Many parents have taken their children backpacking or use air mattresses as a spare bed, yet are air beds safe for toddlers? Here’s what you should know.
Air mattresses are suitable for infants over the age of 15 months. On the other hand, expandable mattresses can indeed be hazardous to a baby or perhaps a 1-year-old. Even so, using an air mattress is acceptable for a 3-year-old toddler.
Make certain you make a distinction between an ordinary inflated bed as well as a baby air mattress. Let’s go through some essential points concerning air mattresses first, since they can protect people.
What Are the Risks of Using an Air Mattress to Sleep? (Are Air Beds Safe for Toddlers)
Many parents have begun to use air mattresses as something of an occasional bed for little children in recent times.
What was once only available to campers has since become more economical, making it more appealing to parents who are looking for just a cost-effective sleeping accommodation for younger children.
You should be familiar with the following risks prior to actually purchasing an air mattress for young children.
1. A One-Year-Old Should Not Sleep on an Air Mattress.
Air mattresses should not be used by children as young as 15 months, as per Consumer Product Safety Commission. Even though the inflating bed appears to be sturdy sufficiently, it nevertheless poses a choking risk.
As a result, numerous air mattresses include a health warning that states that no newborn under the age of 15 months should remain on such an inflatable mattress. Even yet, people do not often read the small labels if it has already been in their possession for quite a long time.
Since 2004, a National Child Death Review Case Reporting System has documented the fatalities of over 108 children that are greatly involving an airbed. Only 24 state-nation data have been included in the study. In a sense, it’s understandable that a significant majority of cases go unreported.
Something like an inflatable mattress for just a baby carries the potential of unexpected child mortality, which has been reported in roughly 3,700 deaths in the United States.
A baby can tumble through into spaces from around your mattress, just like with any form of mattress. The air mattress could have been surrounded by the bed frame, chairs, or partitions. Furthermore, air leaks increase the risk of choking while lying face-down on such an improperly filled mattress.
2. Bed bugs are not a problem that can be solved with air mattresses.
Parents have started resorting to air mattresses inside the face of a large bed bug outbreak, believing that termites can’t get through the vinyl substance of the cushion.
Indeed, inflatable beds are composed of vinyl or Plastic, and then both components aren’t conducive to bed insect infestations, particularly when compared to air mattresses. They’re also simple to wash, considering pests won’t have been able to conceal them within the bed.
Regrettably, air mattresses may not provide protection from termites, which could also infest any type of bedding.
Safety Tips for Sleeping on an Air Mattress
If your child is under 15 months old, will be using a cradle or a bundle as well as play instead of an air mattress.
- Toddlers above the age of 15 months, but on the other side, may sleep safely on such an inflatable mattress, provided you meet those guidelines.
- Always keep the bed completely inflated.
- To avoid trapping, keep a safe space around the bed. These basic safety precautions will protect your baby safe when resting on an inflated mattress.
What Should You Look For With an Air Mattress?
Toddler-specific air mattresses are provided. They’ve been invented to keep the baby warm and secure them overnight. The security rail built through into your bed is among the most crucial elements.
Its safety bars protect the cover, and the kids can enjoy stuffed toys snuggled in all night, preventing the bed from sliding out. As a result, your child will not fall deeply asleep or become trapped between both the mattress as well as the wall.
Look for non-toxic components that are free of harmful substances like phthalates, BPA, and Lead. You don’t really want the sleeping baby in such an unhealthy atmosphere.
The Big Question: Is Sleeping Around an Air Mattress Suitable for a Toddler?
Infants are especially vulnerable to foam mattresses or inflatable beds. Mom and dad may incorrectly believe that perhaps a sturdy air mattress is “tough enough” to have become a proper sleeping platform for their children. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, air beds should not be utilized in infants under the age of 15 months.
Babies may easily slide into a posture where they are unable to ventilate (positional asphyxia). Babies can also choke if their heads are forced into such an inflatable mattress by a mother as well as a sibling’s hand, thigh, or even torso moving during sleeping.
Between 2004 through 2015, there were 108 baby deaths wherein the occurring sleep area was indeed an inflatable mattress. The Child Death Review’s representative was keen to point up some major shortcomings. To begin with, just 24 states confirmed incidents at the time.
Because the dates when each state began recording child mortality towards the national tracking system differed, this 2004-2015 period had not provided the information across all 24 states.
Since not all fatalities were automatically submitted to the National Center, some deaths may have gone unnoticed. This follows from the fact that perhaps the death rate discovered is likely to be significantly underestimated.
Final Thoughts
Many parents still use an air mattress as just a vacation bed for young kids, as well as brag about how much they enjoy it. It was also being used as a spare bed during sleepovers by some families.
It’s fair to presume approximately 95% of people support any use of air mattresses, only with the remaining 5% saying they’d instead just not contend with such a deflated mattress.
