I ended up getting a 10" Latex mattress with 3 layers. This mattress is replacing a firm Sealy Latex.
side 1: firm-medium-soft
side 2: firm-firm-soft
After sleeping two nights on side 2 I felt a little lower back pain. I did not experience this on the firmer Sealy.
I slept one night on side 2: this was a bit better.
I am a bot confused now as both the firmer old mattress and the softer (side 2) seem to feel better than the option in between (side 1).
I could replace the middle firm with medium in side 2. However, it don’t think I like the “sink in feel”.
The first thing I would suggest for the first couple of weeks is to make as few changes as possible so you can adjust to the feel and performance of a new mattress that is quite different from what you are used to and to let the mattress break in a little. If you make changes too quickly then things can become quite confusing as you may not be able to tell if any change in your experience is because of adjusting to a new mattress or from the change itself and your body won’t have the time to “catch up” to the changes you are making.
Once you have spent some time sleeping on your new mattress … if you feel that you want to make some changes to the layering then the first step is always a more detailed conversation with the manufacturer to talk about your experience so they can use their knowledge and experience with their mattresses to make some suggestions about the type of changes that may be most helpful. There are also a few other suggestions in post #2 here that may also be helpful.
[quote]After sleeping two nights on side 2 I felt a little lower back pain. I did not experience this on the firmer Sealy.
I slept one night on side 2: this was a bit better.[/quote]
Both of your comments here are about side 2. Did you start on side 1 or side 2?
Just to clarify … the layering you listed for side 1 would be softer than the layering for side 2.
[quote]I could replace the middle firm with medium in side 2. However, it don’t think I like the “sink in feel”.
Are there other avenues to explore?[/quote]
When the time comes, some of the other possibilities that may be worth considering depending on your experience and any “symptoms” you are experiencing on your mattress would be slightly firmer comfort layers where you won’t sink in quite as much such as (top to bottom) M/S/F or M/M/F (you would probably need another M layer for this). M/F/F would also have a firmer comfort layer but would be firmer overall than any of your other configurations.
Once again though … I would wait a little longer before making any changes and then I would make any changes after that slowly and incrementally so you give your body time to catch up to the changes you are making and so you can make more accurate assessments about the effect of each change you make.
I will take your advice and not make any quick changes.
I tend to be easy on mattresses. I typically can sleep on any hotel mattress just fine.
I started on side 2 (“my side” male).
Yes, side 1 feels softer than side 2.
BTW. I found out what is inside my old Sealy:
0.5 inches convoluted foam, 1 inch comfort SealyFoam, 1.6 inches luxury firm latex, 8.75 inch SmartLatex core composed of 1.6 inches plush latex, 1.6 inches firm latex, and 5.7 inches very firm latex foam
I think the downfall of the Sealy is the foam on top that appears to be compressed. The Sealy does feel firmer than any side of the new mattress.
It sounds like you had the old Sealy Springfree Brasswood (which also went by several other names) and your right that the downfall of the Sealy Springfree line (and the current Stearns & Foster luxury latex line which is very similar that replaced it) is the layers of polyfoam they use on top of the latex. It also uses mostly synthetic Dunlop latex. It’s not unusual at all to see these mattresses developing impressions in the 3 to 5 year range (sometimes sooner) although your mattress was in a firmer range and had less polyfoam in it than most of the Springfree lineup. There are also people who have done “mattress surgery” on their mattress to remove and replace the lower quality comfort layers because the deeper support layers are usually still be in better condition.
The comfort layers of the Brasswood are quite different from the mattress you have but I would think that a medium firmness top layer would probably be closer to the Brasswood than the soft layer that you are currently using.
After sleeping on the mattress for a while I am still not 100% comfortable. It seems that I sink through the S layer in my S/F/F and then hit the F with a bit of pressure points. I experience no pressure points on the S/M/F side. But I do not like the sink in feel of the S/M/F.
I am wondering what I should try next.
Also, is there any point in adding a one inch topper layer (e.g. M)?
The first thing I would suggest is a more detailed phone conversation with the manufacturer of your mattress so you can “talk through” what you are experiencing and the types of changes you would like to make. This will generally be more helpful and reliable than trying to describe your more subjective experiences on a forum. It can be very difficult to accurately describe your experiences in writing. They will also have more experience helping customers that are similar to you to fine tune their mattresses than anyone else and they do this every day.
It would also be helpful if you could describe your experiences in a little more detail especially whether you are looking to change the comfort/pressure relief, the support/alignment, or just the “feel” of the mattress and the specific “symptoms” you are experiencing (pain, numbness, discomfort,), where you are experiencing any symptoms, which sleeping positions you tend to experience them, and whether they happen when you go to sleep at night or when you wake up in the morning.
Some of the possibilities that may be worth considering (after a more detailed phone conversation) include trying M/S/F which would give you a firmer sleeping surface where you sink in less but would still have some of the additional softness of the soft layer in the middle or S/F/M which may feel a little softer than the S/F/F although some people may not feel a lot of difference with changing only the bottom layer.
If you find a combination that is “almost there” but is “just a touch to a little” too firm then a thin topper may be just enough fine tuning to give you the extra softness you need and help isolate you a little more from the firmness of the firm layers underneath. If you do decide to go in this direction after some experimentation with different combinations then post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to can help you choose the type, thickness, and softness of a topper that may work best for you based on using your sleeping experiences on a specific combination as a guideline.