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Second child do I need a new cot mattress??

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  • Mics_chick
    Mics_chick Posts: 12,014 Forumite
    Definitely definitely buy a second mattress - it's something that I did cos I was influenced by Anne Diamond - no matter what you think of her personally she has made this her personal crusade and has spoken out whenever convincing new evidence has been found as she lost a baby to cot death and this is the last piece of advice I can remember her going on about. I can't remember why just that I was convinced enough at the time to make sure I did this for my 2nd child. Did it with Moses basket too and when I passed it on to my SIL I didn't give her the mattress so she had to buy a new one.

    However when my ds was born my dd was only 19mo so we bought her a cot bed so that we could use the cot for him. When she progressed to a full-sized bed we gave him the cot bed but decided not to buy a 2nd mattress as he was 18mo and we didn't feel it was necessary. I think the time when a baby is most at risk is until they learn to turn themselves over.

    However I did pass the cot and 1 of the mattresses on to a family member who adopted her grandchild after her daughter died suddenly just after she had the baby because the baby was being looked after by a foster carer for about 4months and they would use whatever cot/crib/basket they had which could have been used for umpteen babies before. Plus she couldn't really afford to buy a new mattress anyway and was happy to use the one I gave her.
    You should never call somebody else a nerd or geek because everybody (even YOU !!!) is an
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  • Miss_Cinnabon
    Miss_Cinnabon Posts: 19,481 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    My 3 kids all had a new mattress, the one from mothercare and i had no probs with it, def go for a new mattress.

    Kyle
  • Becles
    Becles Posts: 13,184 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    There's 2 years between my boys. When I found out I was expecting my youngest, I put the eldest in a bed, so the cot was only empty for a few months. I didn't bother with a new matress then.

    I'm buying a new one this time as although I still have the matress, it's been up the loft and it's really grubby and tatty, so I think it'll be better buying a new one rather than trying to clean the old one up. I wouldn't fancy sleeping on it, so I don't think a baby would!

    What's the comment on car seats about? I've still got a tiny baby car seat which will be 10 years old now, and was going to use it for the baby as it's in excellent condition and has no signs of wear on it. I've never been in an accident with it. Is it not safe to use now due to it's age?
    Here I go again on my own....
  • india
    india Posts: 685 Forumite
    I contacted FSID to ask about mattress advice and they said that you should buy a new mattress for each child. So that's what I've done, my son hardly slept in his cot.
  • Nicki
    Nicki Posts: 8,166 Forumite
    I think the fact that the old mattress was used for 3 years is also relevant. For adults, mattresses should be replaced regularly too, and we spend much less time in bed than babies, and tend not to be so hard on them in terms of bodily functions!

    My children are very close together, and when no 2 was ready for a cot, the old one had only been used by no 1 for about 10 months, so I didn't buy a new mattress. The mattress had always been covered by a protector which was regularly washed and looked in pristine condition however. If I had another child now, given the mattress has now been used for about 3 years, I would buy a new one though.
  • HappySad
    HappySad Posts: 2,033 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    So its new mattress and new carry cot mattress. I will also be washing the pram insides too.

    Thanks for you support on this. I don't want to be saving money and putting my child's health & welfare at risk. Money well spent.

    I'll FS?? and ask them about the CoolMax that Mothercare is selling. I suppose it is good just for the fact that you can put it in the washing machine.. but then you would need two of these covers and one would be in use while the other is drying...
    “…the ‘insatiability doctrine – we spend money we don’t have, on things we don’t need, to make impressions that don’t last, on people we don’t care about.” Professor Tim Jackson

    “The best things in life is not things"
  • We've got new crib and cot mattresses. We're using the same carseats and prams though as we know that these haven't been in accidents and are safe.
    Total 'Failed Business' Debt £29,043
    Que sera, sera. <3
  • across
    across Posts: 1,648 Forumite
    i had a sprung cot mattress for my first daughter and when i had my second daughter i used the same one again as it was as good as new, very clean and had a washable cover, i did wonder would it be ok but then thought about the mattresses in hospital they dont throw them away and get a new one for every baby born so why should i worry if it was so bad they would have hospital disposable ones or something but they dont so if hundreds of babies passing through the hospitals matresses is ok then why worry, my daughter is perfectly healthy and at the end of the day it is only you who can decide,also many people (not me!) sleep with their babies in the same bed even though they know the risks and the babies survive larger areas of bed bugs on full sized mattresses that they probably wouldnt encounter on a tiny cot mattress used previously by a sibling for a very short period of time as compared to mum and dads bed! (just a thought!)
  • I would go along with advice to get a new mattres - we did, but as previous poster said we are probably influenced by the Roger Cook programme in 95?

    As they don't know what causes cot death it would be wise to change the mattress as you would never forgive yourself if, god forbid, something did happen and you hadn't done everything in your power to prevent it.

    At the time of the Roger Cook programme my son was about 18 mths/2 and we put him into a bed after it. I phoned my brother who is a chemistry teacher about the Antimony? they had found in the mattresses and he said well I wouldn't put my baby to sleep on Antimony!

    My mum was an SHO at Alder Hey and later a pathologist and said that babies brought in having suffered from 'cot death' showed signs of massive infection that their little systems couldn't cope with. This was in the 50's .
  • TBh i think they are other factors that are higher in risk for cot death then not buying a new matteress, like overheating, some forms of co-sleeping (if your on medication, been drinking, smoke etc etc)

    If you were buying a second hand cot and matteress then get a new one but if the matteress you have has been just used by your little one and is in good condition then just use that.

    I have two dds and they used the same matress that was also used by dd1s cousin and they are perfectly fine!
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