Secondhand cot mattress

[toxitears181]

Hi girls is it safe to use a secondhand cot mattress and Moses basket mattress I'm
Worried sick and keep thinking of replacing them with new. I need everyone's opinions :)

Lullaby Trust advises not to use a secondhand mattress from outside the home. It’s different when passing things down to siblings, however.

If they had been used for my own child then I would reuse. I wouldn't use one that had come from another family as that comes with an increased risk of sids

Buy a new one. Good luck.

The guidance is to replace mattresses as there's an increased risk of SIDS when reusing.

I left my dcs used mattresses in the garage after they moved into beds. When we came to move house and had a huge clear out the mattresses were mouldy in the areas where they would have laid This mould would have been forming for some time and may not have been immediately visable. Not worth the risk imo.

I would only use second hand if it came from a trusted friend with no time in storage.

NHS advice is to use a new mattress if at all possible.

But I think context is needed as if you say got the Moses basket came from your sister and her baby refused to ever sleep in it then I personally would be ok with using it but if it came from a stranger on the internet then I definitely would replace the mattress.

If buying new really isn’t an option then give the mattress a good check over, is it firm, does it fit the Moses basket/cot perfectly with no gaps, is it clean? If the answer to any of those questions is no then it isn’t safe to use.

I brought new but second child had her sisters first child never bloody slept in Moses or cot
Personally I’d buy new as they are not that expensive

Our midwife advised to get new mattresses so that’s what we’ve done! Best to be on the safe side!

I would only use second-hand if I knew the person it was coming from. I wouldn't buy them from eBay or anything like that

If you are worried sick just replace it. There is enough things raising children to worry about so don’t add something to the list which can be sorted

Definitely buy new. They're not that expensive in the grand scheme of things really.

I'm not sure how knowing the person it comes from reduces SIDS risk...

when I think how much drool / vomit / urine soaked into my DD's mattress in 18 months, I couldn't countenance putting my newborn DS on the same one. Surely it would be full of bacteria festering away that a newborn would lack immunity to?!

It doesn't matter where it's come from. Babies sleep in different positions once they can roll slightly, they may favour one side etc, this can affect the shape of the mattress over time. When the subsequent child is newborn, a lot smaller and can't roll it can mean they are not laying flat and they can even be pushed up against the side of the Moses basket by the slant of the mattress. Plus, mould spores as pp said.

You can get new mattresses very cheaply online OP. I’d not take a risk, but I can appreciate it can be very tight financially when a new baby is due.

I bought second hand cot ect but new mattresses really cheap off Amazon. I think moses basket one was only £8 worth it for peace of mind

New, always new. It's not worth the risk. X

If you know the person you are buying it off and can trust them then get a second hand one. Or if its one passed down from your own other children and you know its in good condition.
The issue is with it being slightly damp or mouldy inside I think? That raises the risk of SIDS. You have to have one that you KNOW is in a very good condition. And probs with buying a second hand one of a stranger is that they can look in good condition but still have been drenched at some point and so be damp or mouldy inside.

Definitely new. I buy basically everything second hand but always a new cot matress (and car seat!)

I had my own thread on this a few months ago. It’s not worth the stress, get a new one.

No, even family ones are a risk.

I had a lovely expensive John Lewis one for dd but begrudgingly bought new ones for dtds. My sister died of cot death (identical twin) and my parents say the only difference was she had my brother's old mattress and I had the new one. Don't take the risk.

New Zealand had very high levels of cot death until they really pushed the new mattress per baby message. The numbers dramatically reduced.

I reused dd's for ds as it had a removable washable cover and the mattress underneath was waterproof and could be cleaned. It was also firm and in good condition. If it hadn't have been this type of mattress I wouldn't have reused it

I would definitely buy a new Moses basket mattress. I was given a cot and mattress and thought I would replace the mattress when DS out grew the Moses basket, about 8-12 weeks old . He stayed in the Moses basket for 7 months and as he's older and could crawl when he moved into the cot I didn't buy a new mattress.
You can replace the cot mattress later when you're ready to use the cot which will spread the cost out.

To divert the thread slightly what do people do about hotel cots etc, as who knows what has happened to the mattresses?

Re hotel cots, your average travel cot or pack n play doesn’t have a mattress as such. It’s more of a padded board. So no issue with it being too soft or having gone mouldy in storage and they’re fully wipe clean. And I presume the sheet provided by the hotel has been properly laundered, I hope so anyway!

I've never understood with this why people say that a family one is lower risk than a bought second hand one? If it's about the mattress no longer being so firm/flat then any child sleeping on it will do this. If it's about the risk of damp/mould then surely the important thing is that it hasn't been in storage - in which case someone selling theirs as soon as they stop needing it is actually safer than your sister (or whatever) getting her old one out of the attic - or indeed you doing the same with your older child's mattress? I'm intending to buy all new mattresses (for a second hand cot/Moses basket/pram carry cot), but I just can't see why knowing the person whose baby slept in it previously would help. I get it with car seats, as there the important thing is knowing it's never been in an accident.

People don't say it, Lisa. The Lullaby Trust say it, based on the best evidence they have. "There is some research that found an increased chance of SIDS when using a second-hand mattress brought in from outside of the family home, although the link is not yet proven."