When preparing for your baby’s arrival, an important item you might easily overlook is an extra crib mattress cover. Getting a crib, swaddles, diapers, clothing, and other essentials is usually the focus. But is an additional mattress cover just as important?
Let’s consider for a second how much time your little one will be spending in their crib, especially during the first year.
Research shows that newborns get around 14 to 17 hours of sleep per day (and some might even sleep more than that)!
If your baby has a crib, it only makes sense to ensure that their mattress stays comfy and protected throughout all of that sleeping time.
But what if you've already bought a cover or your crib mattress is made with a removable one? Do you need another? If so, how many are we talking about here?
You’re asking all the right questions!
In this article, we’ll discuss all you need to know about crib mattress covers and share why they are key to giving you much-needed peace of mind.
But first…
What Exactly Is A Crib Mattress Cover?
A crib mattress cover acts as a separator between your baby and the surface of their bed. Because of the materials used and how soft most of them are to the touch, they also help provide your little one with a bit of extra comfort while sleeping.
But mattress covers aren’t only for comfort. Just think about how many accidents happen when your little one is asleep!
Whether it’s pee or poo, fluids can easily seep into the mattress and ruin it. A crib mattress cover — whether it’s part of the mattress design or completely separate — will help prevent this from happening.
If you already have a mattress pad, do you need another cover? To answer this question, we first need to talk about the differences between the two.
Crib Mattress Cover Vs. Crib Mattress Pad
A crib mattress pad typically sits on top of your baby’s mattress to add comfort as well as protection from accidents. While comfort is one of their main purposes, it’s essential that mattress pads are still safe for infants.
According to the American Academy Of Pediatrics, sleeping on a surface that’s too soft can be a contributing factor to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Make sure that your little one’s mattress and pad (if you choose to use one) help keep them safe, like our Newton Waterproof Crib Mattress Pads.
These have two layers of breathe-thru spacer material that help to add breathability, comfort, and washability to your little one’s sleep time while also adhering to safety regulations.
Most little ones won’t need the added protection of a crib mattress pad until they’re one year old and begin making bigger messes.
A crib mattress cover has similar benefits to a pad in that it also adds comfort to your little one’s mattress and helps protect it from accidents. However, in most cases, the cover may just look like part of your little one’s mattress.
While crib mattresses are often made with a removable cover, parents typically end up purchasing extra covers. Why is that? Let’s take a look.
Benefits Of Having Extra Crib Mattress Covers On-Hand
1) Clean Convenience
We’ve already mentioned that mattress covers help to protect against water damage that comes from accidents. But you don’t want your baby sleeping on a soiled bed all night, even if the mattress itself is protected!
When you have one or two extra covers ready and waiting, you won’t have to worry about those late-night accidents leaving your little one with nowhere clean to sleep.
Simply toss the dirty one in the wash and replace it right away.
2) Laundry Day
Having extra covers can also make life a little easier on laundry day. You won’t have to worry about leaving your baby’s mattress exposed to possible accidents while waiting for the cover to dry.
How many crib extra crib mattress covers do you need? The number of extra covers you decide to get is totally up to you.
But many parents opt to have a minimum of two. This is ideal, especially when night accidents occur, because you can simply replace the wet cover with a dry one and allow your little one to quickly get back to sleep.
It’s also important to note that there are periods when babies will be a lot messier. For example, if your little one has an upset tummy or they are generally feeling unwell, they may have more accidents than usual. In this case, you might need more than just one extra cover.
3) Bye-Bye, Bed Bugs
Good crib mattress covers can also protect your little one from bed bugs. Whether you live in a flat, apartment, penthouse, or house, bed bugs don’t discriminate.
These buggers can drive you insane if they manage to infiltrate your space. That’s why it’s important to take steps to help prevent an infestation. One of the best ways to do this is to use mattress covers over your mattresses.
In addition to simply protecting your mattress, using a cover can help you detect those creepy crawlies earlier because the cover provides a clean and smooth surface that you can easily spot the bugs on.
And, of course, the earlier you’re able to detect them the earlier you can take the necessary measures to get rid of them. With an extra cover, you can clean and treat one while your baby snoozes on the other.
The Newton Baby Difference
Comfort
Making sure that your little one gets enough sleep is essential. Not only do they get to rest during these hours, but so do you!
Unfortunately, little things can interfere with your baby’s quality of sleep, including the comfort of the bed they’re sleeping on. That's why it's important for both your baby’s mattress and cover to be comfortable.
Our removable Crib Mattress Cover, which comes with every one of our mattresses, is made with two layers of Breathe-Thru spacer fabric that’s comfy for your baby and durable enough for everyday use.
There are also several colors to choose from so you can match your adorable nursery decor!
As highlighted above, newborn sleeping surfaces shouldn’t be too soft. While our mattresses are comfy, they are still firm enough for your little one’s safety.
Breathability
Newton Baby mattresses and mattress covers are 100% breathable. This means that they are made in such a way that allows a decent amount of airflow to pass through.
Babies often overheat at night because they haven’t yet learned how to regulate their own body temperatures. Having a breathable cover helps regulate your little one’s body temperature so that they don’t overheat while sleeping.
Some common reasons for sweaty or overheating babies include:
- Too many layers of clothing or blankets
- Fever
- Other medical conditions
- Crying — When a baby cries very hard for an extended period of time, they can feel hot, start to overheat, and then begin sweating.
Breathable sleep surfaces also help minimize the risk of suffocation because if your little one rolls onto their tummy in the middle of the night, they can breathe straight through what they’re lying on.
With the Newton Baby Crib Mattress and Crib Mattress Cover, breathability is a given!
Protection
Without proper protection, a crib mattress cover is pretty useless. But when we talk about protection, what exactly are we referring to? Let’s take a look.
Water Resistance
This ensures that your baby and the mattress won’t get wet when accidents happen in the crib.
Allergy Protection
This helps to ensure that your little one is safe from bacteria, dust mites, bed bugs, and other allergen triggers.
Newton Baby crib mattress covers have both of these qualities! They are also made with hypoallergenic materials. This helps keep humidity and moisture build-up away, eliminating the possibility of dust mites breeding.
In addition, it’s essential for your baby’s crib mattress cover to be constructed with quality, clean products. By this, we mean products that don’t have any harmful or harsh chemicals.
While we’d hope that any product created for babies has these qualities, unfortunately, that’s not the reality.
In fact, many products on the market can be very harmful to your baby and cause skin and medical problems. That’s why it’s important to take a good look at the materials, especially because your little one will be spending so much time sleeping on their cover.
At Newton Baby, we understand the importance of creating quality and safe products for babies. Our crib mattress covers are GREENGUARD Gold Certified.
This certification means that a product is scientifically proven to meet some of the world’s most rigorous third-party chemical emissions standards, helping reduce indoor air pollution and the risk of chemical exposure.
Washability
Every crib mattress cover needs to be easy to clean. That’s because it can be exposed to all sorts of accidents at any time of the day.
The last thing you want is to stress about a dirty diaper, a baby that needs to be changed, and a dirty cover all at the same time!
With our crib mattresses, you can quickly zip off the cover and toss it straight into the washing machine. While washing, ensure that the water is cold and use a mild detergent. You can then follow this up with tumble drying on low heat.
And while your original crib mattress cover is washing, simply grab an extra one from the closet and get your little one back to sleep!
How To Keep Your Baby Safe In Their Crib
Our article would be incomplete without taking a moment to discuss child crib safety tips. This is an important topic that every new and expert parent needs to know.
1) Choose The Right Mattress
Babies are tiny and delicate. Because of this, many people think they need all things super soft and comfy. While this is true when it comes to clothing and swaddles, babies should always snooze on firm sleep surfaces.
In fact, soft mattresses or surfaces can be a suffocation hazard for babies. This doesn’t mean your little one needs to sleep on a hard and uncomfortable bed. Instead, it simply means the mattress should have the perfect firmness level, like our Crib Mattresses does.
The Newton Baby mattress is 5.5 inches thick and free of harmful materials such as traditional latex, glue, or foam.
2) Clear Out The Crib
To reduce the chance of suffocation, it’s always best to keep your little one’s crib free from any clutter. This means no pillows, blankets, stuffed animals, bumper pads, or loose fitted sheets should be in the bed while your baby sleeps.
All you really need in the crib is a perfectly fitted sheet or Crib Mattress Pad if you prefer.
As we discussed above, our crib mattresses, pads, and covers are all 100% breathable. This is ideal, especially for when your little one starts rolling over, as they will be able to breathe right through the material and not suffocate.
This feature is also great because it allows for proper airflow and can help reduce nighttime sweating and overheating.
3) Place Your Baby On Their Back
Putting your baby to sleep on their back is one of the most important points on this list, especially during their first year of life.
This is essential because little ones placed on their stomach or sides may have trouble breathing during the night. And they may not be able to get themselves out of an uncomfortable position.
Note: When babies start rolling over (at around four to six months), they may be able to roll from their back to stomach (or side) while sleeping. Don’t worry too much if this happens because they can move themselves into a safe position.
It’s also important to note that even though they may be more mobile, it’s still best to continue placing your baby down on their back to sleep until they are at least one year old.
4) Share A Room
Babies should share a room with their parents for at least the first six months of their lives (and ideally until they are one year old).
Here are some benefits of room-sharing:
- Having your little one within view makes it easier to feed, monitor, and comfort them at any time during the night.
- It’s much easier to notice any potential safety hazards and fix them instead of relying on a baby monitor.
Keep in mind that room-sharing is not bed-sharing. In fact, bed-sharing with an infant is unsafe because adult beds are often not the right firmness level for babies.
In addition, there might also be blankets, pillows, and other potential suffocation hazards (i.e., a parent rolling over on the baby during the night and suffocating them).
To share a room safely, place a bassinet, co-sleeper, or crib right by your bed.
Because babies grow quickly, we like the idea of opting for a crib because it’s also budget-friendly. While newborn sleeping options, such as bassinets, are aesthetically appealing, babies outgrow them in just a few months.
Costs for baby supplies can really add up, so getting a crib for your little one right from the start can help keep your budget in check.
Also, when you have a crib on hand, you can simply move it into their nursery when you’re ready without having to buy something else at that time.
Making The Most Of Your Little One’s Mattress
No matter how careful you are, messes will happen. It’s always a good idea to be well prepared and have extra covers on standby.
Designed specifically to fit the Newton Baby Crib Mattress, Newton Baby Crib Mattress Covers will help to ensure that your baby’s mattress lasts as long as possible. It will also help to keep your little one safe from allergens and reduce the risk of suffocation.
And when those middle-of-the-night accidents happen, you can quickly throw your baby’s cover into the washing machine and slip a new one onto their crib without waiting for the dirty one to wash and dry.
With our 100% breathable and washable extra crib mattress covers, your little one will sleep better, safer, and more comfortably every night!
