New Mattress Woes- too soft? too firm? looking for advice to remedy

[phoenix]

Hi suffolk,

well after sleeping with the pillow under my pelvis the pain is definitely 50% better, the pain almost feels like it moved up 10 inches in my back, but i could be a little confused as i went to the gym yesterday and did a back workout. but i definitely dont feel it in my tailbone as i did and i did not need to get on the floor and stretch. i want to give it another night to see how things go. i have never returned something so big before, i was reading through amazon some people were charged as little as 59$ for the large returns. upon calling amazon they told me i purchased the mattress through the marketplace which means the return policy is not effective. iw ill contact chuck an see what we can work out.

That’s good news because it points to the underlying cause of the “symptoms”.

I would tend to give it a week or so (and possibly try some of the other suggestions as well which may also be effective) to confirm that the improvement points to your longer term experience and can help to eliminate any of the other variables that can affect your experience over the course of just a few days. This can also be helpful in choosing the most appropriate mattress because you will have a good reference point for the combination or thickness and firmness that is too soft for you and provides good information about your longer term needs and preferences.

@ sleeping,

It seems that ILD and IFD are the same measurement method… but that the test sample thickness must be specified the same if one hopes to compare surface firmness ratings. If the 32 ILD rating is for 4" of poly foam, then that foam would be firmer than a 32 ILD rating for Latex foam rubber based on a 6" test sample. If roughly 20% firmer as you suggest, then that would be a better support core firmness.

There are some slight differences between the methods for testing IFD and ILD but they are basically the same. IFD will first precompress the foam a bit to remove any false loft before testing the material and there can also be differences in how long a wait there is at 25% compression before the force is measured. In some parts of the world the 40% IFD or ILD measurement is also much more common and some latex manufacturers only rate their foam in terms of density. There are also other protocols that are used for testing firmness levels used by some companies or in some parts of the world that can be a little more difficult to “translate” into ILD.

Changing up the topper(s) might then help… thinner/firmer for front sleeping.

Yes … going with a firmer and/or thinner top comfort layer would likely help (and choosing with an eye towards a little too firm which can be fine tuned more easily rather than too soft) but the Ultra plush doesn’t have the exchangeable layer and only has a standard top layer thickness so this wouldn’t be possible in this case without opening up the mattress.

Phoenix