanding what exactly
may be the cause of SIDS. For dozens of years, new mothers may have been laying
their babies down directly on the cause - chemical-laden crib mattresses and portable crib mattresses.
Crib Mattresses and Their Relation to SIDS
Unlike organic crib mattress, the traditional crib mattress contains
chemicals like arsenic, phosphorus, and antimony. These were added to the
mattresses initially with the best of intentions, as they act as fire
retardants. However, before manufacturers added these chemicals to their
mattresses, SIDS was rarely heard of. Afterward, the death rate skyrocketed
in newborns.
As more and more people are looking at the relationship between traditional
crib mattresses and portable crib mattresses and SIDS, science made a
startling discovery. As crib mattresses start to age, these fire retardant chemicals react with
ordinary household fungi (harmless fungi, at that) to create a very, very
dangerous chemical reaction. The toxins emitted, as these compounds interact,
are actually a thousand times more toxic than carbon monoxide.
In trying to prevent SIDS, the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development started the "Back to Sleep" Campaign. This Campaign promotes
laying babies on their backs to sleep instead of their stomachs. As a result,
crib deaths decreased by an amazing fifty percent. I believe that the
reduction in crib deaths is due to the fact that now babies noses are being
turned away from directly breathing in these toxic fumes. But there are still
fifty percent that are effected by the chemicals indirectly.
Although other factors like nutrition, smoking around the baby, and sleep
position are still potentially factors in SIDS, given the research relating
non-organic crib mattresses to fatal toxin release should be enough for new mothers to take a look at their baby mattress purchases. I think if every
mother switched to an organic bassinet and crib mattress, we would see the
SIDS occurrence rate reduce to almost none.
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