The organic textiles industry in Australia really began when aware mothers started insisting on chemical-free bedding for their children.

Most of those mothers later became users themselves, as it became fairly common knowledge that commercial bedding contains chemicals, traces of which become airborne and are absorbed through the lungs and skin into the bloodstream.

Commercial mattresses and bedding products are made with little regard for the health of the user.

Children especially are highly susceptible to chemicals in their environment while they are asleep. The most commonly known chemical is Formaldehyde, used as a softener in conventional textiles. It has received a lot of publicity recently for the adverse effects it has on the short-term and long-term health of those who are exposed to it. Most of the bedlinen sold in Australia today comes from China and there are no controls over its Formaldehyde content.

There is another factor you might like to consider when making that all-important first mattress purchase. Remember, your child will be spending more than 8 hours a day in close proximity to it… that is, metal springs.

In terms of Feng Shui metal springs create “cutting chi”. In terms of physics they can amply the electro-magnetic fields (EMF’s) in your home, acting like antennae to create energetic turmoil for your body. EMF’s are measurable, scientific phenomena, and low levels of them can create ill-health.

According to an article on the Environmental Illness Resource website, “living in a high EMF environment (can be) like a person with auditory sensitivity trying to carry on normal life with someone shouting in both ears all the time.”

R. Douglas Fields, Ph. D, writes in Scientific American: “As we sleep on our coil-spring mattresses, we are in effect sleeping on an antenna that amplifies the intensity of the broadcast FM/TV radiation. Asleep on these antennas, our bodies are exposed to the amplified electromagnetic radiation for a third of our life spans. As we slumber on a metal coil-spring mattress, a wave of electromagnetic radiation envelops our bodies so that the maximum strength of the field develops 75 centimeters above the mattress in the middle of our bodies. The author notes that the rate of breast cancer in Japan is a lot lower than in the west, and attributes this to the fact that they do not sleep on (spring) mattresses, and their TVs operate on a different frequency”.

Perhaps in time we will look back on the period when we put metal springs in our mattresses and Formaldehyde in our bedding as a dark age, just as we are now with Asbestos and a range of outer so-called improvements to our lifestyle?

Making the right mattress selection is vital to the long-term welfare of your children – and your own well-being for that matter.

Fortunately for us as parents, while children might crave junk food, they never crave junk bedding.