Sleepopolis is supported by readers. Product links on Sleepopolis are referral links. If you use one of these and buy something Sleepopolis makes a little bit of money. See how it all works here. Shopping for the best mattress for kids might seem like a simple and painless process, but are you actually selecting the most appropriate mattress for your child? Sleep habits vary between kids of all ages and taking time to choose the right mattress might be more important than you imagined. There are so many intricacies that are involved with selecting the best mattress for your kids, so how do you know which is best? In this guide, we’re going to highlight the key factors that will help you find the most healthy, comfortable, and best overall mattress for your kids. In a rush today? Click here to jump to the best mattress for kids list! Growing Bodies & Mattress Size As a child gets older, their body will grow. This should not mean purchasing a new mattress every year due to the outgrowing of their current mattress.
One of the most important factors when selecting the best mattress for your kids is mattress size. The smaller the mattress, the quicker it is outgrown. Twin, Twin XL, or Full size mattresses are typically the best choices for children. Additionally, the Twin and Twin XL are going to be the most affordable. While the Full mattress is a bit more expensive, it does serve as an excellent size to allow for growth all the way to adulthood. Additionally, when your children are young, a Full mattress allows you to comfortably lie with them, yet also allows for them to grow into the mattress and retain the constant comfort of the same childhood mattress. A high quality mattress can last 8-12 years. It may cost a little bit more initially, but the benefit to your child’s long-term health and sleep will be well worth it. Many kids experience soreness, poor sleeping habits, and a multitude of other uncomfortable sleep related issues. These issues tend to be directly correlated to a low quality mattress that provides minimal comfort for the child.
Hand-me-downs and cheap mattresses tend to be the underlying cause surrounding this correlation. Although a better fitting mattress can be a little pricier, it is worth the cost in the long run. If a young boy or girl is forced to sleep on an uncomfortable mattress, they can develop poor sleep habits at a young age. If a high quality mattress is purchased, the comfort levels tend to skyrocket for the kids, creating an easier night’s rest. High quality sleep is extremely important for a child’s health. The benefit to your child goes well beyond just sleep. Quality sleep impacts their school performance, mood level, and a litany of other correlated factors. Good sleep creates good kids. Although comfort and support are often interpreted as the same dynamic, they are two completely different topics. A supportive mattress will help maintain good spinal alignment during the night, while comfort deals more with preference regarding feel and firmness. If a child is not supported properly throughout their night’s rest, it can inhibit normal growth and have other negative impacts on their health.
As a child grows, it is extremely important that their mattress supports their growth. Additionally, as the child gets older, you should engage them in the purchasing process. Once your child reaches a certain age, they can typically describe their sleeping patterns, whether it’s on their back, stomach, or side. Some mattresses are better or worse suited for different sleeping positions. For example, a very soft mattress is not ideal for stomach sleepers and a super firm mattress can create pressure points and poor support for side sleepers. As you children get older and begin to develop a more consistent sleeping style these positional preferences become more important when selecting the best mattress. Best Mattress for Kids Sleepopolis recommends the following mattresses for kids. Provide room for growth Provide ideal comfort and long-lasting quality Provide exceptional support for healthy growth Provide varying feel and firmness levels (especially important for older kids who have an established sleeping style / position)
Prices below are for Full sized mattresses including any available discounts Balanced level of firmness. Available in 2 firmness levels. Good response and support.$549 Available in 3 firmness levels. Healthy materials, organic cover, natural thistle FR. Pricey, but high quality.$949Adequate support for kids. BKB Model - Medium feel. Specifically designed for kids up to 15 years old.$499When the time comes for your toddler to graduate from a cot to a bed, the range of options can be bewildering. Should you buy a toddler bed or a single bed? An innerspring mattress or a latex one? Should you place it on an ensemble or a slatted base? And what kind of pillow is right if your child sleeps on his back, side or stomach? Here we consult the experts on how to choose a bed that will best support your child's growing body and spine. Follow these golden rules to ensure a great night's sleep for them (and you). So says Dr Havard Bergby, a paediatric chiropractor at Sydney's Inner West Spinal and Sports Injury Centre.
'As with most things in life, you get what you pay for,' Dr Bergby says. 'When buying a bed for a toddler, parents have to consider the weight and age of the child. The transition from cot to a normal bed should happen between 18 and 36 months, after which a toddler should be in a proper bed with a proper mattress.' Sealy Posturepedic, the world's number-one bedding brand, recommends mattresses with an innerspring system. 'Innerspring mattresses, as opposed to pure foam mattresses, will provide the best skeletal support and conformance to the body while sleeping, and will not degrade with moisture,' says Sealy Australia spokeswoman Kim Bennett. Dr Bergby agrees that innerspring mattresses are better for kids than ones made of foam or latex. 'Foam simply does not have the same supportive properties as a sprung bed and latex has a tendency of shaping to your body over time,' he says. 'This is not recommended for children due to the fact that their body is constantly changing. So, memory foam beds are definitely not good for children.'
Dr Bergby says children do not necessarily need an ensemble - a slatted base can be fine, as long as the slats are no further than five centimetres apart. Dr Bergby generally does not recommend bunk beds, 'mainly because of the many injuries I see as a result of kids either falling from or jumping from the top of a bunk bed. Boys, in particular, tend to love this.' Although they're all the rage, a toddler bed - which is essentially a frame that makes sure a child does not roll out of it at night as well as giving them a similar snug feeling to their cot - is something they will quickly grow too big for. 'A toddler bed can be a good alternative for children who are finding the transition to a ''big'' bed difficult,' says Dr Bergby. 'What mattress you use on the toddler bed is what matters. Between 18 and 36 months a child's spine is rapidly developing and growing, particularly at night. It's imperative that the mattress provides sufficient support to ensure this growth happens naturally.
I frequently encounter families where the mum and dad have a $4000 bed, whereas their toddler sleeps on a thin foam mattress.' 'When it comes to sleeping, what matters for a child's spine is support,' says Dr Bergby. 'Both their spine and neck have to be in a neutral position, which minimises stress and allows the spine to grow without any restrictions. A toddler's spine can grow as much as 1.5cm during the night, which mainly comes from the intervertebral discs in between their vertebrae filling up with water. So the mattress has to be soft enough for them to be comfortable, yet firm enough to prevent them from completely sinking into it.' Dr Bergby says the potential consequence of children sleeping on an unsupportive foam mattress is that their growing spine is placed under stress for prolonged periods of time. 'A growing spine is very flexible and can adapt to stressors in daily life such as falls,' he says. 'However, this flexibility makes the growing spine more susceptible to more permanent deformative issues when placed under a certain load over long periods of time, such as 10-12 hours of sleep per night.'
Dr Bergby says it is hard to predict what type of short-term problems might arise from sleeping on a foam mattress in the early years, 'However, there is no question that sleeping on a spring mattress allows for better and more natural development of a growing spine.' For parents who can't afford a good-quality innerspring mattress, Dr Bergby advises buying a second-hand one no more than two years old. 'I suggest to parents planning on having more than one child to buy a good-quality spring mattress and pass it down. If you buy good quality there is no reason why three kids can't spend two to three years each on it.' By law, all new beds must be treated for dust mites before being sold. However, this does not mean that over time dust mites will not develop - especially given that every night a human body loses up to one litre of body fluid through the skin and mouth, as well as millions of skin flakes. Sealy Australia spokeswoman Kim Bennett says special mattress protectors are a good way to add additional anti-allergenic and moisture-barrier properties to mattresses.