{This article is written in partnership with Leesa. They’re dedicated to marrying innovation with responsibility, for a mattress purchase you can feel good about—we’re honored to work with them. ~ ed.)

An Eco Mattress for our children’s health. Why we love Leesa for our home. ~ Kelsey & Waylon Lewis

Most of us have heard about microplastics, and their effect on our health…and, even worse, how they harm our children.

All the while, we’re accepting plastics into our daily lives on a macro level.

It’s in our food packaging, it’s in our food, it’s in our paint, our “washable” rugs (shameful!), our furniture. And generally anything plastic will be chock-full of toxic chemicals along with it. Further, plastic is fossil fuels, it is Big Oil, it’s directly contributing to heating and damaging our earth’s weather systems. We want our children to have a beautiful, stable, habitable planet to live on!

So in setting up a home, creating a life, raising a sweet, caring, eco, healthy young family, it’s important to my wife and me that we don’t buy or wear plastic clothing (she just bought a 50-year-old cool buffalo plaid wool coat from Johnson, a Vermont company, for her son). We generally buy secondhand, too, as it’s often more affordable and better quality.

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In raising our new baby Willa, she’s wearing nice soft cotton diapers, most of them donated from friends or a maternity clinic. We used diapers (the plastic kind) the first week or two and don’t miss them at all. I do a wash a day, or more, and dry everything on our radiators, and that’s it. Pretty easy. We use organic cotton wipe cloths to clean her tush that mom bought off of Etsy. Simple, simple.

Same with furniture: we have organic latex, organic cotton furniture, or secondhand antiques. That’s relatively easy. But then there’s another building block of a happy, healthy eco-home: the mattress.

For our beds, where we spend nearly half our lives (well, 1/3, but in postpartum times maybe 2/3s), it’s easy to put a huge toxic heavy health-bomb beneath your body and face and call it “comfortable.” Memory foam? That’s all toxic. So go natural. We don’t have to be perfect, but we do have to try if we care about our health, our children, and our planet. Natural cotton, organic wool, it’s easy. I’ve bought maybe five futons, all organic, off of Marketplace. But for the beds our family sleeps in nightly, it’s nice to have real comfort.

So we just got our third Leesa mattress, our preferred brand.

“I genuinely love this mattress it feels so airy, yet supportive and I love that we’re not breathing in anything harmful when we co-sleep with our baby or my son.” ~ Kelsey Lewis

Now we know Kelsey’s son Leo will be growing up on a comfy, fun (he loves to bed bounce), and eco and healthy mattress for countless dreamy nights. That’s important to us—particularly since developing, growing children (let alone babies like Willa!) are most susceptible to the toxic chemicals we grown-ups are allowing in our homes.

Who wouldn’t give the world and 1000 eco-mattresses for this precious angle, miracle of all miracles, to breathe safely in her own home?

Most mattresses are…soft, firm, run cold, run warm, but usually…toxic. Most mattresses are trash even when they’re brand new.

We at Elephant have reviewed many eco mattresses over the years, and most aren’t eco. Shipping, wrapped in plastic, toxic plastic foam and plastic covering, then landfill.

Mattresses are generally an awful product, if we care about our children, health, or future generations in a world beset by waste, pollution, and climate crisis.

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But we need ’em. We need a comfortable sleep, and a place to be cozy, romantic, happy, and rest-full. Sleep isn’t merely a pause from daily life; it’s a vital component of our well-being. “A restful night in a safe environment fuels creativity, productivity, and performance in both personal and professional spheres,” say the good humans at Leesa.

Leesa is one of the best: GREENGUARD Gold certified with CertiPUR-US certified foams. Certification matters—this isn’t just greenwashing, marketing, empty words covering up for a toxic product.

“Proven by independent accrediting testing labs to be made without any harmful chemicals including ozone depleters, PBDE flame retardants, mercury, lead, heavy metals, formaldehyde, and have extremely plow impact on indoor air quality.” And no phthalates.

My Leesa + West Elm Natural Hybrid mattresses are “made with 100% organic cotton cover (certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) to ensure a breathable, eco-conscious sleep environment) and Pure New Zealand Joma Wool Top (naturally moisture wicking, odor-resistant, and bacteria-resistant). Includes layers of memory foam and 1.5″ 100% Talalay Latex (touted as ‘Earth’s most perfect sleep material’. It is uniquely buoyant, breathable foam).”

I’m not sure about the sourcing of the wool, if it’s ethical, but GOTS is the gold standard and latex, wool, are generally far better than plastic, which is fossil fuels, toxic, which is climate crisis-fueling.

For hot sleepers, this is a good choice. I’m happy with the comfort—the mattresses are simultaneously comfy, cozy…and firm enough to be healthy and stable. Would love to see them eco shipped in twine, or some other natural material, instead of plastic…but other than that, this is as good as it gets.

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“Don’t make perfect the enemy of the good,” as is often said…but also, don’t try to be just “okay,” genuinely aim for eco-responsible, ethical.

I’m proud that Elephant is partnered with Leesa. We only work with mindful brands we feel good about, and are happy to recommend to our community. ~ Waylon and Fam