All latex mattress feedback - not sleeping well, trying to pinpoint possible ways to fix

After months and months of research, I finally went with a SleepEZ all latex mattress. 10inch with 3 inch topper. King. Took a long time to narrow it down. :slight_smile: SleepEZ has been good to work with.

Configuration is:
Med Talalay Topper
Med Talalay - top
Firm Dunlop - middle
XFirm Dunlop - bottom

Pros - No toxic smells, cotton stretch cover is very nice quality, great feel

We originally had the 10 inch but it was feeling pretty firm (and we like firm) so we tried a Med topper (making it 13 total). That made it feel a little softer but now every night I am having bad pain in the shoulder I am sleeping on when on my side. My husband said the same thing, that it feels comfy but if he switches to side it feels pretty firm.

I’m not sure what to do because we’ve been sleeping on this for about 2-3 weeks now and I’m not loving it. It also feel like it slants slightly towards the middle. My shoulder hurts and the latex seems like it really pushes back at me. The last two nights were so bad I went to another bed to sleep. We LOVED our 6 year old Queen innerspring/foam mattress. It was from Value City of all places and not even expensive! But we wanted a King and wanted something non toxic so we went with latex.

The thing that perplexes me is that the latex feels so firm and hurting my shoulder yet when I went in and laid on our old Queen innerspring today it felt SO much firmer than the latex, but didnt feel painful at all. And its weird because I am usually not picky about beds, just tend to prefer firmer ones. I don’t have health problems or back/shoulder problems. So the fact that I am now waking up tossing and turning with shoulder pain each night is not good! Never had this on a mattress before.

I’m trying to pinpoint some fixes - I dont want to return this if I dont have to! If I am having pressure on my shoulder and side is that a comfort layer issue? I have thought about getting rid of the latex topper for memory foam as that might relieve pressure? Maybe I need to switch something around? Maybe I need more time to get used to it? Maybe I’m just used to pillowtops firm mattresses and this is a different feel? Maybe I need a pillowtop cover?

Anyone out there or Phoenix have any feedback on ideas on what may be the root problem of the pain and possible fixes?

Also, when I push on the latex or sit on it, it doesnt feel overly firm, it just seems like once I lay down thats when the discomfort starts. So trying to diagnose what can be done so I can get back to good sleeping. :slight_smile:

Hi eeks,

While it’s not possible to “diagnose” mattress comfort issues on a forum with any certainty because they can be very complex and there are too many unique unknowns, variables, and complexities involved that can affect how each person sleeps on a mattress in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) or any “symptoms” they experience … there is more about the most common symptoms that people may experience when they sleep on a mattress and the most likely (although not the only) reasons for them in post #2 here.

Having said that … if I had to guess (and of course it would only be a guess) … based on your comments and feedback it sounds like your upper layers could be too firm so it may be worthwhile considering replacing your medium topper with a soft topper.

It’s also possible that your discomfort could also be a pillow issue because one of the most common causes for neck and shoulder issues is the pillow you are using. A suitable pillow is an essential part of good alignment for the head and neck and upper body and can reduce some of the pressure on your shoulders because the gap between the head and the mattress and the curve of the cervical spine needs to be supported just like all other parts of the spine. Like mattresses … there are certain “needs” that depend on body type and sleeping positions but with pillows, personal preferences play a more important role because the face is much more sensitive to textures, temperature, smells, and other more subjective “feel” based properties of a pillow. There is more about choosing pillows in the pillow thread here.

The most important suggestion I would have though would be to have a more detailed phone conversation with SleepEZ to ask them for their suggestions because with their knowledge about their own mattresses and their many years of experience with helping their customers they would be the most reliable source of guidance. A phone call is also a much more effective way to communicate more detailed and complex information and allows for real time interaction as well (see post #4 here).

The choice between memory foam and latex would be a preference choice rather than a “better/worse” choice and some people prefer the feel and slower response of memory foam and some people prefer the feel and more resilient response of latex. There is more about the pros and cons of latex vs memory foam in post #2 here but the best way to know which types of materials you tend to prefer would be based on your own personal experience.

Memory foam is also a softer material than medium firmness latex so again it may be worthwhile considering a softer latex topper first since this would be closer to the firmness level of memory foam (although it would still be a little firmer) unless of course you know that you prefer the feel and response of memory foam.

How a material feels when you push on it with your hands or sit on it can be very different from how it feels when you lie on it because when you lie on a mattress your weight is spread out over a much larger surface area which will change the “feel” and firmness considerably. Latex in general is a more “supportive” material than other types of foam such as polyfoam and memory foam because it has a higher compression modulus which means that it gets firmer faster than other types of foam as you sink into it more deeply so it can feel both soft or firm depending on how deeply you sink into it. When you are on your side there are more pressure points such as your hips and shoulders that need to be “allowed” to sink into the mattress more deeply so it’s not uncommon that a mattress that works well for back sleeping is too firm for side sleeping because side sleepers often need a softer top layer than back or stomach sleepers.

Phoenix

Thanks Phoenix - I dont think it could be my pillow because I’ve had the same latex pillow for years and love it and it never gave me a problem on our last bed.

I guess I will call SleepEZ and see if the soft could work. We never tried soft because the samples felt SO soft but maybe that is what I need. I don’t really know if I like memory foam or not but figured it would give me some cushiness and could be less expensive. I think I read somewhere on the forum that you said SleepEZ sells memory foam though? Is that correct? Any other resources for memory foam?

Also, are there any companies that sell a pillowtop cover?

I hope to get this fine tuned!!

Hi eeks,

I’m not sure what type of pillow you have but pillows also need to be replaced from time to time if they have softened or lost their loft.

You can’t feel how soft or firm a material or a mattress will feel to you when you lie it based on pressing samples with your hands because you are only pressing a small surface area and your weight distribution is completely different when you lie on a mattress.

There are also no “standard” definitions or consensus of opinions for firmness ratings and different manufacturers can rate their mattresses very differently than others so a mattress that one manufacturer rates as being a specific firmness could be rated very differently by another manufacturer. Different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well and a mattress that feels firm for one person can feel like “medium” for someone else or even “soft” for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they “rate” a mattress as well (see post #15 here) so different people can also have very different opinions on how two mattresses compare in terms of firmness and some people may rate one mattress as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective and is as much an art as a science.

The only way to know for certain how soft or firm a mattress feels to you (regardless of how soft or firm the same mattress may feel to anyone else) or whether it’s a good “match” for you in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP is based on your own personal experience when you lie on it.

Yes they do.

The better online sources for memory foam and other types of mattress toppers and components are listed in post #4 here.

A pillowtop mattress is a method of construction and not a specific firmness rating or “feel”. It describes a mattress that includes a separate layer or “topper” in its own fabric compartment which is attached to the main body of the mattress with a recessed edge so that the “pillowtop” layer can act and compress a little bit more independently and would feel a little softer than if the same layer was inside the main body of a mattress. While “most” pillowtops are in a softer range … they come in a very wide range of firmness options and some of them that use firmer materials in the pillow top attachment that would be in a firmer range as well. There are also some “non pillowtop” mattresses that would be softer than some pillowtop mattresses if they use softer materials in the upper layers of the mattress.

It’s unlikely that you would find an actual pillowtop cover because it’s a more specialized design but outside of buying an actual pillowtop mattress … the closest you would come to a pillowtop mattress would be adding a topper to a mattress that doesn’t have a pillowtop. There are also covers available in the topper and component posts I linked that are quilted with various materials such as wool or other types of fiber or foam but these aren’t pillowtops because they only have a single main compartment and don’t have a separate pillowtop attachment.

Phoenix

Phoenix - thank you so much. I will talk to SleepEZ this week and give feedback once the bed is feeling better - which I know can happen after some fine tuning.

Do you know where I can find a plain polyfoam egg crate topper? Growing up my mom had those on all of our beds and they were thick egg crates. Now I can only seem to ever find 1inch ones that do nothing. Where can I find a nice 3-4inch thick egg crate topper? I’m looking for just plain polyfoam, not memory foam if possible. I know it has to exist!!!

Hi eeks,

The component list I linked in my last reply includes the better online sources for polyfoam I’m aware of and some of them should sell convoluted polyfoam as well although they may only be available in a limited range of thicknesses rather than any thickness that you wish. I don’t know which of them sell convoluted polyfoam off the top of my head so you would need to check their websites.

Since convoluted polyfoam will be less durable than a solid layer of the same material … I would make sure that the convoluted polyfoam meets the minimum density that I would normally suggest in the durability guidelines here and a higher density would be better yet to help offset the reduced durability.

Phoenix.