Do crib mattresses cause infant deaths?
Randall Neustaedter OMD Alarming research suggests that the gases emitted from mattresses treated with various chemicals, including most adult, bassinet, and crib mattresses, may be associated with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). When naturally occurring fungi grow in the mattress they react with these chemicals producing a toxic gas cloud that hovers just above the baby’s bed. Turning babies onto their backs to sleep has resulted in a dramatic decrease in deaths, because the babies’ noses are no longer stuffed into the mattress where the concentration of gases is highest, claims New Zealand researcher James Sprott. His solution? Wrap all mattresses in polyethylene sheeting (at least 5 mil in thickness), available at hardware stores, to seal the gases into the mattress. Since a mattress-wrapping campaign was initiated in 1994, the rate of SIDS has dropped by 48 percent in New Zealand and no infants sleeping on mattresses that were wrapped in polyethylene have died. A study publish
