Cot mattresses - waterproofy, wipey-cleany or neither?

[Shelduck]

I know there are already a lot of threads on cot mattresses, but I haven't quite found the answer to my question in any of them. We're going to go for a sprung mattress, but we're a bit confused about waterproofness/wipey-cleanness and general issues to do with leaks and fluids and all that sort of stuff.

Some mattresses seems to have a wipe-clean side, which I understand can be a bit clammy for baby. Others have removable covers that can be washed, but which presumably don't prevent anything getting into the main body of the mattress. Some guides recommend you get the latter but with a spare cover for when the other is in the wash - but most stockists don't seem to sell spare covers.

We're thinking about going for a mattress with a removable cover, and using cotton towelling waterproof mattress protectors. (The website tells us helpfully that the removable cover is quilted Dryfeel Laval?, which sounds lovely and sciencey, but doesn't offer any insight into what it actually is!)

Any advice? What I really want is to hear from second-, third- and fourth-timers, who can tell me about the practical laundry matters of dealing with a leaky baby!

ours had removable covers but the mattress itself was waterproof too so could be wiped clean as well. We got ours from babies r us.

ours was pretty much the same as this

they sell spare covers too

they also do sprung mattresses (we just had the foam one)

Ours has a removable washable cover, which we've never removed because we also bought 2 HippyChick waterproof sheets. They're made from wood fibres apparently, so should be breathable. Anyway, they kept the mattress clean and dry during a particularly horrible vomiting virus. I usually put a normal fitted sheet on top, but not really for any particular reason.

Actually, we also bought 2 HippyChick waterproof sheets for our bed - babies don't just dribble / leak in their own beds! We'll stop using them when DS is 10 .

We had a sprung matress with a zip off, breathable top layer which we could wash at 60oc. It was brilliant, particularly later on when DS was toilet training. We're going to get the same one again for this baby. It's just from mothercare.

Happy shopping!

We got a sprung mattress from babies r us with a waterproof top layer, and just put 2 fitted sheets on it so it doesn't feel plastic-y (although to be fair, it's actually quite nice). There's no way I'd want to have a mattress that wasn't going to be completely waterproof, when DS has thrown up in the bed but is still asleep it's a lot easier to just put a muslin over the sicky bit and shift him to another bit of the cot rather than waking him to change the bed - that can wait til morning! Also why sleeping bags are fantastic rather than sheets - no feet to foot faffing!

We have one with a plastic top. Which was great but I'm disappointed to notice that a section of the plastic is all ripped and uncomfortable. On turning it over I noticed a wee patch from night accidents directly under the split section. It appears the wee actually caused the plastic to weaken and break which is rubbish considering that's what they're for! It was a good mother are one too.

We learnt the hard way about protecting your own mattress. Last night we had a poorly 3yo in bed with us and there was a wee incident - no protector. Luckily it was sunny so I could air the elec blanket and wash/dry everything quickly!

Thanks everyone! Will go and mull this over!

I second the HippyChick sheets they are brilliant. Have never needed to wash the actual mattress cover.

I have a sheet then the HippyChick then another sheet on top so if needs be I can whip off the top two layers and still have the bed made underneath.

we had a wipey-cleany one which proved a god send as dc1 had reflux (=many vomits)
we used a bath towel under the sheet to make it feel warmer.

We had an Ikea sprung mattress to go with the cot. It had an ordinary cotton cover (not removable). We just used a waterproof sheet on top with a couple of fitted cotton ones on top of that. Never had any problems with leakage and DD1 was a very sicky baby.