Have you noticed that we are on a journey to ditching all toxins in our home? It really started years ago when I started to clean my house with vinegar and I began to ditch sugars and other things from my diet. Once you know something is toxic just do better with each NEW purchase. No need to panic. I am not 100% toxic-free, I still get my hair colored and nails occasionally done. But I really try to be the gatekeeper for my family. Our most recent switch was our mattresses to toxic-free.
Friends, all of these changes have taken TIME to adopt. If you are on this journey or considering starting to look at eliminating toxic things that could be making your sick and affecting the health of the people you love, please don’t let my content intimidate you into thinking it has to be done overnight! Speaking of overnight toxins though, I cannot count the times I’ve been asked about nontoxic Mattresses. Truthfully, it wasn’t something I had ditched yet so I didn’t have a great answer, yet! Today, however, that time is here! We took a lot of time and thought selecting our new non-toxic mattress.
Before I share which mattress we bought and how we are liking it so far, I wanted to share what I have learned about mattresses in case a new mattress is in your future.
Why Ditch Toxic Mattresses:
When budget allows, here are some reasons why you may consider making the investment in a nontoxic mattress.
We spend 8 hours out of every 24 on our mattress. That is a third of our life. This time is when our body is asleep, restoring itself, healing itself, and resting. This is crucial time for our bodies. You know how much you need that sleep if you have ever gone without it. There is a reason why sleep deprivation is considered a form of torture! Sadly, though, that sleep could actually be working against your body’s innate ability to restore itself. When our skin comes into contact with toxic, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, it messes with your immune system, harms your respiratory system and can lead to all sorts of health problems. Yikes!
Things to Avoid in a Mattress-
- Avoid Mattresses or covers made of PVC or vinyl. They are sources of phtalates-chemicals that affect the reproductive system and have been shown to cause severe health problems, leach out during use.
- Avoid Synthetic Latex which is made from two petroleum-based compounds, styrene and butadiene. Both of these are VOCs and can do serious harm. Also, additional toxic chemicals may be used during processing. And the second ingredient, Butadiene, harms the nervous system, irritate eyes and skin, and may cause cancer.
- Avoid Foam– Foam is made from petroleum using a “witches brew” of toxic chemicals. Over time, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from foam are released into the air where you are exposed to them. Also, because foam is highly flammable, a large amount of toxic flame retardants are often added. Foam is still widely used in mattresses because it is cheap to produce.
- No flame retardants. Those are chemicals that are purposefully added to mattresses and many of them are known neurotoxins and carcinogens. PS- don’t buy kids pajamas with flame retardants!
Suggested Mattresses from Readers:
I asked for recommendations from you for your favorite non toxic mattresses and here is the list that came back. I did narrow it down to mattresses made in the USA, Organic and you could buy right online and recommended from Goodtrade and Gimme The Good Stuff.
- Avocado (this is what we went with- Awarded #1 Consumer Reports ratings) on the firmer side tho **update after sleeping on it a week I got used to it and like it!
- Green Mattress
- Nature Pedic
- Tuft & Needle (we have a Tuft & Needle on Finn’s pull-out trundle, it is really comfy- this blog post compares Avocado to Tuft & Needle)
- Awara
- Saatva– You can choose between soft (3 firmness), luxury firm (5-7), or firm (8+) also sleeps cool- they will take your old mattress for you, free of charge
- Brentwood Home– medium firm
- PlushBeds
- Birch
We went with an Avocado mattress. And got one for each of our beds. I did them all the same the Green Mattress with the additional pillow-top. I liked that it was all organic, handmade in the USA, in California. All organic material.
I will say the Avocado mattress is on the firmer side, I do like a softer mattress. So it has taken some getting used to, but I will give it a full week then decide. Most new mattress take a week to get used to. My kids all like it and Kevin does too. I do think I am going to order the mattress topper in the plush, for a softer mattress. Above photo just shows the mattress with the pillow-top. I think the beds need the topper, unless you don’t mind a shorter mattress. Also none of our beds have a box-spring.
And we did order the mattress pad cover for each of the beds, I ordered it after the fact, so we don’t have them yet.
Hope that helped! Make sure to read one of my most popular blog posts “10 Things You Should Ditch In Your Home”!
Also I discovered that the candles I burned all day every day in my home (I couldn’t get enough of them), were as toxic as car fumes on a busy city street corner, I was willing to give them up for diffusing essential oils.
