When your child is growing up, they spend a lot of time sleeping. Sleep is really important in a child’s development and is a time that the body needs to grow and restore. What a child needs from a bed, is not the same as what an adult does, so choosing a mattress can be a little difficult. This article aims to help you pick the right mattress for your growing child.
Get An Appropriate Size
In the early years, it could be tempting to get your child a very small bed, as they won’t need much space. However, they will grow faster than you think and you may end up replacing it after a few years. Picking an appropriate size mattress that will last them a long time is a cost-effective solution. Retailers like Puffy offer a size comparison chart for your mattress that you can use to gauge what would be best for you. It might not be worth shelling out on a super king-sized bed for a six-year-old but make sure you consider what they may want in the future. Teenagers often need 10-12 hours of sleep so you’ll need to ensure they aren’t spending that time squashed into a bed that is too small for them. You may also want to consider whether or not you are likely to move in the future and if the mattress you buy will fit on a different bed frame.
Find Out About The Materials They Are Made From
Mattress technology has advanced a lot in recent years. Promises of a good night’s sleep are hard to resist but some of these inventions are not designed with kids in mind. Children are particularly vulnerable when it comes to industrial chemicals that may be used in the manufacturing process. You wouldn’t want your child to be sleeping in a slightly poisonous environment every night. Most adults would love to have a memory foam mattress but foams are normally petroleum-based and can give off gases that might be harmful to your child. Look for a label that specifies organic materials as well as being hypoallergenic. If your child has any specific allergies you may want to have the mattress tested before you buy it. Finding out what materials a mattress is made of is an important factor in picking one for your child.
Check The Return Policy
Children are notorious for changing their minds. You might go into a store, try out a mattress that your kid loves, and then a week later they hate it and refuse to go to bed. Most companies will offer some kind of returns policy but make sure you read the small print and try to find one that is fairly generous. Just the fact that a small child has slept in it might make the company suspicious of your reason for returning it. Although you will have spent a lot of time researching what kind of mattress you should get, it’s hard to argue with a child that has completely changed their mind. When buying a mattress for your growing child, looking for one that has a decent return policy is a smart move.
Too Soft Or Too Firm?
A lot of adults like a bed that they can sink into when they sleep. There is often an additional top layer of memory foam or what is known as a pillow-top on full-size mattresses. For adults, this is great but children won’t get much benefit from it. Why you ask? Well, children are smaller and weigh less than adults, which means that their body weight won’t actually be heavy enough to sink into the top layer very much. This may seem a bit odd but the logic checks out. When you are heavier you’ll be exerting more downward pressure (due to gravity) whereas if you are lighter you will exert less. What this means in practice is that children will probably be very happy with a slightly firmer mattress than you might prefer. If you are buying a bed that your child may sleep in through their teens, you might want to find something that has a removable pillow-top so they can add it back on when they are older. Considering how soft or firm the mattress should be is a crucial step in finding the right mattress for your child.
Is It Durable?
Children’s beds can go through a lot, from bed-wetting to jumping up and down, you want to make sure the mattress you buy is durable. Again this comes down to cost-effectiveness. Mattresses are generally expensive and should last a good ten years. However, a child could easily expedite the need for a new mattress if it isn’t made very well. What you can do to increase the mattress’s lifespan is to get a good cover for it, as well as a mattress protector. If you buy from a reputable firm, they ought to have some documentation on the durability tests that they have done. If they don’t, this could be a red flag. Doing your due diligence and research into your child’s mattress’s durability could save you from having to buy a new one in a few years.
Sleep Well Little One
Getting a good night’s sleep is vital for your child’s growth and development. So many avoidable illnesses can be caused by a lack of sleep. Resting at night time allows the body to heal, repair, and grow. Finding the right mattress for your growing child can be difficult as they will go from tiny to huge in a relatively small number of years. The things you need to consider when purchasing a mattress are; the size, the materials, the return policy, how soft or how firm it is, and whether or not it is truly durable. By reading this article you should have a better idea of what you need to do to pick the right mattress for your growing child. Nobody wants to have to look after cranky kids all the time so make sure you find one that helps them get the best sleep they can.