Does the Sealy Naturalis crib mattress live up to its green claims–or are we being greenwashed? We’ve raved about this mattress a couple times on the Green Baby Guide. Not only does it use soybean foam rather than petroleum-based materials, but it comes at a much lower price than other organic mattresses. While neither Joy nor I have actually purchased an organic mattress (as we’ve admitted in The Eco-nomical Baby Guide as well as on this site), we believed the Sealy Naturalis crib mattress was a great green deal.

Then last week we received an interesting comment on the 5 New Baby Things in 5 Years post. One great new thing, I wrote, was the fact that organic crib mattresses were so affordable compared to just five years ago. I didn’t consider an organic mattress when I was pregnant, just because they were so outrageously expensive. A reader advised us to not recommend the Sealy mattress, as it contained toxic fire retardant chemicals. She had called Sealy and been told that that the soybean mattresses did contain these chemicals, despite their claims to the contrary.

I called Kolcraft today and asked about the Sealy Naturalis crib mattress. The customer service representative assured me that there are no fire retardant chemicals on the mattress–the mattress is non-toxic, as advertised. Of course, there is always the possibility that any product we write about is not what it claims to be, but in this case, we do feel like we can stand behind our recommendation.

According to the Kolcraft website, here are the features of the Sealy Naturalis soybean foam core mattress:

Features

  • Soy based foam-core offers improved durability over conventional foams and uses renewable resources resulting in the use of less crude oils.
  • Soybean foam is CertiPUR-US® certified and has been tested for indoor air emissions, durability and substances including phthalates, formaldehyde, PBDEs, lead and other chemicals
  • Entire cover and lock-stitched binding wipe clean preventing allergens from clinging to the mattress
  • Lightweight making it easy to change sheets
  • Soybeans are a renewable resource grown in the USA
  • Cover is wet-resistant and cleans easily
  • Square cut corners provides snug fit in cribs
  • Mattress also fits toddler bed frames
  • Lifetime warranty on workmanship and materials
  • Entire mattress is phthalate and flammability compliant and does not contain toxic fire retardants

If anyone hears anything different about this product (or any other that we recommend!), please write us and let us know. We would hate to recommend a product that turned out to be un-green or un-safe.