Please talk to me about crawling tracks -anything new and/or non-toxic out there

[TheyCan]

This is my third time around looking into crawling tracks.  I never ended up buying/making tracks for my other children.  All the options seemed toxic and/or expensive.  Is there any new information or products out there?  Any good mats that aren't considered toxic? Thank you for any information!

[jessy naidu]

Hi,
 you can give crawling on the vinaile sheets,which we use for the flooring.it also gives very comfort to the newborn ,

you should put this sheet on the bed and give  crawling.

Jessy naidu.

[Gindy]

I made a non-toxic crawling track for my baby.  I got my materials from a friend who is in the upholstery business, but when I read the warnings on the glue bottle I could not bring myself to use it. I just skipped the glue part and did everything else as was instructed.  I had to periodically reshape and tuck in the leather substitute but it was worth it to me to know my baby's head wasn't right by all those chemicals.
It worked well for me.

[TheyCan]

Thank you! Do you know what leather substitute you used?

[Gindy]

No problem.  I think I just asked my friend for naugahyde, as suggested in the book. It looked a little different than what they pictured in the book because it was slightly textured but it still worked.   

Here is a brief step by step of what I did:

I got pre-cut wood pieces at Lowes.

My husband screwed them together with an electric drill gun (I'm sure you could just nail them too).

I lay the foam rubber over the built track and duct taped it on.

Then I placed the naugahyde onto the track, tucking it in and folding into the creases on the inside of the track and then over the outside of the track.

Then I nailed it into the track with upholstery nails, only on the underside.

It looked basically  like the crawling tracks in the book until I turned it up side down and the naugahyde hung loose. 

I was looking for a double sided duct tape(or other strong tape) to secure the naughyde to the track without using glue but I could not get any quickly enough.  I always very near my baby and watched my her closely to make sure that the naugahyde wasn't sliding around too much and I tucked it back in regularly. I was a little more effort but worth it was worth it to me.  I wasn't planning on using it for her to sleep in, like the track that goes around the bed, just for wakeful crawling.  The trickiest thing about building it was getting the naugahyde on tightly enough so that there would be as little sliding around as possible but still loose enough that it would tuck into the corners when I flipped it back over. I don't remember exactly how I did that part but it couldn't have been that hard since I did myself in an afternoon. 

[Wolfwind]

I've been thinking about building a non toxic crawling track. The vinyl the book suggests (the kind at my local shop, anyway) is nasty stuff; the smell made me sick while it was first off gassing. My first choice now is a food grade polyethylene mattress protector, like the Bebe safe, assuming it has a slippery surface. That should protect against the chemicals in the foam rubber and plywood. Naturally tanned leather (conventional stuff is full of nasty chemicals too) is too expensive and too much upkeep for me. My cheap-but-ok choice would be a mattress protector that had no PVC or vinyl, using the plastic side up to make the track smooth and slippery.

I found one place that will make 100% natural rubber foam cushions to order: foamorder.com. It's expensive but might be worth it if my baby sleeps in the track; I could use the money I would otherwise spend on a mattress. I might wrap the rubber in an organic wool blanket (under the mattress cover) to provide some fire resistance if I go that route. I might not put foam on the sides, just the wool, to save money.

The frame at least is easy: just use real wood instead of plywood. And I still need to figure out non toxic glue. But I think I could do two 4 foot sections of track for about the same price as a cheap non toxic mattress, and if the sides are removable it could serve as a mattress when the baby outgrows the track. I'll let people know if I do it.

[memummy]

Building your own non-toxic crawling track is the best option.

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