After 11+ years on our Tempurpedic Rhapsody mattress, my husband and I started our search for a new mattress in May 2020. I was never fully comfortable on the Tempurpedic but found it generally tolerable enough for the time we had it as my husband liked it until it started sagging so much that it bothered his back. We both found it to be too soft, particularly in the summer and liked it best when first getting onto it during the winter when the mattress would be hard upon getting in but “soften” just enough to conform to our bodies. Once it warmed up, however, we disliked the “sink” feeling. I frequently had night sweats while on the Tempurpedic, year round, and these have stopped since we’ve been trying other mattresses. Thus, while we were able to get warranty credit for the mattress from Tempurpedic, we know we don’t want to get another one.
My goal is to have a mattress that is as “natural” as possible due to concerns over off-gassing, flame retardants, etc., as well as general environmental concerns. I’m highly sensitive to manufacturing smells. My husband and I have never had any issues sleeping on various mattresses when traveling, ranging from cheap hostel mattresses to ryokans, airbnbs, and varying quality hotel mattresses. We’d spent 6 months abroad in 2019-20 and had no issues with our furnished apartment’s standard innerspring mattress or on the varying short-term lodging mattresses while traveling place-to-place for a month. From this, we didn’t really think too much initially about our replacement mattress and ordered the Naturepedic Serenade (Cushion-Firm) because it was an easy option during the waning days of the pandemic lockdown and because we were pleased with our kid’s Naturepedic crib mattress (which I now realize is a poor comparison!). I was shocked when I was in astounding physical pain from the Serenade after a week of sleeping on it; I found it so uncomfortable that I barely managed to sleep on it for a week (thankfully Naturepedic was accommodating and allowed us to return it early!), but my husband was happy sleeping on it. Thus initiated the mattress-quest challenge we are still dealing with today. We have tried:
- Naturepedic Serenade (Cushion-firm)
- Charles P Rogers Estate SE
- Swiss Dream Bed
- Comfort Sleep Systems Outrageous Mattress (all Talalay latex mattress constructed with a firm core, medium-plush 2" comfort layer, and 1" plush comfort layer)
- Nest Bedding Alexander Signature Hybrid (Medium firmness)
I discovered the Mattress Underground site after #2 and have been trying to self-educate since then. We were both generally uncomfortable on mattress #2, and strongly disliked the springiness and lack of motion isolation or edge support. I really liked everything about #3 but it caused my husband a lot of back and shoulder pain, and I had some of the same discomfort. Hendrik was a fantastic help for us as we tried to make it work and I highly recommend the product and service, and am still disappointed that it didn’t work for us. We thought that an all-latex mattress might be the solution until we tried #4; we’d gone to the CSS showroom to try the feel of latex because it’s local to us. We hadn’t intended to buy a mattress there but the Outrageous mattress felt so comfortable upon trying it that we figured it was a sure thing and bought it despite the lack of a sleep trial and inflexible return/mattress modification policy. I awoke daily in incredible discomfort and stiffness from it, with major hip, shoulder, and knee pain. The mattress is flippable and we had it custom made with dual-firmness (“classic” and “firm” sides), and after trying the varying configurations for a few weeks I gave up and found more sleep comfort, and awoke in very little stiffness or pain, after sleeping on our guest bed with a cheap foam mattress that we bought from Amazon a few years ago. CSS has expressed a willingness to adjust the mattress to our liking, but I am concerned because the mattress feels very comfortable when I first lay on it, as it did in the showroom, but I awaken in so much pain that I am not sure how to effectively know how to have them modify it. Any modification of the mattress will also cause us an additional expense, and feel as though we wasted $3000 on a worthless mattress.
We’re now on the Nest mattress; after this mattress search “adventure” I’m happy enough with it, at least until the pandemic is “over” enough that we can do more extensive in-person shopping, but as we approach the end of our trial with it my husband is feeling increased shoulder and hip discomfort (he’s now back to sleeping on the CSS mattress) and we’re unlikely to keep the Nest mattress. I have no idea where to look next. “Natural” is a priority, but I’m willing to make some sacrifices if we’re both able to sleep comfortably. We’ve also been sleeping on a queen size but I’m open to a king size if we need to for dual/split comfort. Other priorities include good edge support and motion isolation. I’ve found Talalay latex to be too springy for my liking, both from mattress #4 and when trying the 2" Talalay topper we bought while trying to make #3 work (we’ve also tried this on the other mattresses since then). I want something that conforms and supports similar to the Tempurpedic, but without the off gassing, sinking, and heat. I love the idea of wool but am concerned about limitations on suppliers and return/exchange restrictions, particularly when unable to try it somewhere before purchasing.
Our specs:
Me: 5’10"/145#, predominately side sleeper, some back sleeping, sleep hot
Husband: 6’2"/225#, predominantly back sleeper, some side sleeping
We’re both athletic and in our late 30’s/early 40’s. We’re using a Chilton furniture slatted frame with <3" slat spacing which we bought after ditching the Tempurpedic. We both had intermittent and minor back pain from the Tempurpedic but nothing major. I developed varying degrees of shoulder, hip, knee, and back pain from the different mattresses that we’ve tried along the way, and feel as though “only” having minor hip pain from the Nest mattress is a small victory at this point. My husband has been experiencing back, hip, and shoulder pain to varying degrees from the different mattresses; he’s now moderately happy sleeping on the CSS mattress, placed on our floor, with the Nest Bedding’s “plush” layer on top of it (we tried both the plush and the medium comfort layers; plush was too soft).
I’m feeling some level of defeat and desperation with this and not sure where to look next. I would love any recommendations for possible “natural”-ish mattresses that could work for us. I’d looked into the Ghost bed a bit before we bought the Nest; thoughts on its suitability for us? Thank you for your help in response here, and with everything on this site!