The best mattresses for kids are compatible with the needs of younger sleepers, but are also durable enough to last through the changes of childhood and beyond.
Our guide will walk you through our top picks, providing a range of firmness levels and material types.
Before we get started, let’s talk through one big misconception about the ideal mattresses for kids.
The best mattresses for kids don’t have to specifically say they are for kids.
Many of the most popular mattress brands have a mattress they call their “kids” or “youth” mattress. These mattresses oftentimes have thinner profiles, less robust materials, and a weight limit that severely restricts the longevity of the mattress.
Most children’s mattresses have a weight limit of around 120 pounds. If you are shopping for an older kid or teen, this means they could very quickly outgrow the mattress.
As a result, we typically recommend looking for budget-friendly adult mattresses for kids, as those mattresses are made with a more robust design, better materials, and will have much better longevity.
Any relatively low-profile mattress with good materials and good performance can also make a great mattress for kids.
In most cases, it ends up being a better value to opt for a mattress that can support your child for longer.
By choosing a value adult mattress, you’re getting a great mattress that will last them into their late teen or early adult years without the fear of maxing out the weight capacity.
So with these notes in mind, let’s get started.
In This Guide
Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid | BedInABox Original | Awara | EcoSleep Hybrid Luxe | Avocado Eco | Mattresses We Considered | How We Choose
Note: The prices listed in the table below are for twin-sized mattresses.
The 5 Best Mattresses for Kids
#1 BEST OVERALL
Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid
9.63
Price: $499
Firmness: Soft (4), Medium-Firm (6), Firm (8)
Memory Foam
BedInABox Original
9.62
Price: $561
Firmness: Medium-Firm (6)
Best Latex Mattresses for Kids
#1 Best Latex Hybrid
Awara
9.70
Price: $699
Firmness: Medium Firm (6)
Latex Hybrid
EcoSleep Hybrid Luxe
9.67
Price: $749
Firmness: Flippable – Medium (5.5) or Firm (8)
Latex Hybrid
Avocado Eco
9.67
Price: $777
Firmness: Medium (5.5)
Brooklyn Bedding Signature
Best For
- Good cooling with coil and foam materials
- Excellent edge support
- High levels of bounce
Quick Specs
- 11″ thick + tufted, plush cover
- 120-night trial
- 10-year warranty
Why It’s Best
The Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid is a budget-friendly hybrid with wide appeal for many different sleeper profiles. It comes in three different firmness options—soft, medium-firm, and firm.
This mattress has a solid performance score of 9.63 overall, which is above the average score across all mattresses tested to date.
The Brooklyn Bedding Signature is a budget-friendly hybrid that makes a great option for kids.
The Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid mattress costs 30% less than the average hybrid, making it among the best value mattresses on the market.
Read Review
Type: Hybrid
Firmness: Soft (4), Medium-Firm (6), Firm (8)
Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid Performance
In terms of performance, the Brooklyn Bedding Signature hybrid scored well in our tests.
This mattress scored a perfect 10 for extremely fast response time and exceptional edge support, both great features if your child moves around in their sleep or you find yourself lying on the edge to help them fall asleep.
It has a slightly higher bounce than average—9.99″ compared to 9.63″ average.
Considering all of the performance factors that we test for, the only real disadvantage to the Signature Hybrid is the level of motion transfer.
This mattress generated 10.23 m/s² of motion transfer in our tests, which may be a problem for some sensitive sleepers.
| Factor | Brooklyn Bedding Signature Hybrid Performance |
|---|---|
| Overall | 9.63 |
| Price | $499 (twin) |
| Cooling | 9.5 |
| Max Sinkage | 2.27″ |
| Total Motion Transfer | 10.23 m/s² |
| Response Time | 0.3 sec. |
| Total Bounce | 9.99″ |
| Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage | 2.75″ |
| Mattress Thickness | 11.0″ |
| Comfort Material | 3.0″ |
| Off-Gassing – Smell | Strong |
| Off-Gassing – Days | 3 days |
| Trial | 120 nights |
| Warranty | 10 years |
BedInABox Original
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Best For
- Fantastic cooling performance
- Good pressure relief, with 3″ of gel memory foam
- Minimal sinkage, only 1.86″
Quick Specs
- 11″ thick with thin cover
- 120-night trial
- 20-year warranty
Why It’s Best
The BedInABox mattress is a memory foam mattress that combines minimal sinkage with a higher degree of contour.
It’s a nice pick for kids who like the feeling of memory foam feel, but don’t want to engage too deeply with the mattress.
With an overall score of 9.62, the BedInABox Original is still performing higher than the average mattress, among all mattresses tested to date (9.51 overall) with a price tag right under $600 for a twin.
Read Review
Type: Memory Foam
Firmness: Medium-Firm (6)
BedInABox Performance
In our performance tests, the BedInABox Original had low levels of motion transfer, extremely minimal sinkage, a fast response time, and very low bounce.
In our tests, it has only 5.40″ of bounce, which is 4.23″ less than the average level of bounce (9.63″).
It strikes that balance of the best parts of memory foam while offsetting the traditional downsides.
It also had great cooling, better than expected considering this is a budget memory foam mattress.
Despite the top 3″ of memory foam, this mattress had limited heat retention and would be a great pick for young sleepers who tend to sleep warm.
| Factor | Bedinabox Original Performance |
|---|---|
| Overall | 9.62 |
| Price | $561 (twin) |
| Cooling | 9.5 |
| Max Sinkage | 1.86″ |
| Total Motion Transfer | 2.85 m/s² |
| Response Time | 0.5 sec. |
| Total Bounce | 5.40″ |
| Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage | 4.50″ |
| Mattress Thickness | 11.0″ |
| Comfort Material | 3.0″ |
| Off-Gassing – Smell | Moderate |
| Off-Gassing – Days | 3 days |
| Trial | 120 nights |
| Warranty | 20 years |
Awara Hybrid
Best For
- Natural materials
- Excellent cooling, with impressive heat dissipation
- Low levels of motion transfer
Quick Specs
- 10″ thick with thin cover
- 365-night trial
- Lifetime warranty
Our Verdict
The Awara natural luxury hybrid, aka: the original Awara mattress, is a hybrid mattress that uses natural Dunlop latex foam and pocketed coils for comfort and support.
This mattress is a good pick for parents or caregivers who want their kids to have natural and / or organic materials. Natural mattresses generally use certified materials, skip the poly foams, and have limited off-gassing.
In our performance tests, the Awara had an overall score of 9.70, which is above average across all mattresses tested to date. Despite the higher performance, the price point stays in check. This makes Awara a nice option for a natural kids’ mattress on a budget.
Read Review
Type: Latex Hybrid
Firmness: Medium-Firm (6)
Awara Performance
Performance on the Awara Original is fantastic, especially considering its budget-friendly price tag. It scored perfect 10s for low levels of motion transfer, extremely fast response time, and its extended 365-night trial period (with a lifetime warranty).
The Awara has a thin cover, which is generally just fine for kids, regardless of their sleeping position. It has moderate levels of sinkage and very high levels of bounce.
We’ve tested over 166+ mattresses to date and the Awara Hybrid has the 3rd highest level of bounce among anything we’ve tested (only out-bounced by the Purple Hybrid, which is now discontinued0, and Helix Moonlight which both had over 17″ of bounce).
| Factor | Awara Performance |
|---|---|
| Overall | 9.70 |
| Price | $699 (twin) |
| Cooling | 9.5 |
| Max Sinkage | 2.63″ |
| Total Motion Transfer | 3.72 m/s² |
| Response Time | 0.2 sec. |
| Total Bounce | 15.79″ |
| Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage | 4.00″ |
| Mattress Thickness | 10.0″ |
| Comfort Material | 2.0″ |
| Off-Gassing – Smell | Moderate |
| Off-Gassing – Days | 3 days |
| Trial | 365 nights |
| Warranty | Lifetime |
EcoSleep Luxe
Best For
- 2-in-1 firmness with flippable top latex foam
- Families on the budget
- Natural materials
Quick Specs
- 12″ thick with organic cotton / wool cover
- 120-night trial
- 10-year warranty
Our Verdict
The EcoSleep Luxe (by Brooklyn Bedding) is a 12″H luxury hybrid with a flippable design. Instead of flipping the whole mattress though, it’s just the top layer of foam that flips.
Simply unzip the cover, flip the foam, and rezip. One side features a medium feel (5.5 out of 10) while the other side is firm (8 out of 10).
This is a great option for parents or caregivers who want two firmness options within a single mattress to meet the changing needs of a growing child.
Like the Awara, it is a natural latex hybrid. The cover is built from wool and organic cotton, while the top 3.0″ of the mattress is a natural latex foam.
Read Review
Type: Latex Hybrid
Firmness: Flippable – Medium (5.5) or Firm (8)
EcoSleep Performance
Performance on the EcoSleep Luxe is very good, scoring a perfect 10 for extremely fast response time and low levels of off-gassing.
Motion transfer levels are also very low which can be great for sensitive sleepers who may move around often in the night.
Surface sinkage is just slightly deeper than average on the EcoSleep, but still would be suitable for a wide range of sleepers (children or adults).
Bounce levels are high (12.31″), but not quite as high as what we saw on the Awara mentioned above.
Overall, the EcoSleep costs just slightly more than the Awara, but it you want that extra inch of latex (3″ on the EcoSleep compared to only 2″ on the Awara), it may be worth the extra expense.
| Factor | EcoSleep Hybrid Luxe Performance |
|---|---|
| Overall | 9.67 |
| Price | $749 (twin) |
| Cooling | 9.5 |
| Max Sinkage | 2.30″ |
| Total Motion Transfer | 5.96 m/s² |
| Response Time | 0.2 sec. |
| Total Bounce | 12.31″ |
| Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage | 4.00″ |
| Mattress Thickness | 12.0″ |
| Comfort Material | 4.0″ |
| Off-Gassing – Smell | Strong |
| Off-Gassing – Days | 0 days |
| Trial | 120 nights |
| Warranty | 10 years |
Avocado Eco
Best For
- High levels of bounce
- Extremely low motion transfer; 3.40 m/s² (68% lower than average)
- Very fast response time
Quick Specs
- 10″ thick with organic cotton / wool cover
- 100-night trial
- 10-year warranty
Our Verdict
The Avocado Eco mattress is a 10″ thick organic latex hybrid with great performance across the board.
It has excellent cooling and deep sinkage, combined with the active / engaging feel of extremely fast response time and very high bounce.
This mattress rounds out our top natural / latex mattresses for kids and provides a slightly softer feel than the EcoSleep Hybrid Luxe listed above.
Read Review
Type: Latex Hybrid
Firmness: Medium (5.5)
Avocado Performance
The performance on the Avocado Eco mattress is very good, scoring perfect 10s for extremely low levels of motion transfer and a fast material response time.
The Eco has a 2.0″ latex layer of comfort material (same as the Awara), which provides great pressure relief for kids as well as lightweight or moderate-weighted adult sleepers.
It has higher levels of bounce (12.19″) than average and a deep level of sinkage. These two factors are more preferential factors than anything else but may make the mattress advantageous for some side sleepers.
| Factor | Avocado Eco Performance |
|---|---|
| Overall | 9.67 |
| Price | $777 (twin) |
| Cooling | 9.5 |
| Max Sinkage | 2.48″ |
| Total Motion Transfer | 3.40 m/s² |
| Response Time | 0.2 sec. |
| Total Bounce | 12.19″ |
| Edge Support – Sitting Sinkage | 4.25″ |
| Mattress Thickness | 10.0″ |
| Comfort Material | 2.0″ |
| Off-Gassing – Smell | Minimal |
| Off-Gassing – Days | 1 day |
| Trial | 100 nights |
| Warranty | 10 years |
Mattresses We Considered
When selecting the best mattress for kids, we’re looking at a combination of performance factors, material quality, firmness, and price, testing over 166+ mattresses.
Mattresses that were automatically excluded from this guide include:
- Standard mattresses over $600/twin
- Natural / organic mattresses over $800/twin
- Mattresses not available in the US
- Mattresses that had a performance score below 9.62
Based on these parameters, the table below shows any other mattresses that didn’t quite make the cut and the reason behind the exclusion.
| Mattress | Score | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Elm Sleep Resort | 9.75 | Brand is very new to the market |
In addition, I’ve also included a separate table for mattresses specifically targeted for kids. You can check out that list below.
| Mattress | Read Review | Check Price |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Little Monkeys | Read Review | Check Price |
| Bear Cub | Not Yet Tested | Check Price |
| Helix Kids | Read Review | Check Price |
| Leesa Studio | Read Review | Check Price |
| Leesa Kids | Not Yet Tested | Check Price |
| Nest Bedding Lark | Read Review | Check Price |
| Nest Bedding Puffin | Read Review | Check Price |
| Nolah Nurture 10″ | Not Yet Tested | Check Price |
| Purple Kids | Not Yet Tested | Check Price |
| Saatva Youth | Not Yet Tested | Check Price |
As mentioned above, the best mattresses for kids aren’t always those that have “Kids” in the name. Being open to adult mattresses will allow you to get a higher-quality mattress and a better value long-term.
How We Choose The Best
Each “Best of” list is put through a customized performance analysis with specialized consideration given to our objective & data-driven performance tests, mattress type, design, materials, value / price, and more.
For our Best Mattress For Kids list, we based our selections on the best-scoring / highest-performing mattresses according to our battery of objective testing.
These tests analyze performance across 8 critical factors. The mattresses that scored the highest, met our pricing limit, and did not have material / design choices that explicitly made them a poor choice for children were the mattresses that made our list.
Our testing and selection process is incredibly detailed and rigorous. The links below have detailed write-ups on our testing process, scoring formulas, and the precise criteria for how we choose the best mattresses.
