I’ve been instructed by my doctor to consider one of those memory foam mattress toppers for lower back support. I know they give off fumes when you first unpackage them. I have a cockatiel who spends his days/nights in the office adjoining my bedroom (it’s an open area divided by shelving, so technically it’s one large room). I’m super worried about fumes/bird. I have a RabbitAir air purifier that runs nonstop, but I don’t expect this to solve the problem of dangerous fumes.
It’s not really an option to move the bird while this thing gets done off-gassing, so really the easiest thing would be to let the mattress topper do its thing in another part of the house. How long should I expect this thing to need to air out before I can feel safe having it near the bird?
I’m going to assume if you go out on the internet looking for answers your going to find a lot of BS floating around on a subject like this.
My uneducated WAG would be to put it somewhere else, wait until you can’t smell it anymore (I don’t have one, I’m just assuming it’s going to smell as if off gasses) and then, since birds are more sensitive, wait at least twice that long. So if it takes a week to stop smelling, wait another week. If you can do this in a part of the house where you can close off the vents/returns that’s probably not a bad idea either. Otherwise you’re just going to carry the fumes around. Can you do it in a garage or basement?
ETA, I just took a look around and found a post on a message board that said to walk on it (just socks) a couple of times a day to exchange the air trapped inside to speed up the off gassing…someone else in the same thread (that owns an “organic mattress store”) said it’s the most toxic mattress in the world and he knows someone who got one and their kid stopped breathing the first night he slept on it.
We have one. It smelled very faintly for about three days after we got it. It really wouldn’t have occurred to me that it was a level of off-gassing that would affect anything. It’s quite mild, and we slept on it the first night with no problems.
My family owns a furniture store, and we regularly get people who are worried about dangerous fumes coming from mattresses. I wish I could get the straight dope about this, I’m tired of hearing people tell me how dangerous a new mattress is.
If these gases are so dangerous, why aren’t mattress factory workers dropping like flies?
I’ve been learning about memory foam mattresses (and mattress toppers). There’s an emissions standard certification that foam products can carry called CertiPUR. Apparently many US made foam products carry this certification, and many imports do not. The imports can contain other “filler” ingredients/chemicals that can make the mattresses cheaper yet more toxic.
So, if I do this I think I need to look for an American made product with this “seal.”
I bought a foam mattress last year and don’t remember any strong odors. It was delivered midday and I think I kept the windows open and had the ceiling fan on for the rest of the day, but I slept on it that night.
I’ve been reading customer reviews of different products on different websites, and it seems like 75% of reviewers seem to have little to no opinion of any odors, 20% mention mild odors that they have had to allow to air out, and about 5% that say it’s the most awful strong chemical smell and it gave them headaches/dizziness and they couldn’t sleep on the mattress.
So maybe some people are more sensitive? Anyway- I’ll plan on shopping smart & being super careful with the bird.
Tempur-Pedic tells you there will be fumes and that they will not cause harm. The safe assumption, of course, is that they will not cause harm to humans, cats, and dogs. I’d call the mattress manufacturer and ask. If they don’t know whether it’s safe for birds, at least they can tell you what’s in the fumes so you can research the bird aspect elsewhere.
The birdies are much, much more sensitive-- if we can’t smell something that doesn’t mean anything re: bird safety (see: teflon pans, new stain-treated couches, scented candles, over cleaning, turkey-cooking-bags and other things that snuff them tout de suite). Maybe after a couple of weeks if it’s warm enough to keep the room really well ventilated it might be ok.