i do not eat or drink on my bed, so i am not worried about spilling stuff on the bed, my main concern is keeping body oils and sweat from absorbing into the mattress with out compromising the comfort or the function fo the memory foam. now i will get into what is going on with the current mattress protector and my sleeping habits to help get a idea of what i am going to need to get…
here is my problem… I got one of these beauty rest hybrid beds. memory foam with a inner spring, when i put this protect a bed mattress protector on the bed now feels kind of hard, i do not feel like i sink in to he memory foam properly and the bed does not seem to conform to me and its not comfortable and feels allot harder… i just got the bed yesterday and i slept on it last night with the mattress protector, when i woke up my back muscles are tight and sore and i have a stiff neck. the bed seems to have pressure points with the protector o it since i am not sinking down into the foam like i should be.
without the protector on the bed its amazingly comfortable to the point where i am thinking you cant get much better than this. it was so comfortable i though i could fall asleep instantly on this thing if i let me self its like laying on a cloud, i cant usually fall asleep on my back but when i was laying on my back on this matters with out the protector i think i could have easily fell asleep laying on my back. i have allot of back pain and stiff muscles all the time. that is part of the reason i got the memory foam bed, it really conformed to my body and got rid of all pressure points, i have never been more comfy in a bed ( till i put on the protector )
this protector i have, the underside is some kind of plastic like material, i took it off this morning and thew a old mattress pad on the bed and its comfy again. almost as comfy as just laying on the uncovered mattress, with just the mattress pad i sink down into the mattress like you should and all of that good stuff and the mattress feels great again. but i am not sure how well this is going to keep sweat and what not out of the bed.
as far as my sleeping habits. i am a person that sleeps on top of the sheets or comforter, i do not have a comforter on the bed right now, they are to hot to cover up with so when i do have one on the bed i just sleep on top of it and cover up with a light blanket. right now i only have sheets and the mattress pad on the bed, i sleep on top of the sheets and cover up with a blanket. i usually put 2 jersey sheets on the bed. i would think if i slept on top of a the sheets or the comforter and had just a mattress pad on there that would absorb allot of the body oil and sweat and i would think that stuff would not make it down to the mattress but i could be wrong.
so what would be my best bet, i want something that will not change the feel at all if possible and i only need something to keep sweat and body oil from absorbing into the mattress. even if i need to wash it ever couple of weeks or once a month or something that would be fine as long as my mattress is still going to be comfortable as possible.
to me it seems like sleeping on a mattress pad and 2 layers of sheets would probably do the job but i could be wrong so i figured i would get on here and ask…
I think it’s much too soon after only one day to assess either your new mattress or your mattress protector because after only one day both of them will need to break in which will change your experience on the mattress over the first 30 - 90 days. There is more about breaking in a new memory foam mattress in post #2 here.
In most cases … the thin “membrane type” of protector you purchased will have little effect on a memory foam mattress although there are some whose experience is not typical of most people who use them and it can be difficult sometimes to track down if there is a reason why outside of just the difference in perception and sensitivity between people. There is more about the pros and cons of different types of protectors in post #89 here.
Some of the reasons that this may be happening for you includes the tightness and pocket size of the mattress protector or the sheets you are using which can create a “drum effect” on the mattress. In other cases it may be because of a combination of the combined thickness of the protector and sheets (or other components) you are using on top of your mattress and their combined ability to allow body heat to reach the memory foam underneath them which can affect how the temperature sensitive memory foam softens underneath you. In some cases you may have two “layers” on top of a mattress which may be fine but adding something else may take you over the edge where the effect on the memory foam is more than you are comfortable with. Thicker layers of material on top of a memory foam mattress (your protector, any mattress pad, and any sheets and bedding on top of the mattress that you sleep on) can have a combined effect on the amount of heat that reaches the memory foam and can reduce its ability to soften and contour to your body.
This would depend on the type and thickness of the mattress pad you are using and whether it is designed to be water resistant or waterproof and “double up” as a mattress protector as well instead of being just an additional soft layer on your sleeping system. Depending on the type and thickness and the amount of heat it allows to reach the memory foam … a mattress pad can also affect the ability or length of time it takes the memory foam underneath it to soften and contour even though the thickness/softness of a mattress pad itself may mask this to some degree in some cases. There is more about some of the different types of mattress pads in post #10 here.
Overall though … the first suggestion I would make is to give your new mattress, protector, and the sheets and bedding you are sleeping on a little more time to stretch, lose any of their initial stiffness, and break in a little before deciding to make any changes. It may also be an idea to wash the protector (following the care instructions) before using it.
If he’s using a plastic protector, I imagine that would not be good. I went with a wool protector myself, after reading what Pheonix linked you. I also have had a protect-a-bed protector, and those are fine, though they seem to not hold up to the 10 year warranty they claim. If you’re not going to be spilling a bottle of wine on your bed, you should be able to find something much more comfortable than plastic.
I think that the Protect-A-Bed protector that dannylightning is using would be similar to yours and that the “plastic” layer they are referring to is the semi-breathable membrane that is on the underside of the protector. Protect-A-Bed doesn’t make a solid plastic non breathable protector … only the ones with a membrane.
the protect a bed protector i have does have a thick plastic like membrane on the under side and it does not have any stretch to it, i think that is the main problem here, it was fine on a regular bed but when i put it on the memory foam bed it no longer feels like laying memory foam… it does say its breathable. i think its the protect a bed premium cover that i have, .
just putting my hand on the bend and pressing down has a negative feel to it when the protector is on. taking it off and putting my old mattress pad on instead, than pressing down on the bed with my hand it feels like i am pressing down on memory foam.
when i lay on the bed without this protector i can feel each leg sink into the foam down by my calf’s
when i lay on the bed with the protector i cant feel my legs sink in to the bed at all. nor does my body feel likes its sinking down in like it should.
with out the protector i sink down all the way till my shoulders are actually touching the mattress and slightly sunk in and if i try to rock my body from side to side i cant unless i really try to. but when the protector is on the my shoulder are not touching the mattress fully unless i pull them back and when i rock my body from side to side i can roll from one shoulder to the next.
so it really seems this protector is not letting he memory foam do its thing like it should be.
before i went to bed i un-tucked the sheets and the protector from under the mattress so they were nice and loose instead of tight like i had them, i felt very little difference but it was very slight better that way but barley.
the cozy pure and the st dormier both sound pretty good but they are a bit expensive, i always notice wool makes me itchy so i am not sure how i feel about that even though i will have sheets over top of it. so the coz pure has my attention right now…