Baby mattress mouldy within 2 months - right to a refund?

Dinah93

We bought a mattress for £35 from Babies R Us in September, and within about 5 weeks I noticed the cotton webbing over the mattress had gone mouldy. My son has reflux and every morning I strip his crib, wipe down the mattress with antibacterial solution (the mattress is plastic covered not like a fabric adult one, only the webbing over it is fabric) and make up with fresh sheets and a treble layer of muslin under his head to try to catch any spit up. If he wakes in the night I very often do all this in the middle of the night too so he has clean bedding even though he only brings up about 10ml at a time. However the webbing has gone mouldy, and when we went to return it to babies R us with a receipt they told us it's our fault as we should put it in the machine as soon as we notice our baby has brought up some milk. I feel it's unreasonable and the product is not fit for purpose. Does anyone know our rights?

Bantex_2

No material is going to stop mould growing if it has wet organic matter on it.

Why not get a few spares and change for fresh each time?

societys_child

The milk has caused the mould, can't see how that makes the mattress " unfit for purpose".

bris

You need a protector for it, the milk caused the issue so it's not a fault.

pitkin2020

as above really can't see how it could be remotely a manufacturer fault of not fit for purpose.

somethingcorporate

I'm in agreement with the rest here. It's the environment/situation causing the mold not a faulty product.

SuperHan

I agree.

If the mattress itself had gone mouldy, then maybe you would have a case, as you can't machine wash that, just wipe it down as you have done.

But I assume from your description the webbing is removable? And you're removing it to wipe the plastic mattress? As such, you should be machine washing the webbing to prevent this from happening. The milk will make it go mouldy, nothing the manufacturer can do about that.

peachyprice

You need to be washing the fabric webbing every time you strip the crib and give it a good airing before making it up again.

Can you use the mattress without the fabric cover?

mattyprice4004

I agree with the rest of the posts - it's not their fault, you need to either wash the webbing as soon as it gets dirty, or remove it and replace with something more suitable.

Bantex_2

Might be easier to keep the mattress and get a refund on the baby.

antrobus

Bantex wrote: »

Might be easier to keep the mattress and get a refund on the baby.

You can't get refunds on babies. I should know. I've tried. Darned hospital would have none of it. A bloomin disgrace if you ask me, and a major gap in consumer protection law. I tried writing to my MP, but that didn't get my anywhere either.