The advice was given by the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) following publication of a report in the British Medical Journal last week warning that used baby mattresses may be associated with a greater risk of cot deaths.
A team at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow studied 131 babies who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and 278 healthy babies of the same age. They found that the routine use of a cot mattress previously used by another baby was 'significantly associated' with an increased risk of cot death, especially if the mattress came from a different home. They concluded that there was 'a valid statistical association between SIDS and use of an infant mattress previously used by another child'.
But FSID director Joyce Epstein said, 'There have been much larger studies which have found nothing to show that every baby needs a new mattress. Our advice for nursery staff and parents is, make sure a mattress is clean, firm and not soft, doesn't sag and shows no signs of deterioration. The age of the mattress doesn't matter, but its condition does.'
The FSID said that mattresses with a complete PVC surface or a removable washable cover were easiest to keep clean and that the researchers had not stated if the used mattresses in their study met these criteria. It added that this research was not linked to the now-discredited toxic gas hypothesis of cot death.
