Repost: side sleeping no longer comfy, any suggestions?

Hello community!

3 years ago I used this amazing site to help me build the bed of my dreams. I built a full latex mattress with this combo (top to bottom):
2"/19ILD talalay latex
2"/28ILD Dunlop latex
3"/38ILD Dunlop latex
3"/38ILD Dunlop latex
With a wool ticking (so 1" wool on top). The mattress base is solid and made for a heavy latex mattress.

Itā€™s been the perfect combo for my husband and me. We are both combo back and side sleepers. But more side sleeping than back. Heā€™s about 6ā€™4" and 250 and Iā€™m 5ā€™2" and 210 (very hourglass and bottom heavy).

Itā€™s been 3 years since we had this combo and now with pregnancy I find myself 20lbs heavier and exclusively sleeping on my side. Iā€™ve done all the tricks with pillows, but I still find myself sneaking into the guest bedroom half way through the night because I wake up in the middle of the night with PAIN in my hips from side sleeping. I tried sleeping in there for a week and the pain got so bad, so Iā€™m now exclusively sleeping in the guest bedroom without any pain.

Our guest bedroom bed is very different. Itā€™s a Leesa original with a floating 2" ā€œsleep on latexā€ mattress topper in medium. And a down topper thatā€™s 1.5 inches.

I need helpā€” because I want to sleep in my bedroom and in my bedā€¦ but I desperately need to know how can I transform my all latex bed into a similar feel to my guest bedroom?! Is my all latex bed not plush enough anymore? Do I need to add a layer of memory foam and float the talalay to the top of the ticking?

Update: I switched the firm so the medium slab is now in the middle. I took the topper off the Leesa and floated it on top. It seemed to really provide my hip pain relief, but sleeping on my back is a bit uncomfy in the middle of my back. Am I just a princess with a pea now?

Please help me with diagnosing what could be wrong with my all latex comparatively to my guest bedroom Leesa set-up!

Thanks so much!

100% talalay latex

Go try King Koil Pure Bliss Latex in Brook(Firm) or Genesis (soft)

Flobeds Vzone is customizable which is even better with 100% talalay.

Go search Damien under a thread ā€œshoulder injury or shoulder painā€ He got a Flobedā€¦.loves it.

John

Hi Aao9 and welcome to the Mattress Underground :slight_smile:

First, congratulations on your baby! Sorry to hear that you are now finding your ā€˜dream mattressā€™ is no longer holding upā€¦not entirely surprising as the body changes so drastically during pregnancy for some people!
The good thing is you have a good alternative in your guest room, which takes some part of the guesswork out of adapting your own mattress to be more suitable for you.

As you may know, any mattress you both find ideal will be based on your Stats (height, BMI, sleeping position(s) and any underlying health conditions) - thanks for providing those! - and your PPP (Posture & alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences). As you are both higher BMI sleepers - but as you donā€™t mention your husband having any issues with your mattress, you can concentrate on your own specific comfort and support needs.

It sounds like the wool ticking and 2" 19 ILD Talalay is allowing you to ā€˜bottom outā€™ on the firmer 28 ILD Dunlop Layer below, whereas on the Leesa, the medium firm SOL topper, even with the 1.5" down topper, is providing better support for your changing body. Keep in mind, also that Talalay Latex rubber has a different ā€˜feelā€™ to Dunlop; Talalay is considered ā€˜bouncierā€™ (usual comparison is between angel food cake and pound cake).

Unfortunately, like many ā€˜bed in a boxā€™ brands, the Leesa Original has almost no provided specifications , their website provides only:

10"
Breathable cover
Comfort layer
Memory foam recovery layer
Stabilization layer

ā€¦without any listed densities, or what type of foams, or even layer heights, itā€™s difficult to assess this mattress for suitability or support, or to get any firm idea of what the Leesa is providing that your latex mattress is not. Is it the same mattress size as your Latex mattress? Have you tried the SOL topper on your latex mattress? Or removing the plush top comfort layer with the SOL topper? As itā€™s Dunlop, it will be more supportive. And as the Lessa was in the guest bedroom, it likely has seen less use and is probably in good shape with no divots or valleys.Even without the pregnancy, you would need more durable materials, thicker firmer layers which are recommended for High BMI sleepers. You can take a look at the Mattress Durability Guidelines to see how durable specific materials are over time. As @Phoenix says," Thickness and softness work together and because thicker layers (or mattresses) can have a greater range of compression and are more ā€œadaptableā€ ā€¦ itā€™s also possible to use firmer top layers in a thicker mattress and still have good pressure relief because of the greater range of compression of the thicker mattress which can create a mattress with a firmer ā€œsurface feelā€ but that still provides good pressure relief and adapts well to the body contours."

Itā€™s not uncommon with DIY builds to need a little adjustment as your body changes - and pregnancy definitely qualifies! If you can, try to test out a few combinations - like the SOL topper on your existing bed, then as a replacement for your top latex layer,
such as:

SOL topper
2"/19ILD talalay latex
2"/28ILD Dunlop latex
3"/38ILD Dunlop latex
3"/38ILD Dunlop latex

Then try removing the Talalay layer; move up the firmer layer,
etc. it is an interesting point that you find the switched medium layer and firm so you now have med firm SOL, firm Dunlop, then medium Dunlopā€¦is the plush Talalay layer still on the bed?

It can take a bit of trial and error to dial in on the best possible match for you, (as it likely happened when you got your ā€œperfect comboā€ 3 years ago). This is clearly not a princess & the pea situation ā€“ you definitely need to experiment with the layers that you already have from your combo and possibly the ā€œfloatingā€ 2" latex from the guest bedroom. Hopefully youā€™ll find just the right combination that is similar to your guest bedroom set up, which is 12" with the topper which is better for higher weights, but might not be the right long-term solution.

I also agree with @BillyIdol that the v-zone could be a potential solution, it given the circumstances, as things will likely change once youā€™ve given birth, you should hold off on zoning for the momentā€¦please keep us updated!

~ Basilio

The leesa SOL combo is not good for my backā€” but it was excellent for my side sleeping. Just an FYI.

First combo: On my current bed I tried the firm, med, firm, soft combo and that was awful. It felt like my hips were being pushed up way too much and caused more pain.

Second combo: Then we kept that combo and tried putting the SOL on top. It was good for 3 daysā€” and then both noticed our lower backs were starting to hurt.

Third combo we didnā€™t try: I didnā€™t try my bed at firm firm med soft plus the SOL because I figured that would be too soft.

Fourth combo: we went back to firm firm med and then floated the soft talalay on top and that seemed to be a mix between combo of the second and guest bedroomā€¦ but still not quite there.

Knowing all of thisā€¦ yā€™all have any more suggestions for a next combo?