Big Boy Bed, Done Safer

This past weekend, my youngest graduated from his crib to a big boy bed and the excitement was palpable, despite some tears from me. Given the better practices that a lot of retailers have implemented, I’m grateful that all it took was extra time and effort to shop around and find safer options that would work best for his room… and I’m excited to share what made the cut.

• Let’s start with the mattress – this process probably took the most time, as I was researching several companies, but knew I wanted another organic mattress (his crib mattress was Naturepedic). I’ve heard wonderful things about My Green Mattress and I couldn’t be happier with our choice of their Pure Echo mattress – it’s so comfortable, thanks to the GOTS certified organic cotton* and OEKO-TEX** wool (FYI that wool is a natural flame retardant, so no chemicals here!), and I’m happy we also purchased their organic mattress protector. Bonus, that they run sales frequently, too!
• When it comes to bed frames, my preference is wood and there are various options at all different price ranges. Since I don’t think our son will be in his twin bed forever, I decided to go with one from IKEA, as they are known for their sustainable, yet affordable offerings.
• Lastly, our focus moved to safer bedding. Pottery Barn Kids has upgraded their offerings considerably in the past few years and their organic kids bedding is awesome. Love that their bedding is GOTS certified organic cotton*, offered in a variety of colors and prints and even includes flannel – plus they have sales all the time and I got his flannel train sheets on super sale! Target also sells very affordable organic sheets and I made sure to take advantage of their Black Friday sale to have a solid set just in case!
• I do have one more thing on my to-do list that hasn’t been crossed off – pillows! I’ve gotten distracted and overwhelmed by everything out there, but will report back which I buy ASAP 🙂

While this process was a lot of fun and eye opening as well, I did want to mention that my son is benefiting the most from my desire to live cleaner and safer, as his room best adheres to this mentality more than anyone else’s and I’m okay with it….for now (swear, I’m not playing favorites here). I know that changes need to be made in other bedrooms, but it was easiest and best to do his now. It’s impossible to do it all at one time (unless you have unlimited funds and if so, go you!), so over time and as good sales come along, I will continue to make more safer swaps ❤

*GOTS certified organic cotton exceeds organic fiber requirements, contains no restricted chemicals and meets strict social responsibility standards – aim to buy GOTS cotton as much as you can!

**OEKO-TEX is a certification that doesn’t allow hundreds of toxic chemicals to be used in raw, semi-finished, and finished textile products. Aim to find this certification if GOTS isn’t available!