Child safety and comfort is too important to overlook. There are companies that make it their entire business to look at the importance of keeping kids safe. Children are the next generation that will inherit the world and take care of us in our old age, so yes, we need to take care of them – today.
The care and safety of children start the day they’re born and continues for the next 18 years. One of the simplest ways to take care of your little bundle of joy is with a mattress pad for their crib.
It provides an additional layer of softness and protection when they’re playing or sleeping. It protects the crib mattress against nighttime “leaks” and messes. It provides a soft, restful place for them so they can get a full night’s sleep.
A Word of Caution
Pest control is important, particularly due to the rising incidence of bed bugs being reported around the country. If they show up in your child’s bed, or yours, you can pay a pest control company hundreds of dollars to treat each room in your house, or you can buy a do-it-yourself guide (written by a pest control professional) to walk you through it. You’ll save hundreds of dollars in labor costs, which would pay for several mattress pads for your children.
Buying a Mattress Pad
What kind of mattress pads should you get for your children? There are a number of excellent manufacturers and retailers that make and sell them. In fact, it can get a bit confusing trying to sort out all the conflicting claims. You need to check out reviewers that examine pack & play mattress pads to do all that hard work for you.
What is a pack & play mattress or mattress pad? It simply means it can be folded up and stored for easy transport without losing any of its softness, durability, or protection.
No two children are alike. Some are easy to toilet train but are finicky sleepers, waking up at the least little noise or discomfort, while others will sleep the night away in a growing lake of pee. A good reviewer will break it down for you so you don’t have to waste precious hours of your time trying to figure it out on your own.
Frequently Asked Questions
As with any product, there a number of questions that are asked over and over again. Let’s examine some of them about mattress pads.
It’s an additional layer of protection on top of your existing mattress. It can be used to protect the mattress, provide an extra layer of comfort, or both. It’s typically held in place by elastic straps. Sometimes it will have a skirt around it that hangs down below the mattress.
Any store that carries mattress or beds will also carry mattress pads. Online shopping is challenging the dominance of brick-and-mortar stores in this arena but hasn’t overtaken them yet.
No. Many are made to protect the regular mattress under them. This is particularly true with mattress pads for children or babies. You need to read the fine print though. Some will say water-resistant while others will claim to be waterproof.
A water-resistant mattress pad will initially cause liquids to pool and run off them. However, if the liquid remains pooled in one area it will eventually soak into the material.
A waterproof mattress pad usually has a rubber or plastic cover on it that is completely impervious to any liquid. Such materials are usually hot when you or your child sleep on them, as well as being noisy when you or your child move around on it.
The tops are usually made of cotton. High thread counts will create a hypoallergenic barrier. The inside of a mattress pad is often made from goose down, cotton, polyester, or wool. Vinyl and polyurethane are also popular materials.
Many of them are, yes. Many can even be machine-washed, although they have to be washed on the gentle cycle and dried on low heat. However, some mattress pads can’t be machine-washed. Read the fine print on the label to be sure.
Mattress pads are a valuable accessory for your babies’ crib, both for play and for sleep. After only a few days, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it.
