Harlow's Earth Waterproof Crib Mattress Cover

As a soon to be parent, naturally we are terrified of SIDs so we did a ton of research and found that a possible contribution to SIDs lies in what your baby is sleeping on! We read about the toxic gas theory from Dr. James Sprott that the toxic chemicals that are off gassed are very hazardous to your infant and could potentially be a factor in SIDs. Although this theory has not been through the rigor of randomized control studies, the highest level of scientific evidence, it was enough for me to look into how to reasonably decrease this risk. When I say reasonable, I mean something that isn't going to be ridiculously expensive, difficult, and time consuming. After all, nearly most of my new mama friends gave me a side eye when I started talking about this!

My research led me to Harlow's Earth waterproof mattress cover. This cover is made of 6 mil food grade polyethylene and made in the USA. The cover is recyclable, non-toxic, and made from 100% renewable energies. It is BPA, vinyl, phthalate, and lead free. I'll be honest, it's a giant glorified bag that you put your mattress in. But, trying to find one yourself to make is far more trouble that it is worth for the nominal cost of this pre-made one. The purpose of this bag is to protect your infant from toxins released by your mattress such as flame retardants, PVC, and polyurethane foam. The mattress cover shields your infant from the gasses and travels downwards towards the "build in" vent holes at the bottom of the cover.

The instructions for putting the cover on are provided underneath the flap of the packaging when you open it up, but if you lose it, there are also picture instructions on their website. I actually found the video more helpful to make sure I was putting it on correctly, namely the video for the "non standard" crib. Even with my standard mattress, this video gave me ideas to make the cover fit more snugly so I don't have to mess around with the plastic bubbling up when I lift the mattress up to put on the crib sheet.

Instructions behind the label

In the photo above, you can see the vent holes that are on the side of the green label. This side should be on the bottom of the mattress because the hole is supposed to function as the gas release as it travels downwards and away from your sleeping baby.

Here is my Colgate Eco Classica III mattress in the bag with the green label on the bottom.

I folded the sides in like you are wrapping a present. This was harder than I thought it would be! The material is a bit slippery so hard to get a good tight wrap.

Then you just take the plastic covering off the Velcro strip to adhere the top piece snuggly down. The video gives a much better view of the whole process, so I highly recommend watching it. After getting this all done and put back into the crib, it does bubble up a little so you have to coax it down and get all the air out. The concern is the noise because it is plastic after all. The website advises you to put a 100% cotton underblanket (a swaddle or something similar) on top, then the 100% cotton fitted sheet on top to reduce some of the crinkling sound. I found that it made little difference, so I would double up on the swaddle blanket since it's thin. You are not supposed to put a waterproof mattress cover on top of this because it has the same kind of off gassing potential. So if you get any accidents, you are able to just wash the underblanket and wipe Harlow's cover with warm soapy water. Since it is non-permeable, this is a nice and easy solution! No changing waterproof mattress pads and less to buy. Hooray!

Buy your crib cover here or your pack and play cover here!

Disclosure: This complimentary item was provided for review purposes. As always, all opinions are my own and no compensation was received. This post contains affiliate links.