PLB Pamper/Topper

My husband and I just took delivery of a PLB All Natural Pamper with a PLB foundation and the PLB All Natural 3" topper on Monday. I am 5’1"/140 lbs., and my husband is 5’8"/175 lbs. I prefer to sleep on my back but for the last year or so have slept on my left side because it was the only remotely comfortable position on our old mattress. For the same reason, husband primarily is a back sleeper. Our old mattress was a firm innerspring that has had severe body impressions for several years and was overdue to be replaced.

The new mattress/topper is causing me lower back pain, which is not a problem I typically have. I know that there can be an adjustment period to a new mattress (and this new setup in indeed very different from our previous one). But it is obvious that my hips/pelvis are sinking too low when lying on my back and I am pretty certain this is what is causing my discomfort. (Placing the topper on the floor my hips/pelvis bottom out while the rest of me is nowhere close.) Lying on my side is okay.

I suspect that maybe the topper is too soft and/or thick. We are going to sleep on the mattress without the topper tonight as a comparison, though in the store I felt the Pamper was too firm by itself. Would the 2" PLB topper potentially solve my problems? Or would we be better off with a higher ILD topper of either the same/different thickness? Or, have I just not given my body enough time to adjust yet? My husband hasn’t really passed judgement on the new stuff yet beyond saying that it is an improvement and that’s he’s inclined to think the topper is probably too thick as well.

Thanks for this great resource!

Hi Beeg,

The PLB 3" topper is very soft (14 - 15 ILD) and in combination with the 2" of 21 ILD on top of the Pamper (which is also in the soft range) the odds are high that your comfort layers 90the combination of the topper and the 2" layer in the mattress) is too thick and soft to provide you with good alignment … particularly for back sleeping. A thinner and slightly firmer topper would have better odds of working better. The 2" topper would likely be an improvement but it is still very soft and you would “go through” it easily … especially with the heavier parts of your body … so there would still be some risk of alignment issues. Now that you know the “feeling” of comfort layers that are too thick/soft and the more subtle signals that your body sends you … you would also be in a better position to test the 2" topper and Pamper together using the testing guidelines linked in post #1 here to see how much of an improvement it would be but in general I would tend towards slightly firmer choices unless your testing indicates otherwise.

While it’s always a good idea to give any change some time before making adjustments so you can rule out any possible causes for your symptoms that are more temporary or transitory … I think that the odds are quite high that what you are sleeping on is too thick and soft based on your feedback. Sleeping on the Pamper by itself is a good idea IMO and then you can use your experience on the mattress by itself to help you decide on how much more “comfort” you may need using the guidelines and information in post #2 here and the other posts it links to (and if you can return the topper it could also save you some money as well).

Phoenix