Use old mattresses as jumping pads

Debbie's response to a recent IKEA mention:

My three-year-old son wet his inexpensive toddler mattress (SULTAN BLUNDA) all the way through (yeah, he's got talent--as does my husband for forgetting to put a pad on it that day). We replaced the mattress right away so he could sleep on something dry and not smelly. Then I cleaned the old one. It's now in the playroom, and my son and his four-year-old sister love jumping on it! They are not allowed to jump on beds or other furniture, so we're delighted to redirect them to the "jumping pad" when the urge comes on.

Finally, a bed made for jumping!

Related: Upside-down kiddie pool as makeshift trampoline

Comments

[Family Man]

I don't care how well you cleaned the mattress...I would never allow it to stay in my house, let alone be used as a makeshift trampoline for my kids. Ewwwwwwwww

This "hack" is a bit of stretch.

[Tami]

This is pretty cool. My kids aren't allowed to jump on anything in the house also, but I wouldn't mind a mattress on the floor. It's funny how simple things like that sometimes never occur to you. Thanks!

[Kookaburra]

I'm with Family Man on this one. Not a bad idea if the mattress weren't infested with germs. How is it that a kid can soak it completely through anyway?

[Peggy]

Infested with germs? Isn't the common knowledge that urine is sterile?

[Jill in Atlanta]

We were about to get rid of our queen mattress, just b/c it was old and uncomfortable. Instead, we put it on the floor as the "Bouncy Bed" in the kid's playroom. Instead of taking up space as a bed (it is most of the room!), it gets used as more floor space-- when they aren't bouncing. They leave the furniture alone and are much safer now.

no pee tho!

[Lo]

We had an old mattress for this use when I was a kid! It was the centerpiece of our playroom and we called it "the trampoline." I was startled the first time I saw a real trampoline.

[Kookaburra]

Forget about the germ factor Peggy. It's plain nasty either way.

How bad must a mattress smell if it's been completely soaked through? I don't care how much it's cleaned, you can't clean the insides of the mattress and therefore the urine remains there. Why would you keep something so nasty in your house?

[Kate]

You people are a little harsh. I think it is possible to wash a toddler-bed-sized FOAM mattress thoroughly enough to keep it around.

[Kookaburra]

Harsh???? If it was a normal amount of pee on it, I would say yea, clean it and keep it. But for a complete soak through??? You can NEVER clean the insides of it. And seriously, if it weren't nasty and smelly, then why didn't they just keep that one? Why did they go out and buy a new one? Hmmm....

[Jill in Atlanta]

Keep in mind, fellow hackers: this idea is just that- an idea to use a mattress as a safe trampoline. To make use of her hack, you do not have to wait for a mattress to get soiled! The idea is simply to use any old mattress. Choose the mattress yourself, but thank her for the great idea.

[Dawn]

Well said Jill

[wdskmom]

We have a spare mattress in the rec room we put down for company sleeping over. Our 2 yr old takes full advantage of those opportunities!

[Parent Hacks Editor]

I second Dawn: thank you for your wise words, Jill. From the "About Parent Hacks" page:

"Much of what you’ll find here will be of the “it worked for me” variety. ...apply the gut test to determine if a hack might work for your family."

[Kookaburra]

I'm not sure if anyone was saying it wouldn't work. In fact, I even said it wasn't a bad idea. I, and a few others, were just commenting on the "nasty" factor since the mattress seemed to be ruined.

[Lemon]

Obviously, the original poster, Debbie, doesn't find the mattress "nasty," - - clearly otherwise she would not have posted her idea for people to ridicule!

Let's take her at her word that she sufficiently cleaned the mattress thoroughly. Maybe so thoroughly that the foam didn't regain the original ability to support a body for sleeping. Yet didn't get ruined so much that it couldn't be used as a unique toy.

[Susan]

Fun stuff. We recently tossed an old sofa sleeper that actually had a pretty nice spring mattress inside it (for a sofabed). My brilliant girls dragged that thing into the playroom themselves and have been bouncing ever since.

[Steven]

Everybody, urine is only sterile UNTIL IT LEAVES THE BODY. If it touches anything else (like a kid's dirty behind, for example), it's not any more.

So ew. Gross.

[wdskmom]

I think it's hilarious that posters think that "Debbie" would keep an infested moldy smelly mattress in her house. COME ON! Are all of you saying that if your kid pees on a couch, or a mattress or whatever that you throw it out? I call foul, don't pardon the pun, haha. :)

[Kookaburra]

wdskmom,
I don't forsee my children using the couch as a toilet. And if they do, then there are bigger problems than pee. And about the mattress, that's the reason there are waterproof covers built over many of them and there are waterproof mattress pads that can be used as well. If these weren't used and my children ever soaked completely through it, then yes, I would toss it. But, like I said, that's why precautions are taken.

[wdskmom]

Okay. You win. If my 2 yr old in his toilet training has an accident on the couch, I will surely take it to the dump (insert eye roll here).

[bellajadesmama]

My toddler peed on the floor in her training days -- more than once! I guess we have to get a new house now. Anyone know where I can get HAZMAT signs, until we can alert the authorities and have the house torn down?

[Parent Hacks Editor]

OKAY EVERYONE! I CALL TIME! I think we've said just about everything that needs to be said about the relative grossness of a peed-on item.

Let's move on to other topics, such as more creative ways to satisfy our kids' jumping urges. Any other ideas?

[Anita Burnham]

My mother actually allowed us to do this when I was younger and I ended up rupturing a disk in my lower back. (I jumped up and landed wrong) Just be careful with things like this. I'm definitely not a mom who worries about everything, but I am careful around some things, especially when I've had bad experiences with certain situations.

[Debbie]

Gosh. I had no idea I would stir up so much controversy. What, have nobody else's kids tried to eat road salt? --gum from the playground? --black snow? --dropped crackers in the footwell of the car? Look, guys; I have helped care for patients in the Amazon jungle. I have seen truly awful hygiene conditions. We don't have them here. A thin foam toddler-sized mattress, cleaned thoroughly with everything U.S. technology has to offer, can survive a small spot of dilute urine without harming anyone. There is no bad smell. And, for Pete's sake, I keep the thing COVERED!

FYI, our children, having been adopted internationally as toddlers, are supposed to be super-susceptible to American illnesses. Our pediatrician is surprised that our guys just don't get sick and attributes their health to our high standards of cleanliness. These include HABITS. So even if there is something nasty in that mattress, our kids get it off by washing their hands a zillion times a day and bathing/shampooing every night and having their clothes laundered HOT.

I hope I've cleared things up a little.