Mattress challenges

Our mattress has been looking a little worse for wear for a while now, and so we replaced it this past week. Wanting to make sure the new one was kept new for as long as possible I made sure to buy a good quality mattress protector before the mattress arrived at our home. Keeping something new with a toddler, newborn, and two boisterous Labradors, the height of optimism I know. Check back in a couple of months to see how this is going.

In the past BC, before children, a standard mattress protector would have done the trick nicely, I never would have considered buying a waterproof one….what on Earth would I need that for? Fast forward to said toddler, newborn and two boisterous Labradors and the answer to that question becomes apparent.

Reading the packaging for the protector I was amused to discover a list of the adversaries of a mattress: moisture, direct sunlight, extreme heat, pressure, dust mites, mildew and mould. The blurb continued to say that there is “quite a list of factors working hard to destroy that new, supportive mattress you just bought.” No kidding, but the list didn’t include the main culprits working to destroy my new mattress…my own children!

In fact the first thing that Amy said to me once I told her our new mattress had been delivered while she was at school was this, “I want to spill on it.” What chance do we as parents stand when we are dealing with such an honest admission to wanton destruction of parental property?

It also got me thinking about all of the things I would add to the list of factors working against my peaceful night’s sleep on my new mattress. No surprise that children are the source of most of these factors, and that they include the words “leaking” and “spilling.”

The spilling of chocolate cereal milk, the leaking of breastmilk, an overfilled nappy leaking, a random nappy leak, unpredicted and unexpected projectile vomiting, waters breaking and leaking, spilled water, spilled juice, drooling, and finally pregnancy itself which causes a large hollow from that big belly….and yet none of these are listed as factors working against my new mattress.

If we’re being honest here, let’s also just say that although most mattresses are meant for two people to share, more often than not we are sharing the mattress with a few more little people that come visiting in the early hours of the morning. And when those little bleary-eyed people come gently tugging on your arm, pillow and teddy in hand, what do we do? We lift them up into the warm cocoon of our love of course. We remember that one day we can buy a new mattress again, but we can never set back the clock and enjoy those special cuddles, chasing away the bad dreams with just a big hug, and watching them fall instantly to sleep in the crook of your arm in the safest place, in mom and dad’s bed.

It almost makes me forget about all of those leaks and spills…