Kids can sleep anywhere can’t they? In the past I have found my kids asleep wrapped around the toilet, on top of the kitchen counter and under (under?!?) the sofa. So, I never really thought too much about where they slept at night and what they were sleeping on, but that has all changed with my daughters new SleepOrange mattress!

We’ve been quite lucky in the fact that our kids inherited our lazy genes and are definitely at their happiest when they are asleep in bed, so we’ve never had too much trouble getting them down at night. But, more recently, my five year old daughter would wake up in the night and would take an hour or so to settle back down, leaving her tired and irritable the next day.

According to Simon Williams, spokesperson for The National Bed Federation, “Choosing the best mattress for your child is so important. After all, refreshing and rejuvenating sleep is vital for their physical and mental development as they grow. The mattress needs to be able to support them properly as they increase in weight and size”.

We all know the guidelines for how much sleep children should be getting. According to The Sleep Council children should be getting: 0 – 12 months need 14/15 hours a day, 1 – 3 years old need 12/14 hours a day, 3 – 6 years old need up to 12 hours a day, 7 – 12 years old need 11 hours and 12 – 18 years old need 8/9 hours a day. But do we really give any consideration as to what they’re sleeping on?

SleepOrange got in touch with me and asked if my daughter would like to try out their new mattress aimed specifically for children and it got me thinking. My daughter sleeps on an Ikea day bed which is perfect for her room and gives us that extra bed space when we have guests over as it pulls out into a double bed.

But she was sleeping on the mattress that came with the daybed and was only really suitable for occasional use. She never complained that she was uncomfortable at night, but maybe this was the reason she was waking up in the early hours as there seemed to be no other explanation.

We revamped by daughters room by putting up some wallpaper and adding a new bed canopy, a quick and easy refresh (if you want a simple guide to putting up wallpaper, click here).

Who are SleepOrange?

So, who are SleepOrange? They are a team of like-minded individuals who themselves are parents and have children that often didn’t get a good night’s sleep. This can be detrimental to children’s well being, both physically and emotionally and of course can have a negative impact on the parent’s health too (it certainly does with me. God forbid anyone that comes near me if I’ve had less than 7 hours sleep at night!)

After consulting sleep experts, they realised that the child’s mattress plays a huge part in how they sleep at night. One expert in particular, James Wilson (aka The Sleep Geek), helped SleepOrange realise the importance of controlling body temperature at night to avoid one of the most common sleep problems, overheating.

With this in mind, they went about creating the perfect mattress for all stages of a child’s development. Their mattresses come in 4 sizes, Baby, Infant, Junior and Teen. There is no “one size fits all”, making sure that the mattress is providing the correct support for your child.

All the mattresses are made from natural materials and are memory foam free (they might be comfortable, but they’re not so good at controlling your body heat!). There are absolutely no chemicals (I know, I didn’t even think chemicals in a child’s mattress could be a thing!) and they all meet the Crib 5 fire standards.

But SleepOrange are not just about manufacturing mattresses and sending them off to a satisfied customer. They are also campaigning for a society that supports families when it comes to sleep, by asking for better sleep advice for parents to be and more access to sleep services for parents.

They are also actively campaigning for a school day that works with a child’s sleep/wake cycle.

My daughter has been sleeping on her mattress for around a month now and I can honestly say, she’s never slept better! She has not come into our bedroom in the middle of the night once and is sleeping in longer in the mornings, so no dreaded early starts before CBeebies has even begun!

In her very own words she said “it’s very comfortable Mummy and I don’t get too hot in bed anymore”. I would thoroughly recommend SleepOrange for their commitment to children’s sleep and their exceptional service.

A quick word from SleepOrange before I go – 

“When we set out to create the very best child’s mattress, made sure we got it right. Firsty, as parents ourselves we looked at what we wanted from a mattress for our own kids, then we talked to expert manufacturers and finally and most importantly sleep experts.

One expert in particular, helped us make the breakthrough and create the mattress we have today. That was James Wilson ‘The Sleep Geek‘. He helped us conjure up the recipe for the perfect child mattress. Thanks James.”

Mel x