Do Sweetnight Mattresses Have Fiberglass?

If you’re looking for a mattress that is both low-cost and free of fiberglass, you may have realized your options are somewhat limited. The good news is the Sweetnight mattress brand offers both affordability and fiberglass-free construction.

The Sweetnight Mattress Brand

Sweetnight mattresses are currently free from fiberglass. They used to contain this unsafe material. But as more information on the dangers of fiberglass in mattresses became available, Sweetnight removed it from their mattresses and began using other materials. This means Sweetnight is one of the most affordable and notably fiberglass-free brands on the market.

What is Fiberglass?

Fiberglass is a special type of reinforced plastic that gets its additional strength from tiny glass shards. These glass shards strengthen the plastic without compromising its flexibility.

There are many different types of fiberglass, and you’ll find it in a wide variety of different places. For instance, fiberglass is commonly used in the construction of homes, especially as insulation. Fiberglass also goes into several different components in your car. It’s also used to make a lot of aquatic sporting equipment like surfboards, kayaks, and even boats.

The kind of fiberglass that you would typically find in a mattress is known as glass cloth. Glass cloth is made by weaving threads made of fiberglass into a sheet of fabric. Glass cloth has many uses, but in mattresses, it’s almost always found in the form of a sock that goes around the internal components underneath the cover.

Why Would a Mattress Have Fiberglass?

Mattresses have fiberglass for one thing: fire protection. You may not realize it, but many of the components of your mattress are highly flammable. For instance, memory foam can easily burst into flame, as can many synthetic and even some natural fibers.

For this reason, all mattresses made in the U.S. are required by law to have components that make them sufficiently flame-retardant. This protects consumers from their mattresses bursting into flame at the slightest provocation. Fiberglass is the cheapest solution to this problem.

When fiberglass is exposed to heat or flame, it will not combust. Rather, it will melt. This forms a barrier over the foam inside your mattress and keeps it from igniting, meeting flammability standards. However, fiberglass is not the only material that can protect mattresses from fire, nor is it the safest.

Drawbacks of Fiberglass

The main problem with fiberglass is that it is hazardous to your health. As we said above, fiberglass is full of tiny glass shards. While these glass shards can greatly strengthen the plastic, they can also escape certain types of fiberglass and come into contact with your skin. Glass cloth is one of the types of fiberglass that releases glass particles.

When these particles get into the air or coat surfaces, they can leave microscopic cuts all over every part of your body that they contact. This can translate into all kinds of serious symptoms. Probably the most common symptom of fiberglass exposure is skin rashes and dermatitis due to the glass particles leaving tiny cuts all over the skin.

Other common symptoms of fiberglass exposure include eye irritation and even eye damage as tiny glass particles get into the eyes and lung and airway irritation from breathing in glass shards.

You may think that there’s little risk of fiberglass exposure from mattresses because the glass cloth inside them is covered by the mattress cover. However, it is very easy for glass particles to make it through the woven threads of most mattress covers, especially when you are moving around on the mattress for a large portion of the night.

The more you move, the more you shift the glass particles around inside the mattress, and the easier you make it for them to eventually shimmy their way up to you. Once these particles escape, it can be difficult to clean up fiberglass.

Benefits of Fiberglass

There really is no benefit to having fiberglass inside a mattress. The only benefit of putting fiberglass inside a mattress is that it creates a low-cost fire barrier that allows mattress manufacturers to cheaply adhere to fire safety regulations. However, when you consider the tradeoff is health risks, the affordability factor becomes a lot less enticing.

Fiberglass Alternatives for Mattresses

The good news is that there are several different alternatives to unsafe and unhealthy fiberglass inside many of the best mattresses on the market. One of the best fiberglass alternatives is wool. Wool does not easily ignite, but when it does, it is very good at extinguishing flame internally.

This means the wool is adept at preventing a fire from spreading. The thing that makes wool perhaps the best fire barrier for mattresses is that it also adds an extra layer of breathability and pressure relief to your mattress. Many organic latex mattresses rely on this material for its combined comfort and safety.

Other alternatives to fiberglass include silica fibers that can make a safer and healthier synthetic fire barrier, thistle, and viscose rayon. Viscose fabric is often used in vegan mattresses because it comes from cellulose, which is often harvested from sustainable sources like bamboo or eucalyptus.

Some mattresses that include fiberglass alternatives include:

• Amerisleep mattresses
• Saatva mattresses
• Puffy mattresses
• Novilla mattresses
• Purple mattresses
• Tuft and Needle mattresses
• Most IKEA mattresses

How to Tell if a Mattress Has Fiberglass

If you’re shopping for new mattresses, telling whether a mattress has fiberglass should be easy. All mattresses are legally required to come with a sheet or tag that lists the ingredients of the mattress.

Not only will this sheet tell you whether your mattress contains fiberglass. It should also tell you what percentage of the mattress is made up of fiberglass. You may also be able to find this information on your potential new mattress’s website.

Still, some manufacturers do try to obscure this information. You may need to do some digging or even directly ask customer service if their beds contain fiberglass. If they cannot confirm whether or not they sell mattresses without fiberglass, move on to another retailer.

If you’re trying to figure out whether your existing mattress has fiberglass in it, this could be a little harder. You may not have an ingredient list anymore. If it was a used mattress, it might not have come with this in the first place.

If this is the case, try searching your mattress by its brand and model. This may lead you to a website that lists its ingredients. Or you may find reviews or investigations into whether a brand or seller carries mattresses with fiberglass. Some examples of these include:

• Lucid mattresses
• Zinus mattresses
• LinenSpa mattresses
• Nectar mattresses
• Vibe mattresses
• Ashley Furniture mattresses
• Leesa mattresses
• Olee mattresses
• Allswell mattresses
• Casper mattresses
• Some Helix mattresses
• Big Lots mattresses
• Amazon mattresses
• Wayfair mattresses

If this doesn’t work, check out your care tag. Most mattresses have a care tag on the cover that lists laundry care symbols and other care instructions for the mattress. If this tag prohibits you from taking off the mattress cover, it’s a good bet this is because there is fiberglass underneath.

Is Sweetnight a Good Mattress Brand?

If you’re looking for an affordable mattress that does not contain fiberglass, then Sweetnight might be a brand for you. These are decent-quality budget mattresses that are free from this harmful material without being overly expensive.

However, if you want the latest and greatest sleep technology or top-of-the-line comfort, you will likely have to go with more expensive and higher-quality brands. This doesn’t mean you need to spring for a luxury bed to enjoy one of the most comfortable mattresses, though. High-quality comfort can still be within reach of budget shoppers.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattresses Under $1000

FAQs

Why should I buy a mattress without fiberglass?

You should always buy a mattress without fiberglass because fiberglass is a threat to your health. Every mattress containing fiberglass has the potential to expose you to this material. This is especially true if your bed came in a box.

When you get a bed in a box, the mattress is often squished down and crushed into a very tiny box for a long period of time. This can compromise the internal components of the mattress and rip the fiberglass sock inside it. If this happens, it makes it easy for fiberglass exposure to occur. Your brand-new mattress may even come coated in fiberglass.

Even if your bed does not come crunched into a box, it can still expose you to fiberglass if it contains it. You constantly get up and sit down on your mattress and roll around on it while you sleep. This encourages tiny glass particles to shift around and make their way through the cover.

Doesn’t the mattress cover protect me from the fiberglass inside?

A mattress cover does not protect you from fiberglass most of the time. Mattress covers, just like sheets, are made from woven thread. This means there are tiny holes throughout the fabric where threads crisscross over each other.

Fiberglass shards are so tiny that they can make their way through these holes and end up filtering into the air or coating the surface of your mattress. This is why a mattress cover provides little to no protection from the fiberglass underneath.

Do I need to replace my mattress if I find out it has fiberglass?

If you realize your existing mattress has fiberglass inside it, the best thing you can do is replace the mattress. Unfortunately, this is not tenable for many people. Maybe you just bought the mattress and do not want to throw it out. Maybe you don’t have the budget for a new mattress right now. If you are unable to replace your mattress right away, there are some things you can do.

Mattress toppers can help provide a protective barrier between you and a mattress that contains fiberglass. It’s easy for fiberglass particles to work their way through a cover. It’s difficult for them to work their way through several inches of foam. And impermeable mattress protectors can also help prevent particles from working their way out of your mattress.

Does a mattress protector help protect sleepers from fiberglass?

Mattress protectors can absolutely help protect you from the fiberglass inside your mattress. These protectors are created to prevent dirt and moisture from getting down into your mattress, but they can work in reverse by keeping fiberglass particles from making their way up to you.

This is why mattress protectors are one of the best ways to protect yourself if you are unable to replace your fiberglass mattress.

Why is the fiberglass inside mattresses more dangerous?

Fiberglass inside mattresses is more dangerous than fiberglass in other components for a couple of different reasons. First, fiberglass exposure is much more likely with a mattress than with the insulation in your walls or the brake pads in your car because you come into direct contact with your mattress so frequently.

Glass cloth is also more prone to releasing tiny glass shards into the air than other forms of fiberglass. For instance, the fiberglass in boats and surfboards is rigid and sturdy, and it also comes inside a hard shell. This means it is not likely to release particles. The same cannot be said of glass cloth.

Bottom Line

If what you’re looking for is an affordable mattress that will offer you adequate comfort without the risks of fiberglass exposure, Sweetnight is a good route to go. They may not be the best mattress brand out there, but they do not contain this dangerous material.