Last night, I was excited to sleep on my new mattress for the first time. It is a 9" medium-firmness Botanical Bliss from Plushbeds. Unfortunately, it was a very uncomfortable first hour of sleep that forced me to move to my couch. The mattress was simultaneously too firm and too soft. It was too firm because, as a side sleeper, I felt a lot of pressure on my hips and side of my rib cage. It was also too soft, because I felt my hips sinking more deeply into the mattress than any other part of my body, forcing my lower back to be out of alignment. I am 110 lbs, lighter than the average sleeper, so I’m wondering if this had something to do with it. Should I give the mattress a bit more time? It just doesn’t seem supportive OR soft enough for me.
I’m sorry you’re not sleeping well on your new PlushBeds Botanical Bliss mattress, but a one-hour trial is of course not nearly enough for you to evaluate the product and “give it a chance”, or allow yourself to adjust to it.
The mattress you chose has a firm latex support core, with only 2" of a medium-firm (24-26 ILD) Talalay latex layer on top of that, and at only 110 lbs those components should be more than enough to provide adequate support for someone of your BMI.
Everything that you are describing points to the point-elasticity of the latex contouring to your body (in contact with your ribs and hips), and your hips sinking in a bit more than the rest of your body would be normal, as that is generally the heaviest area.
It could be that you are not used to the feel of latex, which can certainly take a few weeks for adaptation. You may also have some “learned alignment” from your old mattress which makes this product feel odd. You also may have top-of-bed products or an unsupportive foundation (you didn’t mention about either) that could be contributing to this sensation.
With all of that being said, if you truly think that this mattress is “too soft” for you, as an experiment you could flip the mattress over and sleep upon the bottom (core) side of the mattress, which would be “firmer” than the top side. If you found that to be more comfortable, it could then very well be that you do prefer a firmer surface comfort than what would normally be expected for someone of your BMI and a side sleeper.
There is some information about the many different symptoms that people may experience on a mattress and some of the most common causes behind them in post #2 here that may be helpful.
I would also suggest a phone call directly to Plushbeds if things don’t improve for you and seek their guidance. They would know more about their products and have specific suggestions for you to try. The good news is that you did choose something with a good return/exchange policy, but hopefully you won’t end up needing to take advantage of that.
I’ll be interested in learning if you adjust to your mattress or any changes that you might make.
I’m sorry to report that my wife and I are experiencing exactly the same problem with our Sleepez special 8" latex mattress. Even with the thinner 2" soft topper, you still sink in enough that you feel a strange blood stopping pressure right above the hips while sleeping on your side, or the same pressure in your lower back when sleeping on your back. It just starts to ache right away ever though the topper is soft and you can’t sink too far with a 2" soft layer. The obvious alternative was to shuffle the medium layer to the top in order to avoid the sinking situation. That worked well, but now the bed is just firm enough that extremities begin to tingle when being still on your back or side too long.
The cover is a stretchable knit, so I think that may allow pressure points to sink in too far locally. My belief is that sticking with the soft latex layer in top, but adding a wool layer to bridge the local sinking points may provide the right balance. Adding 4 microfiber blanket layers under the wife seems to work for her, but does that inform me enough to commit to an super expensive wool topper, or replace my mattress ticking/cover with one that has the wool? I didn’t like the (common) bamboo wool covers in my local custom mattress store because they made all of the mattress variants on display feel the same/uninspiring to me… But I guess that may be what comfort actually looks like to my uneducated backside? In thinking about it, I may spring for a 3" 15 ILD topper for more plushness and then add the boring bamboo/wool mattress cover. That looks like another $600 in experimental costs for me.
What do you think you will do?
Your description seems to differ from hotpink345’s, in that you’re describing not enough surface plushness or enough “bending in” to the deeper support core of the mattress. At least that’s what I’m inferring from your description. The addition of a softer comfort layer would “seem” to be a reasonable approach. You may wish to investigate some of these toppers that can be returned if you decide to go that route.
