Help Diagnosing New Mattress

Hello fellow forum members:

I have been visiting this forum for a longtime, but this is my first post. After reading about the benefits of a latex mattress, my wife and I decided to ditch our old innerspring ang buy a new king size a few months ago. Unfortunately, we haven’t been happy with the results and would love some insight on where we may have gone wrong.

Wife: 5’0" - 110lbs. - Primary Sleep Position: Back - Secondary Sleep Position: Side

Me: 5’7" - 150lbs. - Primary Sleep Position: Side - Secondary Sleep Position: Back

MATTRESS DETAILS (from a factory direct MU member:

FEATURES

Comfort
•Plush
•24 ILD

Cover
•Stretch Knit Cotton Cover
•FR Barrier
•1.5″ Super Soft HD Foam

Comfort – Padding Layers
•2″ High Density Plush Comfort Foam

Support System
•6 " Natural 30 ILD Natural Dunlop Latex Core

Complaints:

  1. We both wake up stiff and sore in the morning.
  2. When we lay on the mattress we gradually sink into it after about an hour, which makes it difficult to change positions and feel supported since the heavier parts of our body sink in more.
  3. The mattress is firmer and has more support in the middle of the mattress (vertically speaking), so my wife tends to sleep in the middle of the bed (which really defeats the purpose of a king).
  4. Because the middle is firmer and I sink down when I sleep on the side of the mattress, it feels like Im trying to roll up a hill when I want to turn to the inside.

Can anyone think of what is going wrong here? We spent over $2,500 on this mattress and really wanted to love it, but we just don’t. We have contacted the manufacturer who has been wonderful, and they will allow us to pick out a new mattress, but we are not even sure what to be looking for at this point.

Is it our latex core that is too soft or the comfort layers too soft?

Is there a reason why the bed would feel firmer sleeping in the middle?

Hi rekstudio,

There are too many unknowns, variables, and complexities involved to “diagnose” mattress issues with any degree of accuracy on a forum without being able to feel what you feel or see you on a mattress (it would be like a doctor trying to diagnose medical issues without being able to see or examine a patient or even talk with them in person) and this is especially true when I don’t have a frame of reference for mattresses that you have tested or slept on previously that have worked well for you. I also don’t know the thickness of the latex layer in the mattress or the type of latex (although I’m assuming that it’s probably Talalay).

In general … now that you have a better frame of reference for a mattress that isn’t working well for you … I would use your very careful and objective testing (using the testing guidelines in the tutorial post) which would be the most effective way to decide on a mattress that would work better for you.

Having said that … while there could be some “non mattress” issues involved such as a foundation or bedframe or a mattress pad or protector you are using (see post #2 here) … if I had to make a guess based on your description it seems to me that your comfort layers may be too thick or soft and that you may do better with a firmer mattress.

This could be just a normal part of the mattress breaking in because the middle of the mattress isn’t generally used as much or it could be from the support system under the mattress. In some cases if there is some flex in the support system on each side of your mattress the middle may be firmer if there are two twin XL foundations under your mattress where the firmer side supports of each twin XL foundation come together in the middle and in some cases this can be felt “through” the mattress. The best way to test this is to sleep for a few nights with the mattress on the floor to see if it makes any difference.

Phoenix

Phoenix,

Thanks for your response. The thickness of the latex in my mattress is 6" Dunlop 30 ILD.

I think you are right about this. How can I tell if I am sinking through the support layers but being supported by 6" core, or if Im sinking through the comfort layers and into the core itself? Is this just an eyeball test?

[quote]
it could be from the support system under the mattress. In some cases if there is some flex in the support system on each side of your mattress the middle may be firmer if there are two twin XL foundations under your mattress where the firmer side supports of each twin XL foundation come together in the middle and in some cases this can be felt “through” the mattress[/quote]

We do, in fact, have two separate box springs supporting the mattress. Is there a better solution for a foundation that would alleviate this issue? I will put the mattress on the floor and see if it makes a difference.

Moving forward, as a starting point, can you suggest a general ILD level for Comfort/Support given our build and sleep position given what I’ve shared?

Does this mattress configuration seem like it may be more appropriate?

Comfort – Padding Layers
•3″ 18 ILD Pure Natural Talalay Latex

Support System
•6″ 33 ILD Pure Dunlop Latex

Cover
•Stretch Knit Plush Cover
•FR Barrier

Hi rekstudio,

I meant the thickness of the plush 24 ILD comfort layer.

You can’t because all the layers compress simultaneously and you can’t measure how much each one compresses individually … you can only know how much you sink into a mattress as a whole. The “most probable” cause of sinking in too much would be in the thickness/softness of the comfort layers though.

I don’t know the type or specifics of your foundation so the only way to really know the effect it’s having would be to compare it to sleeping on the floor which is the most rigid and evenly supportive support surface possible. If the floor works better with your mattress and there is a meaningful difference between them then a foundation that has less flex on each side may be a better choice. This could involve a foundation with more slats and less space between the slats, thicker slats, different wood that flexes less, or even something like using T-Slats (see here) that can reduce the flex on each side of the support system. It’s also possible that a stronger bedframe could make a difference. A solid surface foundation would also have less flex but it would also reduce the airflow under the mattress (see post #10 here).

Unfortunately there are too many unknowns, variables and individual differences between people to use a formula, specs (either for you or a mattress), or “theory at a distance” to accurately predict the design of a mattress that will work best for any individual person and your own careful and objective testing or sleeping experience is the most reliable way to know (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). I also don’t know enough specifics about the materials in your current mattress such as the thickness of the latex in the comfort layers or the relative softness of the polyfoam layers relative to latex ILD’s (the IFD of polyfoam is only one of several factors that affects how soft it is). Overall though it seems that the comfort layers in this mattress are thinner than your current mattress which puts you closer to the firmer support layer so I think it would be well worth testing as a possibility.

Phoenix