Parents who end up looking at natural cot mattresses usually want the same thing: a firm, flat place for a baby to sleep, made from materials they can name. This is Woolroom's answer to that, and it's a good one. The Kids Deluxe Nursery Mattress is a 10cm cot mattress with no springs in it at all: a coir fibre core, a latex layer and British Swaledale wool, finished with a top of British wool and alpaca inside a UK-woven cotton cover. It's made in Manchester and sold direct by Woolroom, in cot and cot bed sizes, and it's the springless rung of the nursery range, one step below the sprung Luxury. Put a baby down on it and the wool gives for a moment before the firm core takes over, flat and dry, with no spring underneath pushing back.
Springs are the one difference to settle before anything else. The Woolroom Kids Luxury Nursery Mattress has a pocket spring core and two different faces, a firmer side for a baby and a softer one for a toddler. The Deluxe has no springs and exactly the same layers on both faces, so there's no baby side to keep track of: whichever way up it goes, the surface is the same. If you've seen it called the Babywool Deluxe, that was Woolroom's earlier name for it.
My rule for any cot is short. New, firm, flat, and a snug fit in the cot with no gap round the edges, because a growing back is the last place I'd economise. The Deluxe is built to that brief. It suits parents who want wool and coir next to their baby instead of foam and synthetic fibre, and who are happy to flip a mattress every couple of months to make one mattress last from the first night to the toddler years. Skip it if you want springs under your child, which is what the Luxury is for, or if you want the safety net of a trial: once it's out of the wrapping, it's yours.
No springs, just coir, latex and wool, the same on both faces
Coir is the stiff, springy fibre from coconut husks, and it's the reason this mattress is firm. Under a baby's weight it barely moves, so the surface stays level where they lie. The latex layer adds a little lift over the core, and the two wool layers on each face are what take the edge off, a thin cushion you'll feel under your fingers and a baby will barely sink into. It sleeps more like a firm pad than a bed, and a firm pad is what a cot needs.
Before ordering, I'd ask Woolroom how deep each layer is, the coir core above all. It won't change whether the mattress is firm. It will tell you how much of the 10cm is coir, latex and wool, which is what the money goes on. Ten centimetres is a normal depth for a cot, by the way, and any standard cot sheet fits it.
Is the Woolroom Deluxe Nursery Mattress safe from birth?
Woolroom describes it as "firm enough to be safe from birth" and lists it as "Suitable for new born". For how to put a baby down to sleep, follow the safer-sleep guidance from the NHS and the Lullaby Trust.
What the natural fillings get you
Wool and other natural fibres sleep cooler and last longer than synthetic fillings, and I'll say that about any bed. Wool takes up moisture vapour and lets it go again, so the surface next to a baby stays dry. The latex layer doesn't change that: latex doesn't trap heat. Woolroom makes it in Manchester, and the wool is fully traceable British wool, which is good to know about what your child sleeps on.
Two things on this mattress deserve a straight word, starting with fire safety: the mattress meets BS7177 using the wool, with no flame-retardant chemicals added. Whatever it's filled with, a mattress on sale here has to clear that standard, so I count the wool as a pleasant bonus and nothing more. The second is "organic". To my mind that word means very little on a label until you've seen the certificate behind it, so ask Woolroom which certificate covers the cotton cover. Owners like what they get: one went looking for a natural mattress that "didn't smell of chemicals" and found it here, and another found it had "a good firm feel when sat on".
Measure the cot before you order
A cot mattress has to fill the cot. The cot size is 60 by 120cm and the cot bed size is 70 by 140cm, and Woolroom makes other sizes to order, including the two Boori cot bed sizes, 77 by 132cm and 70 by 132cm, at a different price. Measure the inside of the cot, wall to wall, before you choose, because Woolroom will only take it back unopened. Owners who bought the standard sizes found it fits well, one saying it "fits the cot perfectly" and another that it suits their toddler's cot bed just as neatly.
Built to be turned, so turn it
A double-sided mattress you can turn lasts longer than one you can't, and that's the strongest argument for the Deluxe. Flip it and swing it head to foot every two or three months, which is what Woolroom asks for, and the wear spreads over two faces and both ends. In the cot bed size, it's built to see a child from the first night to the toddler years, once the sides come off. Owners call it "well made" and "fantastic quality", and one reckoned it looks like it will outlast all of their children.
Read the guarantee before you rely on that. On the nursery mattresses Woolroom's warranty runs shorter than on its grown-up beds. A sagging claim needs a dip of more than 2.5cm, and only the original buyer can make a claim, so a mattress passed on to a friend's baby goes without the guarantee. It also asks for slats no more than 7.5cm apart, so check the base of your cot. Care is simple: air it often and spot clean it with a gentle detergent, never bleach. I'm not a fan of mattress protectors on adult beds, because they cut down how well a mattress breathes. On a cot it's a closer call, since stains and soiling sit outside the guarantee, so weigh that one yourself. Woolroom makes wool protectors for exactly this.
No sleep trial, and a fee to change your mind
This is the catch, and it's a real one. Woolroom offers no sleep trial on its nursery mattresses, unlike its adult beds. You can return it within 14 days if you change your mind, but only unused and unopened, and Woolroom charges a fee of a hundred pounds to take it back. That's a big slice of what you paid, so make your mind up before you order.
So would I buy it? Yes, for a cot. It's the firm, natural cot mattress it says it is, it turns over, and it's made from things I'd happily put under a baby. The money goes on natural fillings and a British build, and that's a fair thing to pay for if it's what you came looking for.
What to buy instead
If you want springs, stay with Woolroom and buy the Woolroom Kids Luxury Nursery Mattress. It's the sprung upgrade, and it gives you a firmer baby face and a softer toddler face to turn to later. If you'd rather keep the money and you don't mind synthetic fibre, the Relyon Luxury Pocket Sprung Cot Mattress is cheaper than the Deluxe, firm, pocket sprung and made by a maker I rate, with a cover you can take off and wash.
