Scroll down for a kind of fun annotated version of this same photo
showing each of the vendors for everything in Avi’s room!…
Posted: February 22, 2020
Updated: October 26, 2021
Our New Bed!
So we finally got an inexpensive (P.O.S.!) metal frame for the new California King Naturepedic organic mattress that Naturepedic actually sent me MONTHS ago (given all that is going on with my advocacy work – and needing to prioritize feeding the children with most of our $ these days! – we had to wait for $ for the frame to come in!)
While it is eventually going to be MY bed (with my husband!), we set the bed up last week in our son Avi’s room upstairs. We are working on yet another round of “musical bedrooms!” We’ve switched bedrooms at least 5 times over the past 13 years that we have lived in this house!, and we have one last (?) round yet to come — as my husband and I will be taking over that bedroom in a few months and will switch with Avi then, so we thought we might as well set the new Naturepedic bed up upstairs now – so we don’t have to move it again in a few months. [Moving a king bed is not generally a fun thing!]
In the meantime…
In the meantime… I told Avi he could sleep on the new bed for the next few months — and if he liked it, we would try to get him a similar mattress for his new room downstairs when the time comes. Since the new mattress has TWO sides (in our case, we ordered each with a different firmness – soft for mommy and firm for daddy) I actually encouraged all of the kids to each try sleeping on each side of this new Naturepedic bed, so I could know which one each of them liked best (for later, when we get around to upgrading all of the remaining beds in the house!)
The kids have since fallen in love with the new bed!
Avi [my 15-year-old son who was acutely Lead poisoned when he was 7 months old], has been chronically complaining of being exhausted and run down for more than an year now – which has really impacted his experience of both school and home life.
Remarkably, after 3 days of sleeping in this new bed, I actually observed that he was noticeably “chipper” and more well-rested, and had such more energy during the day (I even mentioned this to his doctor — and that was the day I realized the change coincided with the time he has been sleeping in the new bed!)
He is definitely sleeping better in this bed. I don’t know why – I really wouldn’t want to speculate what role the “organic” aspect (the absence of the chemical cocktail of off-gassing synthetic foam formulations, added “treatments” such as fire retardants, water and rot-resistant baths, etc. that many mass-produced conventional mattresses have) might actually be responsible for, in terms of his improved sleep – but I do know for sure that it is much more comfortable than his old mattress (which was a brand new mattress from Mattress Firm – just about one year old now – from a “respected” brand – and wasn’t inexpensive!) Separately, as a parent, I am personally thrilled to not have to worry about my Lead-poisoned kiddo potentially being exposed further to toxic chemicals from his bed!
Anyway, LAST night Charlie (our 11-year-old) and Avi were actually – literally – fighting over “who got to sleep in the comfy new bed”(!)…. so I ended up putting them to bed together (laying down between them until they were both fully asleep and snoring), and later I crept out from between them and (reluctantly) went downstairs to sleep in my old bed* with my husband.
*Shortly after writing this post we got rid of our old super-expensive (& relatively toxic) Tempupedic memory foam King mattress that we purchased in 2006 – ironically, at the time believing it to be an investment in our health. Of course, as a die-hard environmental activist I could not justify throwing the old bed out… instead we found a new home for it and advised the new owners of the test XRF results (suggesting they at least consider getting an organic cotton mattress topper to separate themselves from the mattress.) Here’s a link to the toxicants I found in my old Tempurpedic bed if you have not read that post yet!
I cannot thank Naturepedic enough!
I am just so thankful to Naturepedic for sending me this bed to try! I have wanted one of their beds for probably 6 (or more) years now. I had slept on them before (as an overnight houseguest at a couple of friend’s homes in the last several years). I also had the opportunity to meet the representatives from the company at a “green living” conference years ago, and learned about their business practices and focus on using organic and non-toxic materials… and I decided I really wanted one of my own! So I am so incredibly excited and thankful that we now have two in our home!
And I just wanted to share the above anecdote with you because I thought it was pretty hysterical that the kids were actually literally fighting over who got to sleep in the new bed! [And – for context – our kids never WANT to go to BED!]
“Tamara, what mattress do you think I should buy?”
There are a lot of great organic brands out there, and – as with all things – I encourage you to do your own research before you shop (don’t just take my word for what I like and use in my home!) Naturepedic is the mattress brand I have chosen to support my work (because I already loved their products and invited them to work with me) and they agreed, so I am thrilled to have this relationship with them. Naturepedic has a lower price-point brand called Happsy and if you cannot find a Naturepedic product in your price range you might want to look into the Happsy options (although I haven’t tried them yet and I don’t have any personal experience with that line of products.)
If you were/are considering purchasing a Naturepedic mattress, please start your shopping at THIS LINK [http://shrsl.com/1y8l6] — and use the code LEADSAFEMAMA10 for a 10% discount on eligible products! If you start your shopping with our affiliate link, Naturepedic will also contribute 15% of your purchase price in support of the Lead poisoning prevention advocacy work (& independent consumer goods testing) here at Lead Safe Mama, LLC!
Thank you for reading and thank you for being here! As always, please let me know if you have any questions.
Tamara Rubin
#LeadSafeMama
Lead Safe Mama, LLC
#LeadSafeMama
Lead Safe Mama, LLC
Hi Tamara!
After months and years of research, we have also slowly started to replace all of our mattresses with Nauturepedic. I could not believe how many companies claim to be organic or nontoxic – but if you really dig deep, they aren’t. Even types of “organic latex” and “organic foam” contain toxins. Naturepedic is the most wholesome. honest and safe company out there. We love our mattresses and what could be more important than buying a safe product to sleep on each and every night while breathing in whatever materials or fumes it may have. People will spend ($30,000, plus, plus) on a car and they spend fewer hours a day in that than they do on their mattress. I still have 2 more beds to replace in time (yes, still expensive!) but we will do it and for sure they will be naturepedic! I’m so glad that you have teamed up with them. Your work is invaluable! – Danielle M.
Thank you for commenting, Danielle!
Do you have any information concerning the safety of Avocado Mattresses?
I have heard concerns about mold and growth because they don’t have a water / moisture barrier – but I don’t have any experience with that brand personally.
T