I originally had this in the 10" TN diary, but it turned into a long post, but I started my own thread, hope that’s okay! And I also have included some dust mite information that might be helpful to someone? That is towards the end of the message…
Hi all.
A final update after 3 1/2 weeks on the 10" Queen, new top foam version of the Tuft and Needle.
We are going to keep the mattress. Both my husband and I (he’s a side and stomach sleeper, I’m a back and side sleeper) have adjusted to the mattress, and are getting both support and pressure point relief (something I have trouble with on a lot of mattresses).
Firmness: Yes, the mattress has softened up just a bit. I have a hard time quantifying the real amount, because after 1 week, we changed foundation types (we are now on an all wood, knock down foundation from mattresses.net), and it did become firmer after the foundation change. However, I do think the surface feels a tiny bit “springy” and softer than when we got it. My initial assessment was firm mattress, now I would maybe place it on the high medium-firm end (this is so subjective, but I’m comparing to when I’ve been mattress shopping and the labels the stores were giving mattresses).
Odor: Was not very detectable the first 2 days, days 3 and 4 were the worst for us. Still there right up until a day or two short of 3 weeks. Now, after 3 1/2 weeks, I don’t notice any odor when getting into bed, or when changing the sheets. The first week and a half, even the sheets had the odor when removing from the bed- I was removing the bedding during the day the first week plus.
One thing of note. I find myself negatively responding to anything that I’ve tried to use as a mattress cover, including a simple, non-membrane, all cotton “allergy dust mite” mattress encasement cover, about the size of a thick, crisp cotton sheet (I assume so crisp due to small pore size). I’ve also tried our old thick, polyfill mattress pad (big mistake), an organic stretch cotton protector (we had before). I also have tried two new polyurethane membrane covers, a knit cotton top (Gotcha Covered) and a bamboo cover (Greenzone). Just out of curiosity, I put the 1" polyfoam topper on our guest futon onto the TN, and on all of these versions, I developed pressure points in my shoulders (some my hips). But on the TN mattress foam itself with just a flannel sheet on top, I feel totally no pressure point pain. With just a sheet, I can really feel the comfortable qualities of the foam come through.
However, my husband notices not much difference with any changes I made (except when the thick polyfill mattress pad was on the bed). I wonder if it’s because I am a lighter weight, and I also have fibromyalgia, and know I"m more sensitive.
I talked to Tuft and Needle about this, and they said they haven’t had any other customers have this particular problem that they have heard from. The two reasons I wanted a mattress cover is because my husband tends to sweat at night, and dust mite protection. They gave me some tips on how to control his sweating (such as natural fiber sheets and blankets), and also said they designed the mattress and cover to wick excess heat away (not sure what this actually means, but we haven’t slept hot on it except the one night I kept the room heater on too high at night!). I will admit that the prior 10 years, I’ve had always had a thick, polfyfilled mattress pad on the bed- and never realized maybe that was contributing to his overheating.
Since sleeping with anything besides a sheet on the mattress negatively affects my comfort, we are going to forego the mattress protector, although on my husband’s side, I did put a an extra piece of flannel partially on his side, under the top sheet (from my quilting days) “just in case”. The Tuft and Needle does have a knit protector on it, and although it isn’t meant to be washed, TN confirmed that it can be spot cleaned if necessary. We don’t drink anything in bed, and don’t have pets or kids in the bed, so I think this will be okay.
Tuft and Needle claims polyfoam tends not to encourage dust mite growth because it is dense, unlike say innerspring mattresses, where there is a lot of hollow space for mites and dander to accumulate. I did read some studies in the medical literature, and there is some evidence for this, and further evidence that while dust mite mattress covers do keep dust mite levels low, they haven’t been shown to help very much with allergy symptoms for people who are allergic to dust mites (perhaps because dust mites are all around our homes, not just our mattress). One of the dust mite studies is available free and not behind a firewall if anyone wants to read it. And older study, but others have been done since then with similar results: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa023171 We do still have dust mite covers on our pillows. My personal experience is that plain old changing the pillow cases every few nights helps the most, even before we had allergy encasements on our pillows… I may vacuum the mattress every once in awhile, and I’ve always been one to change the sheets every 5-7 days too, pillowcases more often.
Thanks for this wonderful forum Phoenix. I’ve learned a lot. Took a risk with the Tuft and Needle, but after spending hours in local stores not finding quite the right fit, but narrowing it down to my muscles liking polyfoam the best, not latex nor memory foam, I decided to give the new version of Tuft and Needle a try after reading the reviews and specs. MU was where I first learned about the redesign (I was hesitant to try before this after reading so many reviews of pressure point pain on side sleepers in the old version) and here I learned that the polyfoams that Tuft and Needle uses in the new design are okay quality.
I will admit this to being one of the easy mattress buying experiences we’ve had, sort of. A lot of time went into online research, a bit of apprehension about buying a mattress untried, but the actual ordering, delivery and setup were a breeze.
Thanks everyone! And I hope everyone enjoys their TN as much as I’ve come to like mine. There were some adjustments and some hickups, but now I’m happy and sleeping well!
