Plasticated sheet / mattress cover for baby?

CamillaRhodes

What are your thoughts on using a plasticated under-sheet / mattress cover, on your baby's moses basket or cot?

I can see how useful it would be to not have nappy leaks leaving smelly or damp mattresses. But I also imagine it must be more uncomfortable for baby - I remember having to sleep on bunk beds in backpacker hostels with plasticated under-sheets, and them being horribly uncomfortable and sweaty.

(First lil fella due in 5 weeks!)

annamcmahon

The sids prevention advice is to not use plastic backed stuff in the cot.Breathable material is much better. It would be noisy too. It's surprising how much a baby moves around

CamillaRhodes wrote: »

What are your thoughts on using a plasticated under-sheet / mattress cover, on your baby's moses basket or cot?

I can see how useful it would be to not have nappy leaks leaving smelly or damp mattresses. But I also imagine it must be more uncomfortable for baby - I remember having to sleep on bunk beds in backpacker hostels with plasticated under-sheets, and them being horribly uncomfortable and sweaty.

(First lil fella due in 5 weeks!)

pwurple

I wouldn't put unbreathable sheets on an infants sheets. Risk of suffocation.

When the nappies leak (very rare) all that happens is their clothes get wet or dirty.

I got a fabric mattress protector and put it on the bottom half of the cot, just under their bum.

Hannibal Smith

Clevamama do protective sheets for cots. They're kind of a cotton feel so they're soft and breathable, but nothing gets through it.

Getting their clothes dirty isn't the issue, its having a puke/soiled mattress for them to sleep on. It's grand in the day you can wash and flip the mattress, but not ideal at 3am Nothing has got through this clevamama one though.

KGLady

TBH for ours it was never the bottom end that messed the crib/pram it was always the puke/wind. I took to using muslin cloths folded into a long rectangular shape and stretching it across beneath where baby's head lay and securely tucking the edges under the mattress, and always having a breathable cotton sheet only on the mattress. There needs to be something absorbent so baby isn't lying in a puddle, which would be the case with a barrier type sheet.

Its not much of an issue with messy leaking nappies at the moses basket stage, but more when they are older, bigger, wrigglier at night time, and actually sleeping for longer stretches At that stage we got a mattress with a detachable top layer that zips off and can be flung in the washing machine and dryer.

CamillaRhodes

Thx for the feedback, all, great to know.

@Hannibal Smith - where did you get the Clevamama protector?

implausible

Nappies really don't leak that much! Both of mine sleep through the night and the worst case is their pyjamas/sleepsuits get wet. To require a plastic sheet, they'd have to leak so badly it'd go through a nappy, a vest, sleepsuit, gro-bag/blanket, cot sheet and mattress (which have a washable cover anyway).

As another poster said - it's the top end you have to watch. Any stains on my cot sheets are from drool and puke!

jensandersen

Hey Camilla,

Yea, definitely don't go for a mattress cover for your baby's cot. It's really not a good idea.

CamillaRhodes wrote: »

What are your thoughts on using a plasticated under-sheet / mattress cover, on your baby's moses basket or cot?

I can see how useful it would be to not have nappy leaks leaving smelly or damp mattresses. But I also imagine it must be more uncomfortable for baby - I remember having to sleep on bunk beds in backpacker hostels with plasticated under-sheets, and them being horribly uncomfortable and sweaty.

(First lil fella due in 5 weeks!)