While sleep is a crucial factor of a healthy lifestyle, it is much more so in the children's case. While you may prefer to give your toddler space in a comfortable crib for a while, the sleeping environment changes with age. From early childhood, sleep changes immensely as it is the developmental stage where children need more sleep. While adults need about 7-9 hours of sleep on average, children sleep more depending upon their age. Therefore, a high-quality, comfortable mattress is essential for their growing needs and overall sleep, body, and brain development.

Newborns sleep about 14- 17 hours on average, preschoolers about 10-13 hours, and school-age and teenage tend to average around 8-11 hours of sleep. Sleep is the single most crucial factor in ensuring healthy brain and body development in children. As parents and adults, we usually enforce good sleeping habits and times in childhood, but mattresses play just as essential a role in children's lives.

Choosing a children's mattress can be challenging. It is even tougher when you want to order a custom size and shape mattress, both because of manufacturing and the demand. Be it school going kids, or toddlers, they're going to grow up fast, and choosing a mattress size and shape isn't a priority as they're going to outgrow it.
However, what you can choose is how they sleep through these years and preferably go for one of the existing standard mattresses. Choosing the type of mattress and pillows is all that remains that you need to do at that point. While it may be tough to choose a mattress in the initial years, it is better to go for bunk beds with medium-firm mattresses in school-going age. In your teenage years, you can choose a mattress as per the body frame and algorithmic analysis with our SleepID tool.

Why do kids need the right mattress?
As kids, sleeping on a comfortable mattress is vital to integrate long-term healthy habits and understand the importance of sleep. Ensuring a proper sleeping pattern, environment, and schedule helps them get a good night's sleep and helps with development. Children tend to sleep more because their bodies are developing, and the body needs more time to build or repair. Here are the reasons why kids need the right mattress:

1. Growth and development:
Children's bodies change rapidly and grow at a rate that a mattress should accommodate. So, it makes sense to go for a mattress that helps develop their bodies and minds in sleep. Parents help inculcate a healthy sleeping environment and behavior by enforcing a sleeping schedule and waking up for school time. A healthy sleeping schedule not only sets children to focus on sleep for life, but a compatible mattress also helps them realize the value of comfortable sleep.
Since children tend to sleep with their parents for most of the early years, once they have a room, a single or double-sized mattress is essential. Sleeping comfortably that cushions and supports their bodies helps develop the mind and body as they're more likely to enter a deep sleep state in high-quality sleep.

2. Healthy sleeping patterns:
As mentioned above, sleeping is essential not only for their early lives but also for sleeping on time. In a comfortable environment, it helps teach an excellent sleeping lifestyle in adulthood. A high-quality mattress helps make sure that children also understand the value of good cushioning and support early in life. Ensuring their sleeping environment is good makes children wake up fresh and go in deep-sleep every day. A healthy sleeping environment helps build healthy sleeping patterns early in childhood, which leads to understanding the importance of sleep in adulthood.

Benefits of healthy and sound sleep for children:
While sleeping in a healthy environment helps children develop, grow, and have healthy habits, it also helps them internally. Here is how good sleep helps children, and a mattress can help develop the right sleeping environment too:

- Cardiac health: In the younger years, we tend to be much more physically active than in adulthood. While your children may love playing outside and running around all day to improve their health, sleep also impacts cardiac health. A night of good quality sleep helps develop a healthy cardiovascular system that needs just as much rest at night as it needs maintenance.
Mattresses help guarantee deep-sleep by putting children to sleep quickly rather than be active even at night. In sleep, children spend more time in deep sleep than is possible in adulthood and a good time for the body to boost cardiovascular health. Sleeping a good night's sleep helps release the necessary sleep hormones and burn the appropriate glucose to help them sleep healthy in the long term.

- Weight management: Increase in schoolwork, change in global circumstances, and interest in outdoor activities vary greatly during childhood. While a good diet can help maintain a healthy body weight in children, it is also essential to have a good night's sleep for the same. Sleeping less or excessively leads to bad blood glucose regulation even in childhood, leading to weight gain and low metabolism. These factors can lead to lifestyle issues in adulthood and obesity, even in childhood. That is why a comfortable sleep is quintessential for excellent overall health starting from childhood itself.

- Helps improve attention span and learning: While being mindful of things has become a global necessity in today's age, it starts from childhood. Focusing on something, be it learning or attention span starts because of a night of healthy sleep. Waking up fresh has its benefits we notice in our lifestyles, and the same things apply to children.
Except, it is much more deep-seated in children, and sleeping habits and deep-sleep is an indicator of a good attention span. This helps make children better at picking things up and entirely devoted to hobbies, reading, and academic requirements. In the case of less or excessive sleep sustained throughout childhood, they're more likely to develop a short learning span or an ADHD diagnosis.

How soft or firm a mattress should be for kids?
While in adults, it matters immensely how a mattress should be supportive or cushioning, it is different in childhood. Because of active bodies that are constantly growing, what children need is a medium-firm mattress that supports and cushions their bodies well. As children sleep long hours, an extra firm or extra soft mattress wouldn't help them sleep comfortably. This is because sleeping on an extra firm or extra soft mattress despite little bodyweight can cause issues with deep-sleep.
The ideal mattress type for children can vary from medium-soft to medium-firm, as it needs to be just right to balance their bodies. Moreover, when children move from their parents' bed to a separate bed, it is vital to ensure the right mattress and comforting sleeping experience. A dual comfort mattress can support children for most of their young lives. However, you may need to accommodate an adequate size to accommodate their changing bodies.

A comfortable sleep in early childhood and school-going age means they're able to go to sleep and wake up on time without any pains. Since children do not have any medical issues or lifestyle issues, unlike adults, a medium-firm or medium soft mattress, do the job well. This helps orient their bodies in a comfortable sleeping position without any pains and support as they grow and change body weight and height.

The best type of mattresses for children:
While most parents agree that medium-firm or medium-soft mattresses are more than enough to guarantee children's changing needs, it is crucial to ensure a healthy sleeping environment. This also means that pillows are just as important as a high-quality mattress that helps children sleep a good night's sleep. Moreover, children will also pick up the kind of mattresses they prefer in adulthood in the early years. So, the kind of mattresses children prefer can also change with age. Here is how their mattress requirements can change:

1. Early school years: Most children under the age of 10 prefer to sleep with their parents, and their definition of comfort can set in during this period based on the parents' mattress kind. However, as they grow from, say, early classes to entering senior school, their bodies grow in size a lot and are ready for puberty. The best mattress for this age is a medium soft mattress that helps cushion their bodies, and they do not usually need much support. The little bodyweight and overall early definition of comfort should make them comfortable with a medium soft mattress in single or bunk beds.

2. Teenage years: Entering the senior school in teenage years around the age of 12-14 sees a vast change in behavior, physical features development, and build up in children's bodies. At this point, their bodies usually become a considerable weight to consider a medium-firm mattress that helps cushion and support their growing bodies. A medium-firm mattress helps support the developing features in both genders in children throughout puberty and also offers a smooth transition from their childhood medium soft mattress.

3. Late teenage, early adulthood: By the time they're too old to be called 'kids' by social convention, early young adults and teenagers set in for life what their preference for a mattress can be. They can be overweight, underweight, or a healthy BMI, but one thing is sure, the sleeping demands change exponentially. All of us go through teenage years with little respect for sleep and want to wake up late. However, ensuring a good sleeping schedule and environment helps avoid lifelong chronic pains and adapt to a particular mattress type.

By the time we enter college or leave higher school around the age of 17, you can assume the body has developed and matured physically and emotionally. It is up to their choice at this age, but a medium-firm mattress can support the changing body's requirements in these years.

How does the right mattress help children sleep better?
There is no doubt that sleep is essential for children, but how does a mattress help children sleep better? This question might be what most parents look after when getting a mattress for their kids and last a long-time. Just like good sleeping habits in adulthood, ensuring the importance of sleep starts in childhood. While adult bodies may grow weak or strong depending upon lifestyle, children are cooperative and not demanding a new mattress unless they are uncomfortable sleeping.

That is where a high-quality mattress helps make sure that your children get the best sleeping experience as per their changing bodies. By ensuring a calm sleep, where they don't experience excess comfort or rock rigid support, children prefer what they're given. A right medium firm or medium soft mattress helps make sure that their bodies have the support and comfort they need through the years.

A good quality compatible mattress helps them sleep quickly, wake up without body pains, and be ready for school or college. It also helps settle in permanent sleeping behaviors that boost their help through set patterns throughout life. The changing lifestyle and bodies are the reason why our children need just as much attention as adults do to maintain and take care of their physical and mental health.

Conclusion:
The importance of sleep and ensuring good sleeping habits start in childhood. From the time your children leave your bed to the time they're ready to face the world, health is an essential factor, and sleep is the factor with the most impacting role. A high-quality mattress paired with good sleeping habits can help your children ensure a good lifestyle throughout their lives. It is even more important in childhood, even in puberty when their bodies go profound changes and need more care. This influences how your children treat sleep and health overall in adulthood, and the best way is by teaching a healthy sleeping pattern and the environment with the right mattress.