Is our new mattress bad for baby?

[smittenmom]

After six months of squeezing onto an old, uncomfortable full-size mattress with dd, we finally bought a new queen-size (yay!). We slept on it for the first time last night, and I noticed that it has a horrible chemical-y smell. It's probably the stain guard stuff they put on it. So... my question is a) is that harmful to dd (or us for that matter), b) if so, what can we do about it, and c) how long 'til that smell goes away?!

Thanks!

[Elphaba]

if you go to www.mercola.com his newsletter 3-19 has got instructions on protecting your baby from the chemicals in the mattress.

[Quirky]

It's off-gassing from the materials the mattress itself is made of. I would open all the windows, weather permitting, leave the sheets off, and let it air out for a few days (turn it halfway through so the other side is up).

We just bought a new king size mattress as well and had the same issues. We recently put a mattress cover on it and whether it's the airing out or the mattress cover the smell has gone down a lot. We also have a HEPA filter running nonstop in our bedroom, that may help too.