Help with improving existing bed

[phoenix]

Hi JJR,

The bed seemed to be fine at first other then the off gasing was kind of bad for the first month or so…it was also a little too firm and a little too hot at times, but I figured I’ll break it in. After 5 months, I found that the comfort layer was softening up a bit but didn’t actually help as it just feels stiff and my hips sink in more but not enough and my shoulders barely sink in at all…to the point where my arm goes numb if I lay on my side for too long, .so I’m forced to sleep on my back. However, I still wake up with all of my joints aching (knees, hips and shoulders)…so I need to do something since the padded carpet floor seems to provide better comfort / support…and returning it is likely not going to happen now.

The ideal solution would have probably been to return the mattress inside the trial period if it still wasn’t working well for you after about 90 days or so but since you are past the return time frame then the best option would probably be to try and do some fine tuning to see if you can make some changes that would make your sleeping system more suitable and comfortable for you.

The challenge with this when you have a memory foam mattress is that anything you put on top of the memory foam can affect it’s ability to soften with the heat of your body which can have unpredictable effects since the memory foam can remain firmer (or get softer more slowly) even if you add a softer material on top of it so that you may end up with a “surface feel” that may be softer but you may also reduce the ability of the memory foam underneath it to contour to the shape of your body and relieve pressure points which can actually make it firmer when you sink into it more deeply.

It’s also important to have some clarity about what you are trying to change because there is a difference between primary support (which you can’t change because this comes from the deeper layers of your mattress), secondary support (which is what fills in the gaps in your sleeping profile), and pressure relief. There is more about the difference between primary and secondary support and pressure relief in post #2 here and post #4 here.

There is also more about the different types of “symptoms” that people may experience on a mattress and the most common reasons for them in post #2 here and the posts it links to that may be helpful in the detective work and trial and error that may be involved in trying to fine tune your mattress so that it’s a better match for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences).

I can’t feel what you feel or see you sleeping on the mattress and I only have very limited information to go on so I don’t know what would be the most helpful solution for your situation but based on your description I would “guess” that you could use some additional pressure relief and secondary support in your mattress.

If this seems to make sense to you based on the previous information and your sleeping experience then it may be worth trying a softer and more resilient and contouring foam material on top of your mattress rather than a fiber topper that will contour less and can interfere with the performance of the memory foam more. I would also keep it relatively thin so that at least some of your body heat goes through the topper and reaches the memory foam underneath it.

The most common approach would be to add memory foam on top of memory foam or “like with like” but softer latex on top of memory foam may also be worth trying because it is a more breathable and cooler material and can provide a more resilient and less motion restricting sleeping surface.

Post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to can help you use your sleeping experience as a guideline for the softness and thickness of a topper that may work best for you but I would be cautious about using anything more than about 2" or so when you already have 3" of memory foam in your mattress unless you are confident that you need “a fair bit to a lot” of additional pressure relief. Thicker toppers can be more risky in terms of alignment because you may end up with softer comfort layers that are too thick and soft for you so “just enough” in terms of thickness and softness is usually a safer choice for a topper.

When you are making changes that involve trial and error then the return or exchange policy of the dealer you are buying from may also be a more important consideration as well so that you don’t start “accumulating” different toppers that don’t work for you as well as you hoped for.

Note: I have bought a 100% pure Dunlop and a hypodown pillows recently…both materials I think I had an allergic reaction to. The problem is I bought them and bamboo sheets and tried them all on the same night, so not sure what I really reacted except that my skin is still sensitive to everything even though I removed them out of the room and washed everything they came in contact with…(sensitivity to latex does run in the family, but i have been told that u shouldn’t react unless u come in direct contact with the latex and sheets/ covers/pillow cases should prevent this??)

I’m not sure of the softness or thickness of the Dunlop topper you have but there is more about latex allergies in post #2 here and if you are OK with it then it may be worth trying it once again by itself (without any other variables) to see if it was the source of your reaction and if it’s not to see how it affects your sleeping experience. If you have a contact sensitivity with latex then it should be fine but if you find you are reacting and you are reasonably certain that it’s the latex then I would trust your experience and wouldn’t use the latex topper. If you tend to be sensitive to different materials I would always test different products one at a time so that you can track down any sensitivity to the most likely source.

I would also keep in mind that while wool is a wonderful material and can be a great temperature regulator and provide some point specific pressure relief … it’s not as soft as softer foam materials and it will become firmer as it packs down and compresses over time so with this and the likelihood that it will firm up the memory foam underneath it it may not be the best choice with a memory foam mattress that seems to be too firm.

Phoenix