How safe is your mattress?

Big-girl bed

We started our marriage in a full-size bed. Our first full day in our new home we purchased a plush pillowtop from Nebraska Furniture Mart. About two years later (earlier, really, but that was when we threw in the towel) we grew tired of rolling toward each other during the night, as the {not-so} wonderful mattress had acquired a bit of a dip. Our full mattress became Sissy's big-girl bed, and we upgraded to a queen memory foam mattress from Walmart. It is surprisingly comfortable and much more affordable than its "authentic" counterparts. While our bed is still in great condition (& it came with a 10-year warranty, I believe), we seem to have outgrown it. We officially began co-sleeping with Budders (though the other two found their way into our bed many times before!), and as he has grown, so has our desire for a larger bed! With the expansion of our family in the coming weeks, we decided it would be a great time to upgrade again. So I began researching mattresses...

Have you heard of mattresses off-gassing? Yeah, I hadn't either. And while I'm not stringent about buying all organic, my family and I spend almost half of our lives on or around these mattresses, and I'd like to avoid as many toxins as possible! I first found out about off-gassing at Eco-Novice. (She has some great resources in her post!) Unfortunately, I don't know where to find a king-size futon, so we couldn't do what she did, and we cannot justify spending thousands of dollars on an organic mattress. So I decided that the next best option would be to wrap our mattress. I purchased a queen/king-size mattress wrap from No-Chem Bed Solutions, and we ordered the cheap frugal Walmart mattress. The night we ordered the mattress, I was lamenting to Hubby that I wished we could just make our own mattress. He pulled up Google. 

Did you know people actually make their own mattresses?! I was so excited. I began planning how I could made a straw mattress out of drop cloths. We also researched making our own feather bed, and I thought maybe I'd make a smaller topper for our straw bed. Do you think I've gone completely crazy? Well, we won't be making our own mattresses any time soon (though I am not ruling it out once the kids' need replaced), as Hubby is balking at the work it would take. So we are settling for our wrapped Walmart mattress. It should be arriving at our local store for pick up on Monday. 

I think I am going to wrap our other mattresses, too. It was going to be a little-at-a-time thing, as the wraps aren't exactly cheap, but I saw a great DIY post on mattress wrapping this morning at Embracing the Season. You know I'll be visiting Home Depot soon.

What about you? How safe are your mattresses? Do you care?