I rec’d an Essentia La-La Crib mattress to facilitate this review.
One of the most important things when preparing for a new baby is- where will baby sleep? I mean, even if you plan on having baby sleep in a bassinet in the beginning, eventually they’re probably going to transition to a crib- even if that crib is at the foot of your bed.
When we lay our baby down each night, we know we have done our best to make sure they are safe and sound. There are no blankets, pillows, or crib bumpers, the cribs no longer have drop sides, we only put baby on her back to sleep, we have checked the temperature to make sure it’s not too hot or cold, and we use a monitor even if we’re on the same floor. We check on baby several times throughout the night to make sure all is OK and we sleep with one eye open and both ears trained in the direction of baby.
But what about the actual mattress on which baby is sleeping? How much research did we put into that? Is it plastic and full of chemicals? Is it natural? Is it safe enough for her to breathe in every night for the next 4+ years? Well, now there is a mattress that we can believe in, from a company that we can trust. The Essentia La-La Crib Mattress.
Essentia is 1 of only 2 latex foaming companies in North America and instead of importing their latex, they make it! Essentia’s latex is made from Hevea “milk”- the sap of the Rubber tree- harvested in Indonesia from farms with no child labor and acceptable working conditions for it’s harvesters. It is mixed with natural plant extracts like hydrolized corn, instead of harsh chemicals, to create the perfect memory foam consistency. Essentia also uses Organic Essential Oils in their production instead of petroleum or man made oils. The finished mattress is wrapped in 100% Certified Unbleached Organic Cotton. It all comes together to make one incredibly responsible mattress.
Essentia La-La Mattresses are superior to other “organic” mattresses in 5 different ways:
- Natural Foam is very low VOC {see below}
- Organic Cotton AND Organic Dyes
- No dust mites- dust mites are attracted to natural fibers and batting. The La-La has only a thin layer of prganic cotton and no batting
- No glues or adhesives- glues & adhesives are chemicals
- vegan- contains no animal products
A study titled Infant Exposure to Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from Crib Mattresses done in 2014 showed:
ABSTRACT: Infants spend most of their time sleeping and are likely to be exposed to elevated concentrations of chemicals released from their crib mattresses. Small-scale chamber experiments were conducted to determine the area-specific emission rates (SERs) of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in a collection of twenty new and used crib mattresses. All mattress samples were found to emit VOCs and the mean values of total VOC (TVOC) SERs were 56 μg/m2 h at 23 °C and 139 μg/m2 h at 36 °C. TVOC SERs were greater for new mattresses compared to used ones and were influenced by the type of foam material and the presence of mattress cover layer. A variety of VOCs were identified, with polyurethane foam releasing a greater diversity of VOCs compared to polyester foam. Largescale chamber experiments were conducted with an infant thermal manikin. TVOC concentrations sampled in the breathing zone and interior pore air of the crib mattress foam were found to be greater than the bulk room air by factors in the range of 1.8 to 2.4 and 7.5 to 21, respectively. The results suggest that crib mattresses are an important source of VOCs and infant exposure to VOCs are possibly elevated in their sleep microenvironments.
Essentia’s La-la Mattress doesn’t have elevated levels of VOC’s:
In 2013 we had our mattresses independently tested by Exova Labs for VOC emissions.
Both tests are appropriate for the some of the highest Indoor Air Quality Product Certifications for OEM Materials and Bedding.
According to LEED Green Associate, Air Quality and Industrial Hygiene certified engineer at EXP “The VOC and formaldehyde levels can be characterized as background levels.” which is ambient air. IE, air found in the average home.
Check out all of the testing and certifications that have been done on Essentia products.
Besides producing a healthy mattress, one of Essentia’s main goals is to stress the importance of their mattresses on the well-being on your body. Being born can be quite a journey for baby. It can be traumatic, difficult, dramatic, long, and just plain hard. While babies are created to make the journey, they still deserve a great mattress when they get home. Let’s not even talk about a few years down the road when our precious babies are now rambunctious toddlers and pre-schoolers- where statements like “I can flyyyyyy!” are often followed by a big thump on the floor. Falls and tumbles are a part of life for crawling age and beyond so get them a mattress now that will benefit them later.
There’s nothing worse than a uncomfortable crib mattress. If they don’t sleep, you don’t sleep. This is why we designed the La-La natural crib mattress. A soft, pressure relieving crib mattress that cradles and supports your baby. To avoid sleep interruptions a crib mattress must address the following elements: blood flow, spinal alignment, body temperature. Sleep interruptions also occur when the central nervous system is stimulated via exposure to synthetic foams and chemically treated fabrics. The La-La crib mattress addresses all these elements. The surface layer is an unbleached organic cotton, free of chemical dyes or pesticide residue. The top layer is made from our natural memory foam for comfort and unobstructed blood flow. The support layer below addresses spinal alignment.
The La-la also passed all tests required for crib mattresses:
Check out Essentia’s La-La mattress on their site, on FB, and on Twitter.
HGF was not paid for this post. We were provided with the Sbook mentioned and we have provided our honest opinion. Thank you to the sponsoring company for working with HGF. You can view our complete PR policies. We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
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