Do I need firmer or softer?

Mattress Talk General Mattresses Questions
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I recently purchased and received an APM Queen Eco Sleep Hybrid with 6" CaliberEdge coils and a layer of 3" medium Talalay latex (28 ILD). We were replacing a 12-year-old traditional spring mattress that was long past its prime and causing pain.

I’m 5’6", 125 lbs, and almost exclusively a side-sleeper. My first three nights on the Eco Sleep resulted in hip pain on both sides after 30-90 minutes of sleep, keeping me up. The pain on the side facing away from the mattress radiated towards my lower back. When I tried to make sense of what might be causing the pain, I noticed that it felt like my hips were sinking in farther than the rest of my body.

On night four, I took a thin Ikea Karit bed spread (similar to this), folded it over to make about 9 layers (maybe 2-inches thick in total, uncompressed) and placed it between myself and the mattress, giving me a makeshift topper about 18-inches wide running from my shoulder to just below my knee. This alleviated my hip pain and allowed me to sleep through the night. Taking a similar inventory of my body as I did the first three nights, it felt like my hips were more level with the rest of my body.

This was a decent temporary solution, but I’m left trying to figure out what exactly I did—did I make my mattress softer or firmer?

I’m not sure what the right move is here. Do I swap out my medium latex layer for a soft or firm layer? Or do I add a topper, and should that be soft or firm? I understand that hip pain generally comes from a mattress being too firm, but it seems contrary to what I’m feeling with my hips sinking in. I know the general spirit of this kind of mattress is trial and error, but some toppers are non-returnable, and I’m trying to minimize shipping costs.

My bed frame is this, which has a strong center support. Slats are about 1.75-inches and spaced about 1.9-inches apart.

@Arizona_Premium

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I’m sorry to hear you are having difficulties. The Eco Sleep comes with 2 coil options, the 6" Caliber Edge which is firmer and the 8" bolsa which we highly recommend for people who are mostly side sleepers. Since you chose the 6" Caliber Edge I’m not surprised you are having those issues so at this point the solution would be to add 2" of Soft #19 Talalay on top of the mattress. You simply need more separation between you and the firmer coil you chose.

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Thanks so much for replying. When I reached out to APM for advice prior to purchasing, the response I got specifically recommended the 6" Caliber Edge with 3" Medium Talalay, based on the information I’d provided about how my wife and I are side-sleepers. Otherwise I would have gone for the Bolsa! I also typically sleep better on firmer mattresses that keep my hips level, so the Caliber being described as firmer than the Bolsa made sense to me.

Fwiw, my wife is having no issues on her side of the bed, her hip and shoulder issues from our prior mattress have been resolved. She’d keep the bed exactly as-is, if it weren’t for me. When purchasing, I did have our comfort layer separated into two 30x80 halves, in case only one of us had issues and needed to do a comfort layer swap. Would changing to a firmer or softer comfort layer on my side make any sense here?

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Softer makes more sense to me.

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