Daughter Had Reaction to IKEA Mattress

December 6, 2010, by Debra Lynn Dadd

Question from sadiebess

I purchased an IKEA mattress recntly for my two and a half year old daughter, mostly due to the fact that they do not use PBDEs. It had a strong odor when we got it, and I aired it out in the sun on my deck for a couple of days and vacuumed it a couple of times before I put her on it to sleep. The first night she rubbed and rubbed her nose until she finally fell asleep. Then the whole next day, her eyes were extremely waterey and her face got little red blotches on it until I removed the mattress from the house entirely. We aired it on our porch for over a week after that, then brought it into our living room for a few days, where she would hang out on it while she watched TV. She didn't seem to have any discernable symptoms at that point, so I decided to buy a polypropylen/polyethylene cover for it and put it back in her room. The next day she broke out in hives. I've moved the mattress to another room, and I fear it may be a lost cause. It is an innerspring with polyurethane foam.

Right now she is sleeping on a firmly inflated TPU vinyl air mattress (Aerobed's Ecolite). I am at a loss as to what to do next. We have had a rough year and don't have much money to spend, and I certainly don't want to spend any more on something we can't use! Do you know if allergy testing can determine what she might be reacting to in the bed? I have emailed IKEA for a list of ingredients but they have yet to respond.

Debra's Answer

Allergy testing probably won't determine what she is reacting to in the bed because standard allergy testing does not include testing for toxic materials.

It sounds like the IKEA mattress still has some toxic components, even if no PBDEs. Polyurethane foam itself is toxic, so if you remove that, there would be no mattress.