I purchased a queen 12" Bamboo Bliss mattress from Brooklyn Bedding because of the glowing reviews both here and on SLTD. Just for reference i’ve been sleeping primarly on memory foam pads for the last few years. I’ve had the mattress now for about three weeks and while i’m overall very happy with the customer service and the quality of the mattress, it seems VERY stiff to me! I’m just wondering if this is normal for a latex mattress as it is far more stiff than i’m accustomed to?
I purchased the Plush version (19 ILD) with the expectation that it would be a bit softer based on the reviews. I realize that the sinking feeling of memory foam is different than Latex, but honestly this is close to the stiffest mattress I have ever slept on. I say that as a firefighter who is used to sleeping on 40+ different mattresses from rock hard to broken down sinking feeling depending on what station I am assigned to. I’ve been waking up with back and shoulder pain now and it is hard to sleep on my side because the new mattress is so stiff. I feel that I sink in ever so slightly and then it feels like i’m sleeping on a concrete block.
At this point I have the option of getting a new topper with the exchangeable layer or returning the mattress. The next step up would be the highest, the Super Plush, which I believe is 14 ILD. Would this be a big difference in softness? I’ve tried to give it time to break in, but today woke up with a painful knot in my shoulder from sleeping on my side on the mattress which i’ve never had happen before in my life. This seems very unlike the glowing reviews I have read here and on Amazon with their DreamFoam models. Any suggestions? Is it possible they accidentally marked a topper as 19 ILD and may have sent me a stiffer ILD?
Had you ever tried a mattress with the bamboo cover? I wonder if the bamboo yarn makes it less stretchy and gives it a firmer feel than a regular cotton cover?
The sensation of firmness is very subjective and can vary widely from person to person and there are many people who would consider your mattress to be too soft just like there are others that like you that would consider your mattress to be too firm although it would be somewhat unusual for most people to experience 19 ILD Talalay as being too firm.
Different people can have very different perceptions of firmness and softness and a mattress that is firm for one can feel like “medium” for someone else or even “soft” for someone else depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. This is all relative and is as much an art as a science. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they “rate” a mattress (see post #15 here).
If your mattress is too firm for you though there are some suggestions in post #2 here that may be helpful.
The 14 ILD would be noticeably softer but while I don’t know your body type or weight (which can make a significant difference), I would tend to be cautious with 14 ILD talalay unless you are in a very low weight range. While it may be counterintuitive … I would also keep in mind that your “symptoms” or experience could also be coming from a latex layer that is too soft and allows you to feel too much of the firmer support core underneath it or from some of the other suggestions that are in the post I linked.
It’s also possible that your shoulder issues could be from a pillow issue as well because a pillow can make a significant difference in upper body “symptoms”.
While it’s unlikely … it’s certainly also possible that they used the wrong ILD in your mattress (because your experience is so unusual) and if you have eliminated some of the other possibilities then I would talk with them to ask for their suggestions and see what they say as well.