Made of natural, organic materials, the Nook Pebble Pure Mattress comes in eleven beautiful colors. Nook makes a lot of claims about the Nook pebble mattress, and about the Pebble Pure specifically, including that it’s organic, non-toxic, earth-friendly and breathable. But do they back up these claims with facts? And what do we actually think about this two-stage crib mattress? Continue reading to find out.
The Pebble Pure Organic Crib Mattress is made mainly of organic coconut coir, natural rubber tree latex, organic wool, organic cotton, and eucalyptus fiber. The mattress includes a cover that comes in 11 stylish colors. It measures 28” x 53” x 4” and is 25 pounds. The measurements might seem a bit large, but we’ll explain why this mattress actually works perfectly in standard cribs (USA). Everything in the Nook Pebble Pure is 100% certified organic. Nook is GREENGUARD Gold certified and GOTS organic certified. These are just two of Nook’s certifications ensuring environmentally-friendly, sustainable, safe, and quality materials for your baby.
Nook’s Claims
Let’s start with Nook’s claims about this crib mattress. Nook boasts a lot of benefits of their Pebble Pure mattress:
- Organic
- Non-toxic
- Earth friendly
- Sustainable
- All-natural
- Water resistant
- Safe
- Machine washable
- Breathable
- Crib ready
- Stylish
Because the Nook Sleep Pebble Pure Organic Crib Mattress isn’t cheap (Nook sells it on their website for $419 – financing is available), it’s fair to ask: does it really live up to all these claims?
What’s Inside the Nook Sleep Pebble Pure Organic Crib Mattress?
We love that Nook is transparent in their materials. The cross section image of the mattress gives you a pretty good idea of what’s inside, so you can rest easy while your baby rests easy, and know they’re sleeping on clean, non-toxic materials.
Organic Coconut Coir
Coconut what?
Coconut coir (pronounced core) is actually a popular material for organic crib mattresses. Don’t think smelly, damp coconut meat when you think of coconut being in your baby’s mattress. The coir is actually the stringy husk of the coconut. It makes up the majority of the inside of the Pebble Pure, and is what makes it firm and safe for your baby.
What Are the Benefits of Coconut Coir?
Organic coconut coir is a relatively earth friendly material to use in a mattress because it helps to use up all of the coconut. It also has many benefits specific to mattresses including:
- It’s breathable and moisture resistant
- It’s a very firm material, which is exactly what babies need in a mattress
- It helps keep mattresses free of dust mites
- It’s a natural material. Coir is sprayed in latex, and so long as the company uses natural latex, the final product doesn’t have any chemicals or off-gassing
Natural Rubber Tree Latex
Because the organic coconut coir is so sturdy, it’s used as the main material in the mattress, and it’s what makes the infant side so firm.
On the toddler side, there is a layer of natural rubber tree latex that is a little more forgiving than the coconut coir. We love that this mattress includes a side that is more comfortable for toddlers while still being firm enough to be safe.
Remember, the Nook Sleep Pebble Pure is a 2-stage mattress. Face the coconut side (the firmer side) up for a baby, and flip the mattress to the latex side (the plusher side) for a toddler. It’s important you get this right, as infants need a firm crib mattress for safety!
Organic Wool
The Pebble Pure mattress uses organic wool sourced from family-owned farms in California and Oregon to act as a natural fire barrier, which is much more preferable to chemical flame retardants. Wool is a natural flame retardant, and it’s great for temperature regulation, too. The wool in the Pebble Pure wraps all the way around the mattress and sits just below the cover.
Organic Cotton & Eucalyptus Fiber Cover
The mattress’ outer layer is the unique pebble cover made of organic cotton, eucalyptus fiber, an organic cotton/non-toxic poly blend, zinc, and a nylon zipper. These materials are naturally anti-microbial, non-toxic, and hypoallergenic. The cover is removable and machine washable. This interesting cover serves quite a few purposes that complete the impressive features of the Pebble Pure Organic Crib Mattress.
What’s So Special About the Cover and Its Pebble Design?
At first glance, this cover seems… odd. Why are there bumps and valleys all over a mattress for a baby? Well, as it turns out, those pebbles are there for good reason.
The Nook Pebble Cover is Breathable
First of all, the pebbles help to make this a breathable crib mattress. One of the things parents of infants and toddlers lose sleep over the most is whether their baby is able to breathe. Especially once babies are able to roll and start sleeping on their stomachs – no matter how many times you try to flip them to their back – this becomes a concern.
The American Academy of Pediatrics says it’s safe for babies to sleep on their stomach once they can get themselves into that position. For parents, however, it’s still terrifying when you check on your baby and see their face smushed into their mattress.
When you hear the term “breathable” to describe material, it doesn’t necessarily mean you can actually breath through the material (well – except perhaps for the Newton Crib Mattress).
The unique design of the pebble pattern cover, though, helps promote airflow in this mattress, and many reviewers note that they have experimented with putting their face straight into the mattress and were still able to breathe.
Of course, you should never try this experiment with your baby, but it should give you some peace of mind. Before you buy a product for you baby based on its breathability, be sure to investigate what the company actually means by “breathable.”
Always place your baby to sleep on his or her back – even if you’re using a breathable crib mattress. While breathable crib mattress manufacturers may be working to make it safer for babies who roll onto their tummies during sleep, virtually all health professionals recommend back sleeping is safest. Besides suffocation risk, some (but not all) studies suggest there is still potential for babies to re-breathe their exhaled carbon dioxide when sleeping on their fronts or sides.
The Nook Pebble Cover is Water Resistant
The materials of the pebble cover also help with water resistance. While the mattress isn’t waterproof, the natural materials its made of allow it to resist water just like these materials do in nature. It’s designed to keep liquids, dirt and – ahem – semi-liquids from seeping into the mattress.
Nook also uses what they call nanosphere technology to help with this. During the finishing phase, the cover goes through a water bath instead of a chemical bath like many materials. Particles wrap themselves around the material in the cover, creating an extra natural barrier.
The cotton used in the cover is soft, the eucalyptus wicks moisture, and the zinc is antimicrobial to protect against dust mites, bed bugs, fungi, and mold.
Mold has long been known to cause a variety of health problems, and is definitely not something you want growing in your baby’s mattress.
A 2017 study out of New Zealand for the International Journal of Indoor Environment and Health found that:
“Strong positive associations were found between observations of visible mold and new‐onset wheezing in children.”
Mold trapped in a mattress is almost impossible to find. We love that Nook works to prevent mold and other harmful materials from growing in their mattresses.
The Nook Pebble Pure Mattress is Crib Ready
Anything that makes life easier and more convenient for a new parent gives it a leg up in our book. When you get this mattress, it’s ready to go. You don’t need to add any mattress covers, protectors, or sheets.
The mattress is also crib ready in the sense that it fits snugly into the crib. You might have noticed the dimensions of the mattress (28” x 53” x 4”) are actually a little bit larger than most standard cribs, but according to Nook:
“Nook mattresses are made free of inner-springs, which allows for a bit of give on each side of the mattress. By building our mattresses slightly larger, it will ensure a safe, snug fit at the base of any US Standard crib.”
This is a great way to make sure there are no gaps between the mattress and crib.
Back to Those Claims
Based on what we’ve found out about the Nook Sleep Pebble Pure Organic Crib Mattress, it looks like it does live up to the claims:
- Organic: check
- Non-toxic: check
- Earth friendly: check
- Sustainable: check
- All-natural: check
- Water resistant: check
- Safe: check
- Machine washable: check (the cover, anyway)
- Breathable: check
- Crib ready: check
- Stylish: while this is up for interpretation, we give it a big check
Nook offers a limited lifetime warranty and a 100-night free trial. If you’re not satisfied or if there are manufacturer’s defects, you don’t have to worry about wasting over $400 on a mattress.
Nook Pebble Pure Mattress Summary
What’s to Love
- Nook holds a variety of certifications, including GREENGUARD Gold certified and GOTS organic certified. These certifications ensure their products are sustainable and healthy for your kids, and you don’t have to worry about them breathing in off-gassed VOCs.
- Nook really does care about babies—a portion of every mattress sold is donated to SIDS research.
- The mattress cover comes in 11 different colors, from a soft pink to a bright teal.
- You can qualify for a payment plan if you need help affording this higher end mattress.
- Free returns and shipping with a 100-night free trial.
- All-natural ingredients in the mattress keep the air free of off-gassing and chemical odors in your baby’s environment. Plus, no plastic other than the nylon zipper, as far as we can tell.
- Your mattress will arrive crib ready—you don’t need to buy any extra sheets or mattress pads.
- The mattress cover has a lot of benefits, including the pebble design that promotes breathability and materials that are safe and comfortable for baby.
What We’d Change
- Some reviewers complain that the fabric on the cover does not hold up well over time.
- We understand that adding a completely waterproof mattress pad or cover would defeat the purpose of many of the natural benefits of this mattress, but we wonder just how well the water-resistant cover would hold up to major messes.
- Nook is transparent about the sourcing of their wool, but even after some digging, we couldn’t find any information about the sourcing of their other materials.
Nook Pebble Pure FAQs
According to Nook, “every inch of the Pebble Pure is organic.” However, it’s probably more accurate to say that every component that can be organic, is organic. For example, the mattress uses a nylon zipper, which of course isn’t organic.
The inner mattress of the Pebble Pure is made from Natural rubber tree latex and organic coconut coir, wrapped in organic wool, which serves as a fire retardant barrier (instead of using chemical flame retardants). The pebble wrap (cover) is made from eucalyptus fiber, organic cotton, an organic cotton/non-toxic poly blend, zinc, and a nylon zipper.
The Nook Pebble Pure is a dual-sided mattress, which means it’s suitable for babies from birth until the end of their toddler years. For infants, use the firmer side of the mattress. For toddlers, you can flip the mattress to the softer side.
The Nook Pebble Pure measures 28” x 53” x 4” and is 25 pounds. It fits a standard USA crib.
