Memory foam mattress not working out - what to do?
Apr 9, 2009 2:11 AM
Joined: Feb 8, 2009
Points: 6
Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while, and I thought I'd post to solicit some opinions on my foam mattress situation.

Our stats:
me: 6', 175 lb, side/back sleeper
wife: 5'3" 110 lb, stomach/side sleeper
neither of us have any previous back problems

My wife and I recently bought a memory foam mattress - 8", 40 ILD foam, with a 3" 5lb memory foam topper (they're seperate pieces). In this configuration my wife can't sleep on her stomach at all (back pain just like our last pillowtop mattress), and on our sides it seems like we sink through the memory foam onto the base and end up with sore shoulders.

Now we have 2" convolute between the base and the topper, which feels really good, though I occassionally wake up with a slightly sore lower back. On her side, my wife has woken up fine, and has also woken up with a really sore back.

I'm thinking that the memory foam is too thick (for my wife to sleep on) and our base is too firm (way to firm).

Any thoughts on how we can save our investment?

Thanks!
Re: Memory foam mattress not working out - what to do?
Reply #1 Apr 9, 2009 4:40 AM
Location: Vancouver, WA
Joined: Feb 9, 2009
Points: 21
Your on the right track, either go with 2" of 5lb memory foam instead of 3"

Or simply add more between the 40ILD and your memory foam so even if you do sink in, you don't hit the firm 40ILD foam.

You could try either Energia at 24 ILD or 36 ILD Extra firm, OR Latex layers with similar ILD's OR more egg foam.

You will notice they sell Energia on a few online sites like rockey mountain mattress but when you go to buy it they e-mail you saying they dont carry it any more.

Perfectfit.com can get the Energia foam or any Foamex foam listed on their website. They don't sell "memory foam" or bedding, they do upholstry and will special order for you from reps at Foamex.

Latex you have Foam by mail, you could get 2" of 32 ILD + 1" of 20 ILD or 3" of 32 ILD
Another latex option would be some expensive brand from online or in a store. I'm sure you can find ILD's between 38-20  as support layers. Remember, once you get towards 20 ILD you don't want the layer to be too thick, 1" of 20 ILD should be plenty (or possibly not needed) if you already have memory foam.

3rd option is other types of foam, which you can find for cheap.

What is the "firmness" of the memory foam you have? They can make 5lb density memory foam, soft at a low ILD (12) or make it a little firmer (still soft though but you can tell a difference) by raising the ILD closer to 16.
This message was modified Apr 9, 2009 by Phalse
Re: Memory foam mattress not working out - what to do?
Reply #2 Apr 9, 2009 11:25 AM
Joined: Jan 19, 2009
Points: 64
Just a comment - sorry we don't have any suggestions for a solution but have read of others trying to self-engineer their own mattress by trying different toppers of different thickness, density and types of foam/latex.

We considered trying latex or foam or a combination thereof and the more we read the more relieved we are that we chose another route that, we are thankful, was the perfect solution for our sleep comfort.

Would you mind if we ask how much you have invested so far and continue to post the expense of further layer experimentation and the cost and the result?

I am sure there are many others who are much in need of good sleep and your information will be helpful to all.

Best of luck with your qwest for Good Sleep!

Re: Memory foam mattress not working out - what to do?
Reply #3 Apr 9, 2009 3:26 PM
Joined: Feb 8, 2009
Points: 6
imjay wrote:
Just a comment - sorry we don't have any suggestions for a solution but have read of others trying to self-engineer their own mattress by trying different toppers of different thickness, density and types of foam/latex.</p><p>We considered trying latex or foam or a combination thereof and the more we read the more relieved we are that we chose another route that, we are thankful, was the perfect solution for our sleep comfort.</p><p>Would you mind if we ask how much you have invested so far and continue to post the expense of further layer experimentation and the cost and the result?</p><p>I am sure there are many others who are much in need of good sleep and your information will be helpful to all.</p><p>Best of luck with your qwest for Good Sleep!

I think we've spent around $2000 for everything, including box spring. I'll post what we do next and the results, but we don't want to throw a lot more money at our mattress. For me, our current setup is really good, except for the occassional mild low back pain (but we've only slept on our current configuration for a few nights). We'll give it a few more sleeps and see what results we end up with.

I know that some people are very satisified with their foam mattresses (my mom has had one for 10 years and she says it's still good as new) - she bought it from Foamite, but they're a few thousand kms from us, so we can't make it in to check out their goods.
Re: Memory foam mattress not working out - what to do?
Reply #4 Apr 9, 2009 3:36 PM
Joined: Feb 8, 2009
Points: 6
Phalse wrote:
Your on the right track, either go with 2&quot; of 5lb memory foam instead of 3&quot;<BR><BR>Or simply add more between the 40ILD and your memory foam so even if you do sink in, you don't hit the firm 40ILD foam.<BR><BR>You could try either Energia at 24 ILD or 36 ILD Extra firm, OR Latex layers with similar ILD's OR more egg foam.<BR><BR>You will notice they sell Energia on a few online sites like rockey mountain mattress but when you go to buy it they e-mail you saying they dont carry it any more.<BR><BR>Perfectfit.com can get the Energia foam or any Foamex foam listed on their website. They don't sell &quot;memory foam&quot; or bedding, they do upholstry and will special order for you from reps at Foamex.<BR><BR>Latex you have Foam by mail, you could get 2&quot; of 32 ILD + 1&quot; of 20 ILD or 3&quot; of 32 ILD<BR>Another latex option would be some expensive brand from online or in a store. I'm sure you can find ILD's between 38-20  as support layers. Remember, once you get towards 20 ILD you don't want the layer to be too thick, 1&quot; of 20 ILD should be plenty (or possibly not needed) if you already have memory foam.<BR><BR>3rd option is other types of foam, which you can find for cheap.<BR><BR>What is the &quot;firmness&quot; of the memory foam you have? They can make 5lb density memory foam, soft at a low ILD (12) or make it a little firmer (still soft though but you can tell a difference) by raising the ILD closer to 16.<br type="_moz"/>

Thanks for the suggestions Phalse. I have considered FBM's latex, but we'd rather buy something locally where we can actually check out the goods before purchasing them. We don't have an actual ILD for our memory foam (ILDs don't have too much meaning for visco-elastic foam since the firmness changes with body temperature). There are a lot of options we can try with our mattress, but we don't want to sink a lot more money into our mattress, so we might wait a bit to try and pin it down what our problem is first (height of topper or firmness of the base).

BTW We want big 'S' mattress shopping last weekend and I found that our current setup feels better for pressure points than any of the mattresses we laid on.
Re: Memory foam mattress not working out - what to do?
Reply #5 Apr 9, 2009 11:48 PM
Location: Vancouver, WA
Joined: Feb 9, 2009
Points: 21
Well yes it does change with temp..........
But the ILD does still matter, if memory foams room temp ILD is 16 when warmed it would then feel like a 11, But a room temp 12 ILD would warm below a 8 ILD feeling, sinking through to the mattress support layers.
This message was modified Apr 9, 2009 by Phalse

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