Birch Kids Natural Mattress Review

Birch is an environmentally conscious sleep product brand extension for the brand “Helix Sleep,” launched in 2019, using all-natural materials with multiple certifications to guarantee you and your loved ones a luxurious sleep experience.

The Birch Kids Natural Mattress is a versatile option because of its double-sided construction, allowing you to have two different firmness options to meet the needs of your growing child from 3 to 12 years old.

In this article, we will discuss the following for the Birch Kids Natural mattress:

• Pros
• Cons
• Who we recommend this mattress for
• Unboxing Experience
• Firmness, Feel, and Comfort
• Constructions, Material, and Design
• Performance
• Warranty and Company Policies
• FAQs about the mattress
• Final Verdict

Birch Kids Natural Mattress Overview

Pros

• Versatile: By providing two usable sides with different firmness in the same mattress, Birch has ensured that your kid will always be comfortable. The firm side is made for ages 3 to 7, and the medium side is made for ages 8 to 12.
• Eco-Friendly: Made from natural and certified organic materials, which we will discuss in further detail, like Fair Trade Certified Organic Cotton, eco-Institute certified Latex, Organic Wool and many more layers to ensure your kid sleeps well.
• Great Responsiveness: This feature makes it easy for your child to move around freely, which works great for kids who are combination sleepers. We attribute this to the integration of latex and coils.
• No Off-Gassing Smell: Unlike most new mattresses, the Birch Kids Natural doesn’t emit an excessive off-gassing smell, which is usually the smell of polyurethane foams when exposed to air. That is because the mattress uses natural latex instead of that.

Cons

• Limited Size Options: The mattress is only available in full and twin-sized options, which may restrict your choices if you're seeking a larger bed for your child. However, kids don’t take up as much sleeping space as adults, so there should be enough space for your kid to roam around freely.

Who do we recommend the Birch Kids Natural Mattress for?

• Parents Who Want to Save Money: As your kid grows, you might naturally need to buy them different mattresses depending on their growth pace. However, the Birch Kids Natural allows you to keep the same mattress because it’s dual-sided for the entirety of your kids’ childhood or even for the next kid with its 25-year warranty.
• Parents Whose Kids Toss and Turn: Because of its great edge-support and responsiveness accomplished by the help of the latex that evenly distributes your kids’ body weight while regaining shape quickly as they move and the layer of individually wrapped coils to provide more support and bounce.
• Hot Sleepers: Birch has naturally succeeded in creating a mattress with good cooling abilities due to the organic nature of each layer, such as the cotton that promotes breathability, the latex with its open-cell structure, and the individually wrapped coils that help dissipate heat from your kids' body as they sleep.
• Combination Sleepers: Because the mattress has two sides with two different firmness options, it allows for a variety of sleeping positions. Back sleepers would benefit most from the medium side, while stomach sleepers will enjoy the firm side more, which we will discuss in further detail.

Unboxing the Birch Kids Natural Mattress

The Birch Kids Natural arrived compressed in a box with protective wrapping around it. After we used scissors to cut through the box and the plastic, all we did was place the mattress on our bed frame, and from first glance, there was no excessive off-gassing, unlike most mattresses.

We let the mattress rest and expand for about one to two hours after unrolling it to expand fully, and it showed great corner expansion.

Like Birch mentioned multiple times, we have found it to be true, that your kid could sleep on the mattress on the same night of its arrival.

Firmness, Feel, and Comfort For Birch Kids Natural Mattress

Birch Kids Natural Mattress Firmness

The Birch Kids Natural includes two firmness options; one side is suitable for kids from 3–7, which is ranked 6 on our firmness scale from 1 to 10, placing it right in the medium area.

While the other side is suitable for kids ages 8–12, it scored 7 out of 10 on our firmness scale making it firm. There’s an easy-to-read label on each side of the Birch Kids Natural that shows which side is medium and which side is firm, so it won’t be difficult for you to differentiate between the two sides.

Birch Kids Natural Mattress Feel

Upon laying on the Birch Kids Natural, we first felt the soft organic cotton cover and how comfortable it was on the skin.

On the softer side, you get to feel the natural wool layer cradling your body without restricting your movement too much.

On the firmer side, you get to feel the layer of supportive and slightly firmer wool. Laying down on both sides, you still get to feel the hundreds of individually wrapped coils that provide stability, durability, and support to the mattress.

Birch Kids Natural Mattress Comfort

Having a mattress constructed for kids’ growth and to provide a comfortable and relaxing sleep experience, while maintaining the use of natural materials free from fiberglass, makes the Birch Kids Natural an easy option to pick when you’re buying a mattress for your kid.

We tested the Birch mattress on a variety of kids with varying body weights to see how it performed in each sleeping position and how much pressure it relieved, ensuring your child has no trouble falling asleep. The mattress's 8-inch construction also makes it comfortable if your child is on the heavier side.

Here are the results of our test:

Firm Side (3 to 7 years old)

Medium Side (8 to 12 years old)

Constructions, Materials, and Design

Materials and Design

Combining organic cotton, organic wool, natural latex, and individually pocketed steel coils all in one mattress is what makes the Birch Kids Natural a unique mattress. Because each layer has different functionality in providing the perfect sleep for your child and affects their growth, we will discuss each layer individually.

Layers

• Organic Cotton Cover: The cover utilizes hypoallergenic, GOTS-certified organic cotton. This layer provides breathability and a soft, comfortable feel to the mattress, while maintaining a subtle stretch with a touch of organic wool backing to ensure that it is fire-safe without using any chemicals.
• Two Individual Layers of Organic Wool: Organic wool is a perfect fit for your kids' mattress because it is a natural fire retardant and adds more plush and comfort to your mattress, as well as being naturally hypoallergenic and helping to prevent dust-mites buildup.
• 6” Individually Wrapped Steel Coils: Being the core of the mattress, it provides support and durability, ensuring that your mattress lasts you the entirety of your kids’ childhood, and being individually wrapped lessens any noise that the coils could make while ensuring more breathability.
• Softer Comfort Layer: Also made of natural latex, this layer is made to be on the softer side of the mattress to gently contour and contain your child’s body as they sleep without sinking in too much to allow ease of movement and maintain a breathable surface while ensuring maximum pressure relief.
• Comfort Layer of 100% Organic Wool: Two more layers of organic wool to ensure that this side of the mattress is breathable too, adding a more plush feel while still making sure that your mattress is fire-safe and your kid is free from any dust or allergies.
• Organic Cotton Cover: Also made using organic hypoallergenic cotton, which is GOTS certified, made to function just like the first cover, breathable, stretchy, and soft, including organic wool in the back of it to ensure fire safety.

Performance of Birch Kids Natural Mattress

Cooling

A mattress's cooling performance is important for all ages, especially those who sleep hot, which may be why your child wakes up at night. The Birch Kids Natural ensures your child will sleep soundly without waking up because of discomfort.

The open cell structure of latex, combined with the use of organic cotton and individually pocketed spring coils, ensures a cool sleep, while also providing breathability.

We tested the mattress cooling by having one of our reviewers lay down on it for 20 minutes to see how much heat it retained. Because organic and natural premium materials were used, our reviewer didn't feel any heat after getting up.

The Birch Kids Natural earned a solid 5/5 on our cooling test, making it a great option for your kid.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness is the way the mattress lets you move easily while lying on it, without feeling stuck in your place or making movement hard. We find responsiveness crucial in kids’ mattresses because they usually move a lot at night.

Hybrid mattresses are more responsive than foam mattresses due to the ease of movement provided by coils, which means that they are bouncy and spring back instantly. The use of latex makes the mattress even more responsive.

To test this, we placed a 20-pound ball on the mattress and then removed it to see how long it took for the mattress to regain its original shape. The mattress took about 0.6 seconds, which means it has great responsiveness.

The Birch Kids Natural scored a 4.6/5 on our responsiveness test, ensuring that your kid won’t feel stuck in their place while sleeping.

Motion Isolation

Motion isolation is the ability of a mattress to prevent you from feeling the movement of the person sleeping next to you, whether it’s an adult or a pet. We'll be testing the Birch Kids Natural to see how much motion it isolates.

Firstly, we put a glass half full of water on one side of the bed while dropping a 20-pound ball on the other side. The water from the glass moved slightly, but not enough to spill outside, indicating good motion isolation.

For our second test, we had one of our reviewers lay on one side of the bed completely still, while on the other side, we had another reviewer move around to see how much movement the still reviewer would feel. The reviewer still felt a slight movement, but not enough to be uncomfortable or wake them up during the night.

Therefore, we gave the Birch Kids Natural a 4.3/5 on our motion isolation test, meaning that if you share a bed with your kid or your kid sleeps with their pet, they won’t be woken up at night.

Edge Support

Edge support plays a crucial role in kids' beds, ensuring their safety and providing comfort to parents who don't have to worry about their child falling. It also influences the stability of your mattress, and the stronger it is, the more sagging is prevented within the mattress.

We first tested the Birch Kids Natural by applying pressure to the bed's edge with our hands to gauge how much counter-pressure the mattress could provide. The mattress provided enough edge support without sinking in, and the edges returned to their original shape immediately.

Secondly, we had one of our reviewers sit on the edge of the bed to see how much sinkage they would feel, and sure enough, they felt supported and didn’t feel sunk in at all.

This is due to the latex layer providing stability to the entire surface of the mattress on both sides and the extra support of the individually pocketed coils.

We gave the Birch Kids Natural a solid 4.7/5 on our edge support test, ensuring that your kid is safe and can move around the bed freely.

Noise

If you share a bed with your child, or if your child is a light sleeper, then the mattress's noise performance is extremely important. Your kid needs a full night’s sleep for their proper growth and health.

We used an extremely sensitive microphone to test if dropping a 20-pound ball on the mattress would make any noise, especially as the Birch Kids Natural has coils, which are usually more noisy than all-foam-constructed mattresses.

The birch barely let out any noise besides the ball's thud. It guarantees that the mattress has a quiet construction, ensuring your child's comfort and sleep.

On our noise test, the Birch Kids Natural received a 5/5.

Pressure Relief

A quality mattress evenly distributes your body weight, preventing pressure buildup and discomfort in areas like the shoulders, hips, and back. To assess how well the Birch mattress alleviates pressure, we used a pressure map to visualize pressure distribution across the body.

The following results clearly show how effective the mattress is at reducing pressure points:

The blue area on the pressure map results showed no pressure at all for back sleepers, suggesting that the firm side of the mattress would be ideal for them. However, when we tested the same position on the soft side, we detected some pressure in the yellow areas.

The soft side didn't show pressure for side sleepers, as the color green indicated, but the firm side clearly showed pressure accumulation because a soft mattress is required for side sleepers, as the colors yellow and orange indicated.

The colors green and blue on the firm side indicated no pressure accumulation for stomach sleepers. The firmer side of the mattress best suits stomach and back sleepers. Those who sleep on their sides find the softer side most suitable.

The Birch Kids Natural scored a solid 4.8/5 on our pressure relief test due to its versatility and ability to handle all sleeping positions without adding pressure to your kids’ back, shoulders or hips.

Birch Warranty and Company Policies

Warranty

Birch provides a 25-year limited warranty, meaning that for the first 10 years, Birch will replace your mattress with qualifying defects for free; however, after the first 10 years, Birch will charge you for the replacement and the shipping fees.

Trial

You can try the Birch Kids Natural for 100 nights free of charge.

Returns

After 30 nights of your sleep trial, you can return the mattress for a full refund, minus the $99 removal fee. Birch will then donate or recycle your mattress, ensuring that it goes to a good cause.

Shipping

Within 3 to 6 business days, Birch will ship your mattress free of charge within the United States.

Pricing

The prices of the Birch Natural Kids are demonstrated in the table below according to different sizes. These are the original prices and are subject to discounts. To see current discounts, check their website.

The Birch Kids Natural is a bit on the pricey side due to the technologies used in it and the natural materials, all of which are certified and ensure your kids' growth without exposing them to any chemical harm, making it a great investment for your child and worth the price.

Policies Overview

FAQs about Birch Kids Natural

What makes the Birch Kids Natural different from other kids’ mattresses which could be cheaper?

The Birch Kids Natural uses all-natural components with multiple certifications like GOTS and GreenGuard Gold, and for those who are eco-friendly, don’t want any initial off-gassing, and want their kids’ mattresses to last them their entire kids’ growth period.

Will the dual-sided option live with my kid from ages 3–12?

Yes, the all-natural materials in the mattress make it guaranteed to last a lifetime with you, as well as having a 25-year warranty, which is more than enough time for your kid to grow up healthy, and maybe even use your mattress for a second kid.

I can’t set up my mattress, What do I do?

Birch can provide you with their white-glove service, which you can order while buying your mattress online. They have in-home setup & removal available, in which a team will unbox your mattress and set it up for you for an extra charge.