Waterbeds--Are they healthy? Safe? Or a toxic stew??? (Hope not!)

[Harriet Vane]

Hi folks,

 

I have been trying to convince dh for the last year that we should get a water bed. I had one for a time when I was a teen and just LOVED it. However, some points of concern have been brought to my attention:

 

--Mold issues? Are waterbeds prone to mold?

 

--Chemical stew due to additives to prevent mold? I was hoping a waterbed would be a healthier choice than a polyurethane foam mattress that's been soaked in flame retardant.

 

--Is laying on a vinyl waterbed any healthier than the aforementioned polyurethane foam mattress?

 

--Dh has dust mite allergies (just found out today!). It just seems like a waterbed would be a better choice for him--is it??

 

--Or should I just get a latex or wool mattress and encase it in an allergen cover and call it a day?

 

--OR should Strider just stop obsessing already and just buy something!??? ;)

 

Thanks for your input!

[LaxMom]

1. No, they're not prone to mold that I know of - the water is encased, after all, so even if there was mold in there, how would you know? But heated vinyl? :ack2:

 

2. Buy an organic wool mattress (naturally flame retardant, no off-gassing) and be done with it. If you want to put an allergen cover on it, put the regular mattress pad over it, then the sheets. (The boys have a waterproof cover on theirs - it does seem ironic, doesn't it?). For pillows, we just can't grow to love allergen covers, so I periodically toss the pillows into the dryer to kill any mites off and blow out the guano (the actual allergen).

 

White Lotus has wool or wool with a latex core (which I skipped because one of the boys is allergic to latex and the thought of him breathing that was yucky to me). Their standard wool mattresses are, like, 6" thick and just delicious.

[ConnieB]

I've had a waterbed since I was a teenager....first it was a twin, now it's a California King. We've had the King for over 30 years......changed out the mattress once (it didn't quite survive it's 4th move, lol). That was 12 years ago....we add water when evaporation is noticeable (after all you are heating the water so it does evaporate). We add a bottle of waterbed chemical once a year (on our anniversary, lol.....picked that date so we'd always remember it....we change the smoke detector batteries then too). We "burp" it whenever an air bubble gets large enough to be bothersome, maybe once or twice a year, depending on how much bouncing the kids do! Other than that there is no maintenance.

 

I can't tell you if the vinyl is healthier than the other mattress, but I can tell you that I am allergic to a lot of things, including dust mites, and have NEVER had a problem that I would consider caused by my bed. It doesn't attract dust to the vinyl....though a lot of "debris" settles on the underlayment around the edges of the mattress.....I put my nozzle attachment from the vacuum down there whenever I think of it.

 

The biggest challenge is sheets. Regular fitted sheets pull off the edges.....those special (expensive) waterbed sheets which are just the top sheet and fitted sheet sewn together also come off. We've found that getting two fitted sheets and using one to tuck under the mattress and one as a regular fitted sheets. It means that you can't buy the really pretty "sets" of sheets (unless you're willing to buy two!), so no gorgeous sheets for us, but oh well. We also have a mattress cover on it, simply because I don't like to feel the slippery vinyl through the sheets.

 

We travel a lot so we're in hotels on regular mattresses a lot.....my allergies always kick up there.....I shudder to think when the last time a hotel mattress was vacuumed for those little buggers. And they always seem to hard and uncomfortable to me.....and I look forward to getting home to my soft cushy body-fitting waterbed.

 

One other thing..."private time" is a bit more challenging on the sloshier mattresses....when we had to change out our mattress we opted for one with some kind of foam strips in it...cuts down on the wave effect from just getting in and out of the waterbed, and also makes "private time" a little less a sea-faring adventure.

[Guest gg4you]

Thanks for the informations in this thread helps me a lot, Because I'm planning to buy a water bed. I'm in the market for two Softside Waterbeds for my two children. After looking for months, there is very little avail here in market for double size beds. Many stores have suggested I look at queen sized beds but I don't have the room for that. I looked online and saw online bed stores that will ship to my location.

 

Has anyone ordered from an online store, particularly the ones mentioned?

 

Thank you for any feedback.

[Halftime Hope]

Strider, I'm not sure what your Job 1 is in what you want from a mattress. No mites? entirely non-chemical? comfort?

 

I may not be helping at all, but we have had disappointment after disappointment in mattresses. Had a very firm that we loved but it wore out. Replaced it with an expensive Serta (?) that within two years went flat and saggy, and the company wouldn't honor the warranty. Replaced it with a Tempur**pedic that lasted two years before same thing. (We are not big, heavy people, so ???) Both of these caused back pain for us both.

 

The Sleep *omfort and Comfort**aire both mention that sometimes airbladder beds get mold on the inside of the latex air chambers. I would think that anything anaerobic that is in the water would grow as well, expecially since some beds can warm the water.

 

We thought about a Sleep *umber, but found Comfort**aire and bought it online instead. We bought one of their non-latex core ones that has the inflatable portion up near the top of the bed. We are in heaven. It's going on a year now, and we still love it. I love that the silly thing is light--it doesn't kill my back or my elbow to lift it when making the bed like the Tempur did. We assembled it ourselves at home; it was super simple. I tell ya, it works like a charm.

 

If I were concerned about mites, I'd put it in a miteproof shell from day one.

 

We let ours "de-vaporize" for a couple of hours every morning, before we make the bed, thinking that might preserve its useful life.

 

hth