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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda National Bureau of Standards-UNBS has developed standards for baby cot mattresses that specify the requirements that the manufacturers, importers and dealers in baby cot mattresses have to follow.
This comes as the UNBS develops new foam mattress standards (US 202,2021) that specify the requirements, sampling and test methods for foam mattresses suitable for domestic and hotel use to replace the US 202,2015 mattress standards.
Among the requirements for the baby cot mattress to be followed by the manufacturers, importers, dealers and retailers, is ensuring that the minimum length of the baby mattress starts at four feet (4ft), width of 610 mm and 76 mm thickness.
According to UNBS, the available baby cot mattresses on the market were not controlled under the old standards and this left dealers in the sector with no option but to buy without following any standards.
Levis Kanene, a standards officer at UNBS says that the standards seek to address issues including dimensions of baby cot mattresses, setting minimum thickness, adjustment for the cover materials, and regulation on the chemicals used, and also providing for the new innovations on the market like the top skins mattress among others.
Some mattresses do not even have any labels for the user to know the type of fabric, fabric combination, leaving the public exposed to challenges like backache, neck postures that come with using a substandard mattress.
Dr. Sabrina Kitakka, a senior paediatrician at Mulago hospital commends the UNBS for the step to standardize children mattresses. She says that as a paediatrician, she has encountered a number of children having complications developed from the bad mattresses used.
Dr. Kitakka recommends that Ugandans embrace the standards as a way of helping their children to have a comfortable sleep which she says is very important for the growing and brains of a child.
According to Kanene, the old mattress standards only considered the adult mattresses but now the standards are lowered to cater for the children with measures starting from four feet (4ft ) rather than the six feet (6ft ).
The US 202, 2021 new mattress standards require that all mattresses meet the flammability requirements to reduce the risk of fire.
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