Wanted: A Safe, Cheap mattress

I've been researching buying a safe twin mattress for Lloyd and have been dumbstruck by both the price and the jumping through hoops one has to do just to find one! Evidently, California has one of the strictest fire-retardant mattress laws in the country. Which means that all mattresses sold in the state have fire-retardant chemicals, and lots of them, in their mattresses . . . which can be anything from boric acid, which is a known insect pesticide, to melamine, PVC, antimony (a heavy metal almost identical to arsenic), and formaldehyde.

I've found some "organic" varieties that claim to use only cotton and wool (wool being stated as a naturally fire-retardant fiber) but other sites state that the wool may still be treated. Unfortunately, treated wool doesn't have to be disclosed due to mattress labeling laws in effect.

In fact, these mattress labeling laws also don't have to disclose what kind of flame retardants are used at all in any mattress, just that they meet the requirements to pass the open-flame test.

The only other option, is to request a PRESCRIPTION from one's doctor to get a chemical-free, toxic-free mattress. Seriously. And even when people have those prescriptions, they often find it difficult to order a mattress to meet it at all, since a lot of mattress store's don't order in the ones and two's.

Plus, have I mentioned how ridiculously expensive these non-toxic mattresses are? You'd think that they might be cheaper; they use less fillers, and less chemicals, but the cheapest I can find for a twin is around the $600++ range (up to several thousand). Plus, if you order one from online, a lot of places have $150-$200 shipping charges. Yikes!

And now that I've been researching this, I feel obligated to consider getting a new crib mattress too! Sigh . . . not to mention the worry I have about the chemicals and toxins in our (T.'s and my) new mattress, which we just bought this last year.

But here's the thing. My babies sleep on these mattresses for 12-15 hours a day for years. I want the twin mattress for Lloyd to last him until he is eight or ten. What is $600 - $800 spread out over the next eight years? Roughly 30-cents a day?

I'm also considering the organic futon route. On the floor (you know, unless I can find a bed for him that is made from wood not treated with formaldehyde, glued with toxic glues or painted with VOC-filled paint that we can afford. I'm about ready to go chop down my own tree for heavens sakes and just make it myself!) (This futon, by the way, also looks interesting). Maybe we'll just get an iron bed.

But alas, the mattress police also have a hand in the futon market. Prescriptions needed for chemical-free ones of these too. Double sigh.

I'm so frustrated with the hoops to jump through and the cost factor, I'm about ready to just go buy some organic cotton batting, sew a twin-sized bag and start stuffing myself. Don't the Japanese sleep on the floor? They live long, happy lives I hear.

Other than my conservative-leaning/firmly Catholic/preppy J-Crew and Lily Pulitzer-loving ways, reading some of my posts, you might just call me a hippie! :)

P.S. A Big Thank You to Andrea (not my sister) who sent me these two links recently for alternatives to purchasing new, non-toxic mattresses, with suggestions on covering your current, conventional ones:

• Here's one link for a mattress wrap, and
  
• Another forum link with some great information about half-way down the page from Nightgen on other alternatives than plastic for covering conventional mattresses

Thank you Andrea!