Best Crib Mattress for 2024

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission.

Alex Nishimoto

Alex is a journalist and father of two based in Los Angeles with a passion for cars, history, and the arts. He was a staff writer for Motor Trend for 10 years, and in that time also contributed to Automobile, Super Street, Truck Trend, Four Wheeler, and other publications. When he's not chasing his kids around or testing the latest parenting gadgets, he's restoring an E30-generation BMW 325is, which he's owned (and neglected) since college.

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Our take - Traditional innerspring crib mattresses are typically firmer and more durable than foam mattresses. Sealy Baby's FlexCool crib mattress shines in this category with its 204 coils and anti-sag steel bars for support. A higher coil count translates to a firmer mattress, as there are fewer gaps between each coil. Innerspring mattresses tend to sleep cooler because air can flow freely between the springs.

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Our take - With the rise of brands such as Casper and Purple, the mattress in a box has carved out a niche in the mattress space. It should come as no surprise that this business model has made its way into the crib mattress category. The Graco Deluxe is a standard foam mattress that's compressed, rolled up and crammed into a box for easy shipping. Like other mattresses packaged this way, the Graco expands when it's removed from the box. Once fully expanded, the mattress is ready to be placed in your crib. However, some owners report that the mattress never fully expands to its correct 4-inch thickness. Contact the retailer and ask for a replacement if this happens with yours.

Our take - Not everyone has several hundred dollars to throw at a crib mattress. Fortunately, there are still good options at the lower end of the pricing spectrum. Safety 1st is well known for its competitively priced baby products, and the brand's focus on value carries over to its crib mattress offerings. The Safety 1st Heavenly Dreams crib mattress is a sub-$100 option that offers a surprising amount of value for the money. Its core is made of high-density thermo-bonded polyester fiber, while the waterproof cover is vinyl. It's also lightweight at just 7.5 pounds.

Our take - There are many reasons to choose a mini crib over a full-size crib. They have a smaller footprint than their full-size counterparts, which means you'll have an easier time fitting one in your room. Some mini cribs fold and have legs with lockable caster wheels, making them easier to store and move. If you decide a mini crib is the right fit for your baby and living space, then you'll need a crib mattress to go with it.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, your baby's bed should be firm for a few reasons. In their early stages of development, an infant's skeletal structure needs firm support to ensure proper alignment of their spine and bones. It's best to have a firm crib mattress that fits tightly in the crib, so ensure there are no gaps along the edges or any loose objects or fabric materials that could potentially become a breathing hazard.

Generally, crib mattresses fall into two main categories:

Innerspring mattress: An innerspring crib mattress is a more traditional mattress that relies on internal coil springs for support. The higher the number of coils, the more supportive the mattress. Because they include hundreds of steel coils, innerspring mattresses are almost always heavier than their foam counterparts. They also tend to be pricier.

Foam mattress: Foam crib mattresses make up the vast majority of the market. They're typically made of polyurethane foam and can be relatively inexpensive, thanks to their simpler construction. Within the foam crib mattress category, there are breathable mattresses with woven polymer cores that allow air to pass through more easily.

You might like the pillowy, sink-in feel of a soft mattress, but your baby needs to sleep on something a good deal firmer for their safety. A good crib mattress must be firm and supportive as a precaution against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, according to Alex Savy, a certified sleep science coach and founder of SleepingOcean.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says soft mattresses, including those made of memory foam, can form indentations that increase suffocation risk. "A crib mattress should not be cushioning and hugging," Savy says. "Instead, it must spring back quickly when the pressure is applied."

You'll often see this certification on crib mattresses and many other baby products. Greenguard Gold certification signifies that a product has passed a battery of testing for chemical emissions called Volatile Organic Compounds. VOCs are released as a gas from paints, cleaning supplies and other materials. A Greenguard Gold certified product emits a very low amount of VOCs, if any.

Though Greenguard Gold is the most prevalent certification among crib mattresses, you'll see others. CertiPur-US is similar in that it certifies a product has low VOCs, but a mattress with this certification has also been made without ozone depleters, toxic flame retardants or phthalates. However, Greenguard Gold is generally considered the more stringent standard.

All standard-size crib mattresses are required by law to measure between 51 5/8 inches and 53 inches long and 27 1/4 and 28 inches wide. So yes, in theory, any standard crib mattress on sale today should fit any standard crib, but some will fit better than others. For instance, some mattresses' corners are square while others are rounded, leaving gaps. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, two adult fingers should not be able to fit between the mattress and the crib's sides.