Hi saraturner,
[quote]gosh this just gets more confusing the more I research. my 6 week old new mattress is a sleep solutions 9" gel mem foam from sleepys which is made by capitol bedding. its top layer is 1in of 4lb gel mem foam & another 1inch of reg mem foam(cant remember density). it is a bit too firm for me and it doesn’t have that sunk in/ stuck in sand feeling that I like. i do realize that mem foam can take awhile to break-in. I was hoping to find a topper that would give me the max conforming material.
now im wondering if I just bite the bullet & purchase a tempurpedic mattress topper. oy vay!
I should mention that I am 5’5" 130lbs side/back sleeper with chronic joint pain & fibromyalgia if that is helpful.
thanks for your advice!![/quote]
I don’t see this mattress on the Sleepy’s site (only a 9" Sleep Options memory foam mattress) but if your mattress only has 2" of memory foam then it would tend to be on the firmer side because with thinner layers of memory foam you would feel more of the firmness of the base layer underneath the memory foam and there would be less memory foam to sink into.
I can’t provide any specific suggestions because I can’t feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved in choosing a topper that will be a good match for you on your specific mattress based on either specs (yours or a mattress) or theory at a distance (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
Because of the many different properties and specs of different types of memory foam and because the mattress that you are using the topper on can make such a significant difference in the “feel” of the combination it’s normally more effective to choose a topper based on a combination of your experience on the mattress, “how much” additional softness and pressure relief you are looking for (which of course is also somewhat subjective but there are some suggestions in the topper guidelines), and conversations with reliable suppliers about the properties of their memory foam compared to others.
If you are uncertain about your choice then it may take some trial and error to find the best combination and the return policy may become a bigger part of the “value” of your purchase so that you can use your own personal experience to decide whether any topper you purchase meets the criteria that are important to you.
A relatively “average” choice would be a 2" topper in the 4 - 5 lb density range and a non gel topper may have more of the slower recovery time and greater temperature sensitivity that you are looking for … at least in general terms. A thicker topper may provide more of the “sunk in/ stuck in sand feeling” you are looking for but could also be a more risky choice because mattresses that use thicker layers of softer materials in the upper layers of the sleeping system (either in the top layers of the mattress or as a topper) would have a bigger risk of causing alignment issues (and possible lower back pain) over the course of the night so “just enough”: in terms of thickness/softness is usually the least risky choice.
In the end your own personal experience will really be the only reliable way to decide whether any topper you choose works well for you but a good return policy can let you test the topper in “real life” so you can use your actual experience on a topper you purchase to help you decide on whether a different topper (different thickness or different properties) would make a better choice with little risk (outside of the time involved in testing or returning it). If you do find a topper that works well for you then it would certainly be a much more cost effective solution than buying a whole new mattress … especially a mattress like Tempurpedic that is much more costly than other similar memory foam mattresses that are also available.
There is some feedback about a 3 lb topper in posts #5 and #6 here that may be of interest to you and while it’s a low quality/density memory foam so it may not last as long or keep it’s “memory” as long as higher quality toppers … it’s also inexpensive and a topper can be easily replaced when it breaks down or wears out and if nothing else it may give you a chance to do some trial and error testing with a 2" topper because Walmart has a good return policy.
Phoenix