I could really use some help in picking a topper for my side of our S&F Ellastone king-sized bed. The mattress is a few years old and seems to be in great shape. My hubby and his bad back love it. However, it has always caused me to toss and turn due to pressure points in my hips and shoulders. I have a fiber-filled mattress pad (king-sized) that I put on the mattress when I just can’t stand it anymore. It does help a bit (but I could definitely use a lot more cushioning) but within a couple of weeks, hubby’s back starts acting up and I end up removing it. This has been going on since we bought the mattress.
Recently, I had the joy of sleeping on a latex mattress while visiting family in the U.K. but hubby was not with me, so don’t know how his back would react to latex. And I really don’t want to spend $$ on a new mattress right now. We have also vacationed in places where a feather-bed on top of the mattress allowed me to sleep through the night, however hubby’s back hated them immediately. I don’t think a real “feather” bed would work for me at home, due to my kids allergies.
So, any recommendations on how I can add cushioning to my side of the bed? In case it helps, I’m 5’3", 120 lbs and a side sleeper (although lately I’ve been waking up on my tummy with a sore neck!!).
If your mattress is still in very good condition and there are no soft spots or sagging (virtual or visible) in the mattress then a topper can be a good idea if all you need is some extra pressure relief and comfort.
How he feels about a latex topper will probably depend on how he feels about a more highly resilient material and also on the thickness and firmness/softness of the topper. Apparently the Ellenstone used memory foam in at least part of the comfort layers and the slow response “feel” of memory foam is a very different “animal” from the fast response of latex (see post #2 here). The only way to know ahead of time would be for him to test some mattresses that use latex comfort layers locally so he can get a sense of how latex feels in very general terms although this won’t tell him how a specific topper will feel for him on top of your mattress.
Featherbeds and fiberbeds can add a little bit of “cush” or surface feel to a mattress but they compress so easily that they just add a little bit of cushioning directly under pressure points and don’t do a great job at redistributing pressure along the larger surface area of the body or providing support under the more recessed areas of the body (such as the small of the back for back sleepers or the waist for side sleepers). They are also a higher maintenance item because they need to be fluffed up on a regular basis because they pack down and compress with use unlike a more resilient foam topper.
Stomach sleeping is also a very risky sleep position and if a mattress has comfort layers and/or toppers that are too thick and soft it can cause issues with sleeping in a swayback position which can lead to discomfort or pain in your lower back. Stomach sleeping an also lead to neck pain because your neck is turned when you sleep on your stomach and I would also make sure that you use a very thin pillow or no pillow at all when you sleep on your stomach so that your head and neck are also in good alignment. When stomach sleeping is one of your sleeping positions then it becomes more important when you are choosing a topper that you choose “just enough” in terms of softness and thickness to relieve pressure on your side and no softer or thicker than “necessary” so that the risk of stomach sleeping is less.
There isn’t a forumula that can be used to choose a topper because there are so many variables involved but post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to can help you make the best topper choice based on your assessment of how much more softness/thickness you need.
Thanks for your reply! I read though the links you provided and they were extremely informative.
As I rambled about in my original post, hubby’s back is very sensitive and our mattress works best for him as-is. So how weird would it be to just put a topper on my half of the bed?
I’m thinking of the LaNoddle topper since I have no way to actually try out different toppers on my mattress. This one seems like a pretty safe bet based on the descriptions. Also, I am pretty sure that 2" thick solid latex topper would be really weird on just half of our bed. I will call the company that makes LaNoodle to get exact measurements on the twin and twin-xl topper to compare with my mattress so the fit will be right.
Hi Kavi,
I have a pretty similar situation myself and I have a thin topper on my side of the bed only. We have a down comforter and once the bed is made you can’t notice the difference much. Plus, at this point in the game, I mostly care that I get a good night’s sleep!
I also agree with SleepDeprived that a relatively thin topper over half your mattress would be less noticeable and a topper like the lanoodles will have less of a “bump” in the transition point than a solid topper. The design of the Lanoodles also makes it a relatively “safe” choice in terms of adding some extra softness and pressure relief with a lower risk of creating alignment issues.