Do I really need to buy a new mattress?

[SoggyBottoms]

I know the advice is that you need to buy a new mattress with each baby but I'm just wondering if I really need to...DD is 2 and her cot and mattress are going straight to DS who is due next month. We are moving her to a bed in the next couple of weeks. Surely it should be okay if mattress is in pretty much continuous use? Or is there something I'm not understanding? Any facts/words of wisdom would be appreciated...

Same question here so watching. The mattress will never be out of use or stored in the loft. Toddler will vacate to bed on the day baby moves into cot.

I reused dd's for ds as it had a removable washable cover and the mattress itself was waterproof and could be cleaned. It was also still firm with no indentations from Dd.

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/mattresses-and-bedding - gives info

I believe it is something to do with fungal spores that can collect on the matress abs are fine for most but can be harmful to tiny babies.

If it was me I would buy a new one for peace of mind but it does seem like such a waste.

I reused DS1's mattress for DS2.

It was barely slept on anyway since DS1 would pretty much only sleep with me.

Found it

www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Cot_death_-_what_every_parent_needs_to_know#cite_note-0

www.skepticat.org/2014/01/dr-sarah-myhill-exploited-patients-lack-of-medical-knowledge-by-arousing-ill-found-fears-for-their-health-say-gmc/ - I am not sure that is a reputable dr and whether it is scaremongering information she has written

Wow - that Dr Myhill link is pretty scary stuff but then the other links do call it slightly into question. It just seems like such a waste but I'll probably end up chickening out and buying a new one... Thanks to everyone who posted.