Hi everyone,
I purchased a Stokke crib that had been barely used from Craigslist, and came with mattresses, but they are cheap foam and not very supportive. It also creeps me out a bit to use a used mattress even though it came from an impeccably clean home in a very very nice neighborhood.
I can purchase a nice, organic replacement mattress for the bassinet set-up of the crib for about $159. This option is wool covered, so I wouldn't need a waterproof pad to go on top, and it is high quality natural latex.
The other option I'm considering is to use the washable mattress cover that came with my existing bassinet mattress and fill it with organic millet or buckwheat hulls to create a firm, organic mattress for around $30. Do y'all think this would be a good option?
Thanks!
My Chart
Ooh, you are lucky to find a Stokke crib used! They are so gorgeous - I would love to have one.
I don't know about the buckwheat thing, although it's funny because I was talking to my mum the other day and she mentioned doing this for my mattress when I was a baby. Although I think she said bran, but I'm pretty sure she must have meant buckwheat. I'm not sure what the recent safety opinions on that would be, though.
Anyhow, I just wanted to mention that another possibility would be to have a nice thick piece of foam custom cut. If the crib is the one I'm thinking of, you'll need at least two different sizes of mattress over the crib's lifetime, I think.
38 years old
TTC #1 for 20 cycles + IUI #1 March 9 2010 = DD Alice born December 6 2010.
Celeste - You are right, we were SO lucky to find that crib used! We got all of the parts and two sets of sheets for everything from the bassinet all the way to the toddler bed for $650. Yes, we will need at least two mattresses, one for the bassinet and one for the crib. I'm not sure if the crib and toddler bed use the same sized mattress or not. Since they can only use the bassinet for 6 months, I was thinking it might be good to save money on that mattress and get a nicer one for the crib since he will use it longer. I will check out the foam core option!
It also just occurred to me... you could probably get a piece of foam cut for the crib size, and then manage to cut that into three pieces so that you could use the middle piece for the bassinet, and then add on the two end pieces to fill in the crib. Does that make sense?
I think if you covered that with a tight mattress pad for the crib, there wouldn't be any gaps. It might be more trouble than it's worth, but it could save some money and prolong the use, so you might then be able to buy a better quality piece of foam.
If you want an easy way to make your mattress like new, you could wrap it. It's what we did for a used mattress from a family member that was still in good shape. A bonus is that it was waterproof!. We used clear, polyethylene plastic from Home Depot that met the guidelines n the article below and loosely taped it at the bottom (so it could breathe).
More and people are doing that now because of the toxins in mattresses that some countries still allow: (antimony, phosphorous, and arsenic). Here's a link to an article that discusses the evidence that these chemicals can increase SIDS death and how to wrap the mattress properly:: Baby Bedding and SIDS HTH!