I'm a big fan of freecycle. In a nutshell, freecycle is an online community you join to give and gain usable items no longer wanted/needed. So imagine you open your cupboards and think "This breadmaker taking up space in my cupboard is no longer needed by me. It still works fine, so it would be a waste to toss it into landfill." You can offer it out on freecycle. Person who does want it comes and picks it up from you. No cost to you, them (other than their transport) and more importantly - the earth.
All good.
Recently I've seen a couple people offering out bassinette mattresses. Now this is all good and fine, but the guidelines on bassinette mattresses is that they shouldn't be used for more than one baby. No idea what this is about, the reasoning behind it (SIDS maybe?) but then got to thinking, if there isn't a real reason behind it, why is it known? Why is it I bought new ones for each of my little ones?
Is there a real reason to buy a new bassinette mattress with each baby, or is it simply some sort of scare tactics to make parents buy new each time. Generally you would be looking at $10-$50 for a suitable piece of foam mattress, so not a huge outlay (esp if you are cheap like me and go the $10 version) but really... is there a reason?
I'm off to google hoaxes etc and find out why. If indeed it can be found out online. If you know why a new mattress should be used, please tell me in the comments. And also, if the same holds true for a cot/bed mattress.
** Just thought - bassinette mattresses are generally foam, where cot and bed mattresses are generally innersprung. Hmmm..... Off to snopes/google!
2 comments:
I remember investigating this exact thing when I had Ed cos it seemed like a huge revenue raising exercise to me.
Most articles I saw referred to a Scottish Study on SIDS deaths in the mid-late 90's. It drew a link between SIDS deaths and used cloth covered mattresses and recommended a new mattress for each baby. But used PVC covered mattresses didn't seem to carry the same risk and it speculated that was because they don't absorb body fluids and dirt and can be wiped down. The same study talked about bedsharing and smoking and all those things parents of our generation are have been pretty well informed about.
I would assume it's because the longer the mattress is used, the softer it gets. Soft mattresses = smothered baby if you're one of those mums who sleeps baby on their sides or whatever. I always wondered why the heck baby mattresses (both foam and innerspring) were do bloody hard.
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