We both became proud parents to a baby girl in December! So on our agenda last year was a visit to the Baby Show. Whilst at the baby show, we discovered the launch of the Snuzsurface cot bed mattress.
We got to have a really good look at one up close. Niall and I were totally sold on the Snuzsurface mattress after learning about the mattress structure and features in more detail. Actually, we pre ordered a Snuzsurface (knowing it wouldn’t be used for quite a number of months yet!)
For anyone who has heard of the Snuzfurface mattress. If you want a thorough and honest review, you have come to the right place.
Who are we and why did we write this review?
‘Sleepy Guru’, our website has until now, been purely focused on our experiences as grown ups. We created the website to share what we learned when we spent a long time researching our new mattress purchase. Hoping to share some new found knowledge and save you from spending hours scouring the internet in a confused state.
We are delighted to have expanded our knowledge into the world of baby and child mattresses. To share with you our first hand experience of researching and buying a cotbed mattress for our new baby. We will try to save you some time and money if we can so you can enjoy more time relaxing!
Snuzsurface Unboxing
Here are a few pictures of the Snuzsurface mattress unboxing and some key things to bear in mind!
The mattress is delivered rolled into a tight tube and boxed in a very sturdy purple and white box.
Much like the Simba and Emma mattresses now, rolling mattresses into boxes for delivery seems to the the way forward.
It is key to highlight at this point that once delivered, the Snuzsurface mattress must be opened and unrolled immediately. (There is sufficient warning of this on the outside of the box.)
(This is to protect the pocket springs inside. The springs may become damaged by being compressed for a long period of time.) Thankfully, we had already set up a nursery with a cotbed ready to pop the mattress straight into.
Top Tip
If you do not have somewhere to store the unrolled mattress, do not order your Snuzsurface mattress too early. As you will not be able to store it in the box.
Snuzsurface Instructions – Couldn’t Be Easier!
Here is the instructions guide from the Snuzsurface mattress. It is really easy and clear to follow.
The guide for adjusting the order of the layers of the mattress is also really simple to follow.
Snuz also put the instructions for adjusting the mattress layers inside the outer cover of the mattress. (So you can’t accidentally lose them!)
This is how the mattress looks when it comes out of the box. Snuz supply a small blade tool (to cut the plastic away without risking any slices or damage to the mattress).
Below is the mattress as it has started to unroll and flatten out. This starts immediately, and don’t worry, it looks pretty crinkled and poor at first. The mattress will straighten itself out after a while.
10 Minutes Later
Below is a picture of the mattress after around 10 minutes of unfolding. As you can see, the surface looks crinkled and dented which can be quite alarming. However, the mattress will fully spread out and these dents will disappear.
As you are probably already aware that there should be little to no gap around the edge of a cot bed mattress for the safety of baby.
Cot beds and cots along with their mattresses are usually made in standard sizes, (widths and lengths) regardless of brand or manufacturer. To ensure that a mattress is going to fit inside correctly and safely.
When the Snuzsurface is initially placed inside the cot bed, there is an alarming amount of space surrounding the mattress.
However, there is a warning label to say that the Snuzsurface must not be used for 7 days after opening. This gives the mattress time to fully expand and to fit the cot bed properly.
First Impressions of the Snuzsurface
The Snuzsurface mattress, on first impression, looks to be of incredibly high quality. Everything is designed well; from the outer packaging to the little tool that is supplied to safely open the mattress bag.
The fabric feels very luxurious and soft. You would never guess that the top layer is actually waterproof as it it so soft and not crinkly.
You can quickly check the price of the Snuzsurface mattress on Amazon. They had the mattress on offer with free delivery last time I looked.
Instructions
The instructions are extremely simple to follow. The mattress configuration (the layers) are set up for a newborn right away. So you don’t have to do anything other than take it out of its packaging.
Smell
There is no noticeable undesirable smell with this mattress. There is an inevitable slight smell of ‘new mattress’. But this is extremely mild and actually quite pleasant and clean smelling. It will disappear after a few hours of being exposed to the air anyway.
Quality
The mattress feels very high quality, the surface is soft and the stitching is exceptionally neat and hardly noticeable.
It can be slightly worrying as you allow the mattress to unroll and breathe. The wrinkle crumpled surface looks like the mattress is bad quality. However, ignore this and just let the Snuzsurface do its thing and it will be fine.
It feels extremely comfortable and supportive, perfect for baby. The mattress is set to give a fairly firm support for babies of up to 12months old.
When you unzip remove the cover or to see the individual layers inside the mattress, they look very high quality.
It really is nice to be able to see inside the mattress without it being completely sewn up and sealed.
Setting the Mattress to The Different Stages
I love the fact that the Snuzsurface mattress changes with your growing baby and then toddler. The guide to changing the order of the layers for different ages is printed underneath the cover of the mattress. (So if you’re anything like us and you loose things all this time – you can’t accidentally loose these instructions!)
The Snuzsurface is extremely easy to set into the different support levels, it comes set up as Support level 1: 0-12months old. This is a firm level of support to give babies the support they need. This consists of the firm foam layer on top, the pocket springs below and the soft foam at the bottom, as this is not yet really needed.
The second stage of the Snuzsurface mattress is toddler support. The mattress layers stay as the are but the soft foam layer is brought to the top of the pile. This gives a medium support and a little more comfort for toddlers. (1-3 years).
The third and final stage is the child support stage (3-7 years old). The soft foam layer remains on the top. The firm foam and the pocket springs switch places to make it more comfortable and supportive for your child changing size and weight.
There are a number of mattresses for cot beds on the market that last from birth to the age of around 5 or 7.
Until discovering the Snuzsurface mattress, we were set on buying the Little Green Sheep mattress. – The Green Sheep mattress has a similar sort of idea in that it can be flipped over once baby reaches a certain age to a softer surface. However, the Snuzsurface is the only mattress that really does change with your growing baby and child.
If the mattress lasts until out baby is 7 I will be incredibly happy and amazed. It really would be one of the most useful and money savvy investments to have made!
Features of the Snuzsurface
The main feature and selling point for me was the fact the the mattress can literally be adapted to better suit the needs of your growing baby and toddler.
However, as this is a high quality mattress there are some other great features too.
- Removable machine washable cover – the thought of having a mattress without this would be a little more worrying.
- Waterproof surface, some of the other baby and toddler mattresses on the market do not have a waterproof outer layer, meaning you really must have a good quality waterproof sheet to put on the mattress. –
- The surface of the mattress is extremely soft and comfortable feeling. Being waterproof you might expect it to feel rubbery or like plastic, however the surface of the mattress is so soft, you wouldn’t even believe that there is a waterproof outer fabric.
Note: it is still recommended to use a waterproof sheet with this mattress as extra protection. – When investing in a more expensive mattress you would naturally want to do what you can to preserve the life of the mattress anyway.
- The Snuzsurface is designed to last from birth to when your child is 7 years old. – This is a pretty long length of time and makes the Snuzsurface mattress a very worthwhile investment.
Are there any negatives to the Snuzsurface mattress?
For me, there are no major negatives at all. I love the design, the quality and the longevity of use of this mattress.
Materials – Man made or natural?
Man-made
If I had to come up with a negative – the only thing I could say is that the inner materials of the mattress are all unnatural fibres, as opposed to natural fibres.
The cover is 100% polyester and the filling is Polyurethane CV foam, steel and polypropylene.
Natural
For some people, not using 100% natural and chemical free fibres and materials like wool, cotton, latex and even coconut is a problem. – (They would be better off looking at the little green sheep mattresses.)
The Little Green sheep use more natural, organic and chemical free materials. Their mattresses can be used from birth to 5 years of age.
I won’t divert attention from the Snuzsurface mattress now but here is a link to the equivalent version of the Snuzsurface from the Little Green Sheep on Amazon – in case you want to read more about natural options in mattresses.
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To achieve the qualities lifespan and comfort that the Snuzsurface does, there is no real way of using only natural fibres and materials. So this really isn’t a complaint, but something to be aware of.
Price – Short or long term investment?
For some people, spending, around £140 – to £150 on a cot bed mattress seems far too much.
There are of course, much cheaper alternatives for cot bed mattresses, starting as little as around £30. However, these are always going to be a fairly short term investment and are likely to sag and loose support over time.
By contrast, the Snuzsurface is not a cheap mattress, but when you breakdown the cost of the mattress use over the course of its predicted lifespan (7 years of use), the price was not an issue at all for us.
It all depends on you and your budget..
Yes, ultimately, this is a more expensive mattress than other available options.
But for me, the Snuzsurface mattress is one of those purchases in life where it really does pay to spend a little more initially to get a lot more value and life out of a product.
We bought our Snuzsurface mattress at the Baby Show UK when it was first launched.
However, Snuzsurface is actually now a little bit cheaper on Amazon than we paid for it a few months back and it has free delivery!