Advice re: latex -free innerspring mattress (naturepedic, holy lamb etc..)

I’m new to this site. Just joined because of all the helpful info here!
I need to buy an organic latex free mattress. I tried latex (avocado green- way too firm and now European sleepworks Nordic- way too soft / causing pain ) and my body is very unhappy with latex in general.

I’ve done a bit of research on what’s out there and it seems my two options are either 1)spring mattresses with organic cotton/ wool batting such as Naturepedic EOS classic or Holy Lamb OR 2) giving up on spring support and chancing the wool futon alternatives from Shepherd’s Dream or other such companies on a platform bed (but from what I’ve read I’m concerned that this will not offer enough support).

While I really loved the feel of the Naturepedic EOS classic (both with and without their additional wool topper), here is my concern:
I spoke to the owner of a local organic mattress store and he was very honest with me about organic spring mattresses (Royalpedic, Vispring, Clean Bedroom etc which seem to all be very similar because they are all just using the same materials!). He said “I have been selling this type of mattress for a few years (an innerspring topped with cotton and wool batting) and I’m no longer able to stand behind this product because cotton and wool batting compresses over time (a few months or so) and causes big impressions in the top layer making it very uncomfortable '/ unsupportive to continue to sleep on”. In other words, their durability is a problem. We discussed (due to my longing to find both a healthy AND durable mattress) whether he might consider making a new mattress down the line and he said he might- and this time he would make it out of innersprings and pre-compressed wool layers. But to his knowledge and as far as I have seen in my research, there isn’t anything out there like this yet. He said “it’s a very particular niche you are looking for and no one offers this yet”.

So given this info, if I’m understanding this correctly, my question is whether it’s a bad idea to invest in a naturepedic EOS latex free classic if it’s really likely to have the same durability issue as the mattress he was describing since it only has a SUPER thin cotton/ wool top layer (the matress covering!) that is maybe 1/2 inch thick lying on top of cotton encased micro coils (support layer)? Does anyone on this forum know about or have experience with the durability of the naturepedic EOS latex free classic? Does the top layer compress pretty quickly and is this possibly Naturepedic is a little pushy about people buying the pricey wool topper with it because they know there is a compression issue? I am reluctant to buy a mattress that feels good in the store but will leave me sleeping on coils a few months or even a year or two in!
Also, I wonder why is there SO little cushioning in the top layer?
Does anyone know of a mattress that might perform better? Holy Lamb experience? (though this too has the cotton issue)

Honestly, I need a good bed to start sleeping on! So I have a feeling this is my best bet for now, but it seems like paying close to 3K for a matress (then add the topper - close to 4K!) that might not hold up… seems a bit crazy of this as good as it gets?

The only other options I can see would be trying to find someone to make me my own mattresss with innersprings and then my adding my own precompressed wool on top but I don’t have any leads on how complicated this might be or who to ask. If anyone has any leads on or experience with this - would love to hear The other option is trying to sleep on a precompressed wool futon/ wool mattress. I would love to hear any feedback from people how have made the switch from spring or foam mattresses to a wool mattress or futon on a wool slat foundation (esp if they have had back or hip pain) and whether they felt it was supportive for them. (I know it’s subjective but I’d like to know if anyone has made the shift well!)
Thank you!

I bought the EOS Classic late last year and then upgraded to the EOS pillowtop.

I think your mattress store is confusing a product where the comfort layer is a thick layer of cotton and wool often using foam also. This can compress down. With the EOS series it is a thinner layer which is really just there to pad the top of the comfort layer which is latex or microcoils. We had latex previously and it doesn’t last that long before it compresses. Because it was a full latex heavy king size mattress it was very hard to turn or flip so it wasn’t really done until we noticed the problem.

There is another poster on here that has had the Naturepedic Classic with microcoils (so latex free) for years and has not had a problem with compression or body impressions. Maybe he will see this and weigh in. If you search on Naturepedic you may come across his posts.

We haven’t had ours very long but I don’t think it will be an issue. When I was researching mattresses I read that it is seldom the coils that fail but rather the foam in the comfort layers. Even if for some reason the microcoils should end up with body impressions with the Naturepedic you can unzip it and change them out.

Buying a new mattress was a royal pain. I’m hopeful that this is the last mattress I will ever have to buy.

I did try an a few all wool mattresses in stores and they were really hard. I have back and hip pain and could tell right away that they would cause problems. My current configuration is a Naturepedic EOS Pillowtop with plush base coils and two layers of medium microcoils. For hip pain I find an adjustable bed with the feet raised slightly while sleeping on my side helps.

This is the other poster. I don’t know how to link to the post so copied and pasted it. You can search on their user name and see more details.

“I did try an a few all wool mattresses in stores and they were really hard” Marshmallowforme

I agree with Marshmallowforme that the wool mattresses ive tried in stores were very hard and uncomfortable. I actually have a $1k 4" wool “topper” (looks/ feels like a wool mattress though ) from white lotus and while it is very well made it is just so lumpy and uncomfortable + way to much wool smell that it just sits in my closet for now. Maybe someday I can figure a use for it!? Lol I do like wool in small amounts though like in the cover of my Naturepedic eos. At home I tried ~1-2" wool toppers/ pads from sleep & beyond and while I liked them ok feel wise & i especially liked the cooling aspects none of them were comfortable enough for me to keep. I returned the sleep & beyond merino wool topper, the washable Shropshire filled wool topper and the 0.5" myPad. Like Marshmallowforme said I think the wool/cotton/PLA in the cover of the eos will hold up because even if it compresses it’s not thick enough to make much of a difference imo.

[quote=“Marshmallowforme” post=86068]I bought the EOS Classic late last year and then upgraded to the EOS pillowtop.

There is another poster on here that has had the Naturepedic Classic with microcoils (so latex free) for years and has not had a problem with compression or body impressions. Maybe he will see this and weigh in. If you search on Naturepedic you may come across his posts.
.[/quote]

hi…deuxcv here… just looked up my original invoice. looks like i got my mattress 4 yrs ago tomorrow! like marshmallow quoted i’m as happy today as the day i got it. well, the day i settled on microcoils after a layer swap. originally had late and didn’t love it like i did in the store. you can search my posts for full thoughts on my choices.

a couple times a year i rotate the cover 180^ and flip springs over out of an abundance of caution and a ingrained fear based on past mattresses that sagged over time and left indentations, though nothing with the eos has led me to beli’ve this is truly needed. today was the day i did my fall flip flop. mattress is still square, straight edged, no sags, top feels even and i still love going to bed and waking up in it. i have no reason to believe this won’t be a 20 year mattress.

despite it being 2k more than i was originally planning on spending on a mattress at the time, i have no regrets. there was one fuckup in the manufacture that i discovered about a year ago where one of covers on the support coils was on wrong, so i the strip that indicates to place on the perimeter was on wron so i always had the firm edge in the middle which at the time was making me think the mattress had sagging issues. but once i fixed that and gave them an earful, it’s 100%. again… search my user name and read all about it.

good luck and good sleep.

Thank you so much everyone for your replies!
Marshmallow for me - SO appreciate your thorough reply! I was waiting for confirmation and after I read your email I put my purchase through so I have an EOS coming in two weeks (if I don’t first drown in my latex crap mattress ! I don’t know how anyone sleeps on latex. It has been SO bad / has caused huge sinking/ impressions in just a few weeks. And from a high quality place)
Looking forward to some peaceful pain free nights!

Venus,
Congratulations! I think you will be very pleased. Every night when I get on my mattress I feel like I’m getting in a top quality bed. If you don’t yet have an adjustable base this might be the time to get one. They are fantastic!

What combo did you get, plush or firm base coils and soft or medium microcoils?

I found with all the mattresses I tried there was a bit of a break in period for the mattress and my body to get used to them.

For me a big selling point was the lack of odor. I was thrilled to get away from the latex smell I had been living with and have a mattress that smelled like nothing. I think you made the right decision jumping right to the Naturepedic EOS. I wish I had started there but wouldn’t have known how great it was unless I had tried the others first.

Marshmallowforme:
I just posted about my current struggles with my recent naturepedic mattress in a new post ( mattress hell!)

I have so far tried all of the naturepedic combos bc my sales rep was very accommodating except for the extra firm support layer. All of them are feeling saggy to me and what I’m. trying to figure out is whether it’s the mattress itself or whether it’s my wood slat bed frame? I purchased a savvy rest wood frame ( big mistake ) a few months ago and it has slats thatsyne work for a latex mattress but apparently the slats are too far apart ( 3 inches apart ) according to the sales guy. So now we are trying to see if putting a piece of plywood under over the slats will help they bed feel less mushy.
But I’m wondering if it’s the bed … and if it is I am not sure what next step to take for a bed . Have you tried wool mattresses on wood frames or on top of do it yourself springs?

Also I wonder if maybe trying a bed foundation would make things feel better ? I’m not used to beds being so mushy as all these organic mattered have felt to me and I wonder if it might me that I’m not used to sleeping on a wood frame and miss the support of springs ?

Meantime I have a shoulder injury from all this and am not sure what to sleep on this is this all gets resolved. maybe will buy a cheap futon frame

Thanks

I forgot to add, I see from one of your earlier posts that you use two layers of medium micro coils. Doesn’t this make your bed too high / hard to get into ? What is the height of your current bed frame and curious what you’re using ? My savvy rest frame is 17 inches and then with the naturepedic it’s all too high and then the squishiness is making it too hard to get in and out of bed.

Venus,
It is almost certainly your wood slatted frame that is sagging. To test it take the mattress off the frame and put it on the floor. Use it for a few nights and see if the sagging goes away.

If it does you need a metal frame, not a wood slat frame or a box frame that will also sag. The mattress is meant to be flexible so you can use it on an adjustable mattress frame. You can find metal frames on Amazon. If possible choose one with really short legs so when you stack everything on top the mattress isn’t too high.

We are currently using adjustable bed frames which are metal frames. I bought one TwinXL which you can get different leg lengths and we got the shortest. The other TwinXL came with fixed leg lengths which we took to a local metal shop and had cut down to as short as they would go and still allow clearance for the mechanisms underneath. It cost $20 to have all six cut down. The shop was a big industrial place so they did it as a favor but it would have been about $60 to get it done at a small hobby shop that advertises their prices.

What base coils and microcoils are you using? Did you get the pillow top or the regular?

From the floor to the top of the metal adjustable frame is about 7" on my husband’s side and 8" on my side due to the difference in leg eights. I think we got the 5" leg height for his and then mine got cut to 6" due to the movement mechanism. It would have been nice if we could have the exact same height but we got two different models to try out the differences. We both liked what we got so we kept them.

This is the frame recommended in one of the sticky’s on this form. I think it is titled with recommendations from a 5 yr mattress journey.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0725SYNSR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We bought the Lucid L100 adjustable base. I didn’t see it listed so maybe it is not sold but they have the Lucid L300. If you contact Lucid directly see if you can buy the 5" legs. They were something like $70. They also have an intermediate height. We bought the shortest.
https://www.amazon.com/LUCID-L300-Adjustable-Bed-Base/dp/B074QWYM22?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Look at the review pictures for the Lucid. They show a 3" leg. I’m guessing that is because the frame is thicker so the 3" leg is probably the equivalent of the 5" leg on our all metal Lucid L100.

Found the Lucid L100. Don’t know why it didn’t come up in a previous search.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BMH455G/?tag=lucidcom-20

also make sure your support coils are in the right direction. they put a brown stripe on the side. this brown strip should be on the outside edge of bed. the brown striped side has stiffer edge coils so when your sitting on the edge getting in and out of bed you don’t sink too much.

BUT… in my case the cover was put on backwards on one of my support coils so the brown strip was a false indicator and for a long time i had it in wrong and this created a ridge in the middle of the bed making me think my mattress was sagging… i investigated everything. even built slats with 3" boards and 2" gaps , like you thinking it might be my foundation. nothing helped until i tore open some of the spring pockets to check their gauge and discovered the cover was on wrong. fixed my sagging feeling instantly. your feeling of sagging sounds different, but figured i’d throw that in…

for what it’s worth mine is plush support coils with medium microcoils and after 4 years, still zero sagging or compaction of the cover. and no thick topper, but i do have a wool felt mattress pad, sometimes called a piddle pad (cuz they used to be used for pee protection), i find it stiffens the the feel just a wee bit and offers a little protection.

Deuxcv,
Thank you very much for that suggestion! Kind of crazy they wouldn’t have told you that in advance. How would someone figure that out?!
The issue for me isn’t the bottom layer. It’s the comfort layer that feels too mushy. I have medium coils. But appreciate the tips.

So the combo I have now is the firm base layer and then I have both the soft and medium microcoil comfort layers that I’ve been trying out.
The issue for me remains that even the medium comfort layer feels too saggy.
I tried putting the whole thing on the floor, then tried putting very firm cardboard between the slats and the bed (the bottom layer and coils) and still feels too saggy for me.
So what I’ve been toying with now… is sleeping on a futon (cotton) ON Top of JUST the firm base layer of naturepedic springs. This seems to feel the best!
But it’s not a great set up since I have a queen bed and my futon is a twin.

I’m mulling over the following -

should I get a wool futon from a place like shepherds dream (I found very little info on the comfort of wool here) and place it on top of the naturepedic firm base layers so I have a more springy/ supported mattress with a firm top layer? or get the latex bottom from Shepherd’s D and use that instead (cheaper than keeping Naturepedic layers for $800!) ? Or lastly, I can order the leggett springs from DIY mattress company though from what I’ve read they seem to have grumpy customer service… If anyone has thoughts on this or experience I welcome them!

Venus I’m having the same issue with my Naturepedic microcoil eos. I have firm support coils with medium microcoils. It’s ok on my back and side but when I’m on my stomach there’s too much sinkage and it makes my back overarch. So i also bought the extra-firm support coils which are 13.5 gauge vs. 14.5 gauge in the firm. The plush is 15.5 gauge. The x-firm 13.5 gauge are great on my stomach but when I switch to my back or side it’s way too firm. Ive placed things under the bed like strips of 40ild dunlop among other things to prop the center up so there’s not excessive sinkage and it does work but the bed looks like an upside down U and with my adjustable im concerned it will shift around + it does feel a little strange/ uneven. The next thing I will be trying are 3 (or 4 if i can squeeze it in) 1"zoned nano coils in place of the unzoned 3" naturepedic microcoils. The nano coils I believe are 17 gauge in the center and 19 gauge at head & foot. I think the naturepedic medium microcoils are 17 guage across the board.

Mr Yabo,
Thanks for your post.
I’m sorry your bedding has turned out to be so complex!
I never realized entering the organic mattress world could be so complicated :frowning:
Can you tell me a little bit more about coils in terms of why there are different measurements for them at the head and foot vs the middle? I really don’t know much about their size but I see from your post that the wider the coils are, the firmer they seem to be?
What are nano coils and where are you buying these from?

I mentioned above, that I put a cotton futon I had in the house (from a decent futon shop) on top of my naturepedic firm coils (bottom layer). I ditched the microcoil support layer bc was too saggy. So far, it’s decent.
But I need a queen set-up not a twin, so I"m trying to figure out if I should keep my naturepedic bottom layers and buy a wool mattress to put on top so it will have some bounce/ support or whether to buy some springs from a do it yourself company. Any thoughts on that? Have you ever tried those ? Wondering if buying coils like these will feel similar to the naturepedic firm coils?
Not sure how to make sense of their description of the coils… What exactly does this mean? Does it sound comfortable? :" 3 wire gauges in the QE Combi-Zone®. 16 gauge narrow diameter perimeter coils. 17 gauge narrow diameter coils through center 1/3 and 14 gauge larger diameter coils on both sides of center 1/3."

Have you tried putting thick cardboard or a bunkie board or piece of plywood under the mattress ? or maybe the adjustable frame helps with sinkage.

Thanks