I bought a Cal King Serta Dehaven Firm to replace my 10 yo Beautyrest Amherst Firm that I loved. I bought the bed at Sit n Sleep. The first thing I said to the salesman was “I do not want a memory foam bed–they cause me pain.” I am a side sleeper with arthritis and need a firm bed.
I hate the new bed–my hips sink into it, and it turns out it has memory foam in it! I was able to borrow a 2 inch latex topper from a private mattress store today ( to see if I like it), and I have flipped the bed upside down for more support.
My two questions are: If sleeping on the bed upside down feels good, how long will the bed likely last like this?
2) Are any beds made now that do not contain memory foam in the mattress? The bed I bought is not plush or anything.
Cassie, I would call the people at Sit n Sleep about the misrepresentation of the mattress. I makes no sense to sleep with it upside down. Do you like it upside down with the topper? If so maybe you can use that feel for a baseline in getting a good, firm mattress and continue to use the topper. Just a thought. Lew
PS There are many mattresses that don’t contain memory foam. You should start with Phoenix’s post on how to look for a mattress. There is a wealth of information here on types of mattress construction and the pros and cons of each.
I would echo LEW’s comments. You can see the layering of the DeHaven firm here and while it’s not what i would call a “memory foam” bed … it does have some memory foam in it and some softer layers over the firm “support foam”.
The density of the "Hi IFD support foam is also likely to be quite low which means it will likely soften faster than higher quality polyfoam and won’t maintain it’s firmness over time.
While there isn’t really any harm in sleeping on your mattress upside down with a topper … it’s also not ideal or designed for this because the lower density and softer foams that are supposed to be on the top are now on the bottom and could affect your support over time.
As LEW also mentioned there are many mattresses that don’t contain any memory foam but the key is to work with better retailers and manufacturers (and avoid major brands and chain stores) that will tell you the details of what is in your mattress. The post LEW was mentioning is post #1 here.
Thank you Lew and Phoenix for your quick responses. Yes I will never buy another bed at a big chain store . In the meantime I am going to sleep with the bed upside down and the latex topper on it tonight, or without it if it is too soft (I did that last night and it was better than the right side up).
Having read through many articles and posts on this excellent site, I think a latex bed would meet my needs best. Sit n Sleep carries Aireloom beds with latex, but I know Phoenix is not a fan of trading up. I will go there tomorrow to see what the best option might be.
I am open to suggestions. I know they have the Black Beautyrest bed and an Aireloom bed. I also know Aireloom beds get very mixed reviews.
Phoenix you had suggested to someone else that they buy a very firm bed and add a topper instead of trading up. Is that what you recommend for me as well?
As you can see in post #2 here and the other posts it links to … this is a fairly “standard” suggestion. If the store you purchased from has any good quality/value mattresses and discloses the information about what is in them, then it may be possible to exchange for a mattress using the same criteria as I suggest if you were buying a new one in the first place … but in many cases chain stores don’t carry any good quality/value mattresses or don’t disclose any meaningful information about their mattresses and in these cases then the most effective approach is to minimize the use of “unknown” foam in the comfort layers and choose a very firm mattress and add your own comfort layer in the form of a topper.
It all depends on what they have available and on your ability to find out any meaningful information about their mattresses. They at least do carry one manufacturer which may have some better quality/value available (Sherwood) but I certainly wouldn’t pay more for any mattress unless you know the quality details of all the layers that are in it… If you are in doubt you can look at the law tag which includes a listing of the types of materials in the mattress listed by weight. It doesn’t have any information about the quality or layering of these materials though (every material has lower and higher quality) so if it contains polyfoam or memory foam especially then it’s important to make sure you know the all layer details by thickness and in order and the density of all the polyfoam or memory foam layers.
. In the meantime I am going to sleep with the bed upside down and the latex topper on it tonight, or without it if it is too soft (I did that last night and it was better than the right side up).