I wanted to ask your advice on mattress toppers. I am a side sleeper and 5’6", 124 lbs. I used to have a beautyrest pillowtop and it was great in the beginning but then it sagged badly. I replaced it with a Beautyrest Legend firm mattress and a separate Lucid gel infused 2.5", 3.5 density memory foam topper. Unfortunately, I am getting pressure points on my shoulders and hips. Do you think a 3" memory foam topper that is 4 or 5 lb density would make a difference? Does the gel memory foam somehow less supportive? Any suggestions, including specific brands of toppers would be very welcome.
Alternatively, I suppose I could do a comfort exchange on the mattress and try something else from Sleepys, like the pillowtop version, but given my experience I am worried about it slumping.
While there are too many unknowns and variables involved for anyone to make specific topper suggestions based on specs (either yours or a mattress) … if your mattress is still in good condition and there are no soft spots or sagging in the sleeping surface then a topper can certainly be a good way to add to the comfort and pressure relief of your mattress. While it will depend on the specifics of the memory foam formulation (there are hundreds of different memory foam formulations that will have different properties even if they have the same density) … in very general terms a higher density memory foam would tend to have a higher compression modulus (how quickly a material firms up as you sink into it more deeply) and would probably do a better job of isolating you from the firmness of the mattress underneath it.
Post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to can help you use your sleeping experience and the amount of additional pressure relief you need as a guidelines and reference point for choosing a topper that has the best chance of success and also links to some of the better sources I’m aware of for toppers as well.
There is more information about the many different types of gel memory foams in post #2 here but in very general terms again (because it will depend on the specifics of the gel memory foam formulation) the addition of gel to a memory foam can add additional support properties to the memory foam. Gel memory foam will also tend to be less temperature sensitive and have a faster response than non gel memory foams.
You can see some comments in post #2 here about the two main strategies I would suggest when you are considering exchanging a mattress for another one at a store where there are no particularly good quality value options available to you or where you may not be able to find out the information you need to make an informed choice. Whether I would do this would depend on the specifics of the materials in your mattress and in particular the amount of lower quality or unknown materials that were in the comfort layers (which would be the weak link in your mattress), and on how it compared to the other options that were available to you that had thinner layers of either unknown density or lower quality materials in the comfort layer.