Hi Diane37,
I think that the difficulty of lighter weight women that have a more “curvy” body profile is more common with any mattress design … not just latex … because their needs and preferences are often different from the norm or “averages” particularly if they are side sleepers. Most manufacturers are reluctant to use the softest latex in their mattress (N1 in the case of 100% natural Talalay from Latex international) because for average or higher weights they would be less durable but for lighter more curvy body types they can be very useful. You are somewhat unusual in that you also seem to be looking for firmer rather than softer. It’s also possible you made a layer change in the wrong “direction”. Latex is very supportive in any softness level but it also responds differently from other types of foam so using other materials as a reference point can often be misleading. One of the strengths of latex is that even softer ILD’s are still more supportive than polyfoam.
The first step in making any adjustments to your mattress is to identify the underlying cause of your symptoms and whether they are alignment related or pressure related. This can sometimes be difficult because the underlying causes for various symptoms can be very complex and just like symptoms that are connected to medical issues can have many causes that can’t be known with any certainty based on “theory at a distance” except through a more detailed analysis and sometimes through trial and error.
Post #2 here and the other posts it links to has more about the more common causes of various symptoms that may give you some insights into what is happening and the types of changes that may be helpful.
The only way to know would be to try it. It appears to use some type of synthetic fiber which has the “feel” of down so it may provide some relief under specific pressure points but it wouldn’t have the resilience of a foam material so it wouldn’t likely solve support or alignment issues which would be more connected with the foam layering in your mattress.
My guess is that you may have needed a softer comfort layer rather than a firmer one. How far it “feels” like you are sinking in can be deceptive when you are used to other materials (latex is very point elastic) and your symptoms may have been more from pressure than from alignment or how far your hips were sinking in. If you were sinking in too far then you also can move the firmer layers on the bottom closer to the top to improve support and alignment and this is often worth testing to see if it appears to improve things.
It would require much more detailed specifics about your experience on each combination and most importantly how each one compares relative to each other in each sleeping position (how each symptom changes in worse or better terms relative to the last combination rather than only whether it works or not) to make more meaningful comments or suggestions you could try but based on your feedback I would have been tempted to choose a softer comfort layer after first re-arranging the lower layers to provide firmer support so that you could rule that out as a possible cause.
It would also be useful to know what type of mattress protector or mattress pad you are using because sometimes this can also affect how the foam layers contour to your body. It may also be worthwhile unzipping the top of the cover and removing it or folding it back to see if sleeping directly on the latex itself (with only a thin protector and sheets) makes a difference.
In most cases … the first combination based on “averages” works well for most people but if you are in the minority that needs to do make more changes or do more fine tuning then a slow step by step and incremental approach that “learns” from the differences in each combination and what it seems to point to is usually the most effective approach.
Phoenix