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Hello All, I have a new latex mattress and of course want to protect it. I purchased a nice, classic cotton fitted mattress pad for it. My Sealy Springfree has a little PU on top of the latex and a beautiful soft cover that cannot be removed without "mattress surgery". But a salesman told me that I needed a Protect a Bed Mattress Pad, which protects a mattress from moisture because after 5 years of perspiration and dead skin, the mattress cover over the PU foam will soak up pounds of unwanted moisture. (And that's why we weigh less in the morning than at night) It grossed me out but I can't forget it. Does anyone know if this is true? We don't have children or pets in the bed, neither do we drink or spill things in it. I'll pay for the Protect a Bed pad if we need it, just don't want to ge hoodwinked. I can't find the answer anywhere else I've searched so I'm asking you pros. Thanks in advance for your help-- This message was modified Mar 4, 2008 by Sabra
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Hoodwinking's not that bad. But salesmen are. This message was modified Feb 29, 2008 by mccldwll
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Hopefully you have never fallen for the "undercoating option" when you bought a new car. That's basically what this guy is trying to sell you. Also, those type of mattress covers usually have teflon in them which doesn't breath, and which will cancel out all of the benefits of the natural materials in your mattress. |
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Sabra wrote: Hello All, I have a new latex mattress and of course want to protect it. I purchased a nice, classic cotton fitted mattress pad for it. and it has a little PU on top of the latex and a beautiful soft cover that cannot be removed without "mattress surgery". But a salesman told me that I needed a Protect a Bed Mattress Pad, which protects a mattress from moisture because after 5 years of perspiration and dead skin, the mattress cover over the PU foam will soak up pounds of unwanted moisture. (And that's why we weigh less in the morning than at night) It grossed me out but I can't forget it. Does anyone know if this is true? We don't have children or pets in the bed, neither do we drink or spill things in it. I'll pay for the Protect a Bed pad if we need it, just don't want to ge hoodwinked. I can't find the answer anywhere else I've searched so I'm asking you pros. Thanks in advance for your help-- Seems to me that unless you live in a very humid place, the sweat will evaporate. In any case, if you live in a humid place the last thing you want to do is put something on top of your mattress that does not breathe, and I"d be willing to bet the Protect A Bed does not. I don't buy that a mattress accumulates pounds of perspiration. However, there are covers designed to protect from dust mites, which you may want to consider to protect from dust mites. The dust mites do feed on dead skin and dust which accumulates in the mattress. Latex does not hold them I don't believe, but PU and other materials do. People who have asthma know about this. Places like Bed and Bath and Beyond sell the covers, as do allergy supply places on the WWW. |
| I'm all for mattress pads-- just not the specific one some salesman is pushing. The thing about mattress pads is that like sheets you can take them off and wash them. If you do this regularly no sweat need ever penetrate your mattress. |
| Thank you all for the heads up. I will pass on the specialty pad that was being pitched to me and stick with my nice Costco one that is working just fine. |
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Do you need it? That's up to you. Personally, I use one, and think that it's great. The cover does breathe (one of the few true protectors that does), and it has held up great in the wash for the 3.5 years I've had it. The backing is a gortex-like product (called a "miracle membrane"), and for those of you who are familiar with gortex, you know that it breathes really well, while still being waterproof. The average person does lose a pint of fluid a night in perspiration (this doesn't count the dead skin cells, etc). These will break down your mattress over time, if you allow the foams to soak this up. The foams in your bed act like a sponge, soaking that moisture up. Unlike your sponge in your kitchen, though, that you leave out on the sink to dry out, beds stay covered in the cover of the mattress, the mattress pad, and the sheet and don't have a chance to air out and dry properly. Over time, that will lead to the foams breaking down. That being said, I'm the devil (a mattress salesman - though we don't carry the PAB, we carry a knock off of them, which isn't as good, trust me, I've tried it). However, for my money, a PAB is the way to go. |
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I definitely second the allergy/ dust mite proof mattress and foundation encasings. In fact I have just been to the allergist this morning to find out I have a pretty bad reaction to dust mites (hives). My current mattress is encased as well as pillows, but I didn't do the box springs, thinking they are a whole layer away from my body. Well I am definitely going to be purchasing some for the new mattress and foundation (whatever that may be) when the time comes. Dust mites are incredibly disgusting creatures. I'm not sure about the perspiration but I'd think the mattress pad would be the thing absorbing first and that can be washed regularly. Then again if you don't want to take chances (since any spills would lead to a void warantee ) I'd consider a waterproof one but I wouldn't buy from them. |
| National Allergy has the best selection of encasements (mattress, box, pillow, comforter) for the $ I've found. |
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I used to wake up so itchy on the conventional mattress I used to have (as well as I moved around way too much since it was too hard with no give or cushion) and now I do not itch all night and I can breath. I am glad I chose latex for this reason and so I do not have to worry about the dust mites in a regular mattress. I change my fitted sheet and pillow cases every few days and wash my bedding in hot water. This message was modified Mar 6, 2008 by Lynn2006
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mccldwll wrote: National Allergy has the best selection of encasements (mattress, box, pillow, comforter) for the $ I've found.
Even though I have allergies and asthma I have not used a dustmite cover for the past few years. I have not wanted to spend the money on a set since we changed from a king to 2 twins. But I do want to get some. I did have a bad bout with asthma last year but I am not really convinced it was due to a lack of mattress/box springs covers. Maybe, maybe not. I think in my case it has more to do with forced air gas heating which seems to make my asthma act up. Anyway, I was going to say that I still don't think the issue of sweat is that big of a deal. If you use a couple of sheets over your mattress as we do, I doubt that much sweat is going into and staying in your mattress. I could be wrong but it seems to me that it would evaporate. The dust mites DO live in there, though, that's a scientific fact. |
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The moisture in sweat may evaporate but the salts and other minerals in your sweat will accumulate on whatever material they have soaked into, just like water evaporating and leaving mineral deposits behind. This message was modified Mar 7, 2008 by cloud9
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cloud9 wrote: The moisture in sweat may evaporate but the salts and other minerals in your sweat will accumulate on whatever material they have soaked into, just like water evaporating and leaving mineral deposits behind.
But aside from the dust mite issue, (which is relevant to me because I am asthmatic a few times a year), I'm not that concerned about my mattress getting ruined since it's made up of mostly toppers and 1" HR foam pieces that can easily and cheaply be replaced. This is another great advantage of having an HR Foam "poor man's" component zoned mattress! |
| Sweat in the mattress is not the biggest concern. While it is true that moisture would damage your latex mattress, the amount you sweat at night would probably be absorbed in your fabric on your mattress causing more of a staining problem than anything else. Your mattress will gain weight primarily due to the dead skin cells you shed every night. Every time you move skin against cloth, you shed thousands of dead skin cells. This is what the dust-mites eat. Over the course of 10 years, an unprotected mattress can possibly double in weight due to the dead skin cells and dust mite bodies. VERY GROSS! A protector makes all this a moot point. |
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I agree that dust mites are disgusting, but is there something that protects your mattress that isn't also potentially toxic? Surely a cotton mattress pad and a sheet would be enough to protect dead skin cells from migrating through to the mattress. We unwittingly bought a mattress cover with our new mattress which we used only a couple of days until I realized it was made partly from Teflon which doesn't breath and which contains PFCs. See the report below: http://pollutioninpeople.org/toxics/pfcs |
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kimmcgov wrote: I agree that dust mites are disgusting, but is there something that protects your mattress that isn't also potentially toxic? Surely a cotton mattress pad and a sheet would be enough to protect dead skin cells from migrating through to the mattress. We unwittingly bought a mattress cover with our new mattress which we used only a couple of days until I realized it was made partly from Teflon which doesn't breath and which contains PFCs. See the report below: http://pollutioninpeople.org/toxics/pfcs
Look into some non-toxIc protectors at nationalallergy.com. I think people get overly freaked out about dust mites. They are EVERYWHERE - in your furniture, in the carpets, EVERYwhere. You may as well just accept it. However if you are asthmatic or have a lot of allergies it MAY help to do what you can to protect against them. Then again, it may not. I had mattress covers for years and did not have them for some years, and I see little difference in my asthma and allergies. Your mileage may vary. |
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Jim, I kind of agree. The idea of dust mites is disgusting, but they are in fact, everywhere. Not just in your bedding but in your chairs and sofas and carpets. Still, I am a big believer in mattress pads. Not necessarily one made of some specialized material but just plain old fashioned cotton mattress pads with a little bit of polyfil batting that can be removed and laundered to keep the mattress as clean as possible. Getting back to sweat, it's not just moisture and salts collecting on the mattress, it's bacteria, and that's even grosser to me than dust mites. Although I have to say, since I got my new mattress my allergies seem much better than they were with my old one, where I seemed to wake up with a stuffed nose every day. Kim makes an interesting point about some of the materials used in mattress pads/protectors today. A very good case for reading the labels of everything you buy these days. |
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cloud9 wrote: <strong>Jim</strong>, Although I have to say, since I got my new mattress my allergies seem much better than they were with my old one, where I seemed to wake up with a stuffed nose every day. The same thing happened to me. I would always wake up feeling stuffed up after years of sleeping on a futon, but once we got our new mattress that all went away. It took me a while to realize it and make the connection. We put that futon up in the attic, but now I realize we should get it out of the house altogether. It must be FULL of dust mites. Yukk. |
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kimmcgov wrote: We put that futon up in the attic, but now I realize we should get it out of the house altogether. It must be FULL of dust mites. Yukk. And Kim, you know it's not just the dust mites but their droppings we breathe in. Double yukk! And if that's not gross enough already, just think of the eyelash mites that live on everyone's eyelashes... |