So Many Mattresses so Much Confusion

[phoenix]

Hi SeattleJen,

So we bought the local mattress and it’s horrible. Well my partner loves it and is sleeping great and I slept ok for the first 4 nights but on night 5 I got a major pain in my shoulder and have been a mess ever since. (We’ve had it just over a week). We have gone back to the store and tried one topper - I thought that was going to make a difference but this morning I had to move at 5am into our guest bedroom with my childhood bed that’s over 20 years old because it is more comfortable.

The mattress you purchased is certainly good quality and value but of course quality and value has little to do with it’s suitability for any particular person.

It will take some time for any new mattress to break in and also to adjust to any new sleeping surface and I would normally suggest that you give any new mattress 30 days or so before making any initial assessments (2 weeks at a very minimum). If you do need to make any changes to your sleeping system then it’s also very important to make sure that you first assess the underlying cause of the specific issues you are having and whether they are likely to be pressure or alignment issues so any changes you make have better odds of moving you in the right direction rather than making things worse. This is where the knowledge and experience of a good retailer or manufacturer will be particularly valuable.

I shouldn’t go to sleep pain free and wake up with my hips and lower back hurting right?

In the long term no of course not but it’s not at all uncommon to experience discomfort in the first few weeks when you change your mattress and your sleeping surface. Post #2 here has more information about this. This can depend on how carefully and objectively you tested the mattress and how well your testing was able to simulate your normal sleeping experience. Normally good testing will be a good predictor of your longer term needs and preferences with only minor changes needed if any but of course there are always exceptions to everything.

The good news is that it’s always much wiser to choose a mattress that is too firm than choosing a mattress that is too soft. Any mattress will soften over time and you can always “fix” a mattress that is too firm by adding a suitable topper but it’s much more difficult and less effective to “fix” a mattress that is too soft because it involves replacing or exchanging layers rather than adding softer layers on top.

Your next step would be to work closely with the retailer to try and assess the reasons behind your sleeping experience and what type of changes are most likely to correct them if the initial break in and adjustment period doesn’t do this automatically.

Phoenix