Well, I’m back after the second night because things have improved dramatically in just one night, and I think it’s because of your suggestions Phoenix!
First, I took off the heavily padded polyfill mattress pad. Last night we slept with only the original cover that came with the mattress, and the organic cotton protector from our old ESW mattress (little thicker maybe than cotton flannel, and quilted, but no padding.) Flannel sheets on top.
Next, I slid way down the mattress so I was on the “firmer” part of the flexible slat foundation. Up by the headboard, and for maybe about the top 1/4 of the foundation where the plllow normally would be, there are no adjusters- those are the most flexible slats.
The mattress actually felt softer with these changes! Taking away a softly padded protector, and moving onto a firmer surface. Who would have thought!
I slept extremely well and was very comfortable last night on my back primarily, with a rolled up hand towel under my neck instead of a pillow. I normally start out on my back, but roll onto my side because my back starts hurting. This mattress may turn me into a back sleeper! The times on my side, I had no pressure points. Like the feel of the foam- no pushback like latex and no sinking like memory foam, although I do feel comfortable cradling contact support with the important areas like lower back.
There were two things of note: when I took off the thick mattress pad, I noticed a bit of a foam odor, and it almost seemed like that familiar memory foam odor, but not quite. It aired out enough in just 30 minutes that I didn’t notice it much anymore. I’m very sensitive to smells, my husband couldn’t smell it. But it didn’t bother me enough to want to move off the mattress.
Two. The mattress under my body with just the cotton mattress pad and sheets, felt cold. For about 10-15 minutes. I did not like this. I was in flannel pajamas. The top of my body was getting warm, but my back side was cold. It did warm up and I felt comfortable during the night and didn’t wake up hot like I do on some surfaces.
I have a couple of questions in to Tuft and Needle. I am curious if this is a temperature sensitive foam. It have a very fast recovery rate, no “sinkage”, which makes me think no, but the very close smell and cold feeling on top seemed a little like familiar memory foam.
The second question I have to them is about the silica fire barrier. The cover feels quite slick, and my hands feel a little like they are coated when I touch the cover that came with the mattress. I wanted to know if the silica is bonded to the yarns, or just coated. I have allergies and am borderline asthmatic and need to worry about inhaled particulates that might give me a reaction. I plan on encasing the mattress in an alelrgy protector with a pore size of around 3 microns, so I wonder about the size of the silica. I still think this is probably one of the better ways to make a fire barrier (the one I like the best is wool), so I’m not worried about “safety” as much as getting an irritation in my lungs. (Perhaps I’m over reacting here?).
I wonder how much adding a wool “puddle pad” on the mattress would change the feel? We need some liquid protection and I wonder if that would make the mattress a little warmer, the cold feeling I really don’t like. But I won’t get one until after more nights on the mattress, and after getting the kd foundation.
So UPDATED from my first post: not quite as firm as originally reported if you don’t use too much padding on the mattress. I’d say the new model is more on the upper end of middle-firm to lower end of firm.