Mattress Forum

Well certainly not as it is now, which is why I posed the question - what should I try? Throw a layer of PU on top? Try swapping the top layer for Dunlop? I'm sure my problem is not unique so I'd be interested to hear some potential good solutions.

I am somewhat similiar in that I don't find a 100% latex mattress totally satisfying.  I have ended up using 2" of memory foam to make my mattress a bit more plush and body conforming.  I think memory foam does a better job of pressure relief, but too much will not provide enough support.  I currently have 1" of memory foam on top and another 1" below 1" of latex.  This is on top of 2" of latex, which is on Sealy springs.

However, if you have back issues I am not sure memory foam would help you.  I assume you have tried firmer configurations and they are no better?  Too firm can cause back issues (for me) if it forces me to sleep in a position (kind of slumped on my stomach) which puts strain on my back.

I thought lower back pain was usually aggravated by a bed that is too soft, not too firm. Pain in shoulders and hips is from too firm.  But I'm sure that generalization doesn't apply to everyone. Not to be flip, but perhaps you need to do more than just the bed to improve your lower back?  My wife can get some back pain if she stops doing her usual strength and flexibility exercises.

Finally, by all means I think you may be able to put something on top of your mattress to make it a bit more soft if that's what you're looking for.

It felt like it was pushing back too much and would not let my body relax. I sent it back, got a refund, no problem.

What I finally realized for myself - some people are the same way - is that I need SPRINGS - or "coils" as the industry terms them - under my body. You might be like me in that respect.

But before you decide to re- do your whole mattress which you have a lot of $ invested in, try this:

Try a 1" or so layer of super soft latex. I'm going to recommend that you buy 1" of super soft Talatech latex in ILD 14 from sleeplikeabear.com. Note that it may take you a couple weeks or more to get it because they are said to be slow. Now, I have not tried the Talatech ILD 14 but I have been told by an expert that this will improve that feeling of pushing back that some feel is too strong with latex. I plan to get one as a topper when I can afford it.

The other option is of course memory foam and you could try, say, 1" of Sensus memory foam on top and see if that works for you. If it feels too hot, put some wool - like an old wool blanket or specially made wool topper - on top. You can get Sensus memory foam at overstock.com. Know that memory foam tends to break down rather quickly so if it works for you, it may stop working for you after some time...

You could also try just a cheap pu foam topper... Seems to me that you need to put SOMEthing in between you and the latex... but if you put too much soft foam in between you and the latex it will hurt your back. So you have to find just the right thickness and the right softness.

Good luck!

Thanks for the response. I'm fairly young and healthy and don't really have any back issues, but somehow the mattress manages to give me lower back pain anyways. Right now I'm using the soft-medium-firm configuration, but I have tried all sorts of other configurations and this is the best (or least bad, I should say).

I sleep on my back, or at least I try to, but usually end up tossing a bit onto my sides to avoid the pain from sleeping on my back. I've tried different configurations and get the lower back pain no matter what. It's lesser when I have a softer configuration, and greater when I have a firm configuration. I would be open to trying whatever to resolve my problem, but I don't have back pain or trouble any other time, except at night when I'm sleeping on the mattress, so I'm pretty sure it's just the mattress, unfortunately :)

Thanks for the response Jim. Your suggestions are right along the lines of what I was thinking. I'm open to trying a soft latex topper, but if it's latex that is causing the problem in the first place I was wondering if more latex is going to solve the problem, even if it's very soft. What do you think? If not latex, I might just try a memory foam topper since they're so cheap and readily available. Most of the ones I see aren't rated in terms of ILD though, just density, 3, 4 and 5 pounds.

jonathan

Diane

my reaction to this latex is almost as if i am allergic to it, i have pain all around my back that i never had before and it isnt muscle pain or it isnt related to discs I should say

The lower back does not like a too soft bed in my opinion.  I feel you need to have all firmer layers with a very small cushion on top for your pressure points.  Well, this is what I needed and it worked.

I just read you don't really sleep on your sides, that you are a back sleeper, so maybe a wool pad would fill in the gap the small of your back gets with latex.  I don't have back pain since I got the wool on top Natura pad.  But I am a side sleeper that has to sleep on her back because of hip pain.  Also I have a 1" soft latex under that with other firm latex under that.

A fluffly wool pad might help, but those too go flat after a while.  Good luck.  Post back after a while.  The wool will sleep cooler than memory foam also.

Sleeplikeabear has 1" or 2" latex, or Rocky Mountain has 1" 2" 24ILD natural latex.  But maybe like I said before 1-2" of wool would ease your back pain.  Just MHO.  The small of my back use to hurt before I started using the wool.

Jonathan, I did not like the pure latex myself and had to switch to springs. But with springs, I find latex much better than memory foam, and I think a super soft layer of latex is probably better than a similar layer of memory foam. Memory foam breaks in/down too fast and I don't think a 14ILD latex layer would give you that "pushing back" feeling. Admittedly I have not tried it yet but I have been told by experts that I should try one (a 14ILD latex layer on top).

yeah that is how I feel. almost like spasm in my back. I am praying my baby is not alergic to this thing. who knows what they really put into this mattress. my back got so sore, I almost felt like I was gonna have diarhea.

This is how it was for me when I tried a Flobed a few years back.  We had every firmness core available, so we tried every combination possible before giving up.  I developed lower back pain of an intensity I had never experienced before always by about the 5th hour in the bed.  I too so wanted a latex bed to work for me but finally had to give up.  Does Sleepez have the same return policy Flobeds does?  For the same amount of $, you could get an S brand spring mattress and when the foam in it finally gives out, do mattress surgery in the future as others here have done.  And depending on your weight, the foam in the S brand may never compress - my several-years old Serta looks like new in that regard, no dip whatsoever.

I wouldn't worry about your baby's mattress unless your baby seems unusually restless and doesn't sleep well.  Even though I couldn't sleep on latex, I got my granddaugher the Natura crib mattress.  Maybe my daughter lucked out with an incredibly happy baby, but she said the little thing slept so well she was always checking on her to make sure she was still breathing.  She is now 3 years old and still sleeps very well on the mattress but with a new baby on the way she will have to relinquish it to the new addition.

I thought about getting the baby a latex mattress too, but I wasn't sure if my bed was making her nose stuffy. she is not having any different symptoms than she did before the bed arrived, I just worry about everything with this baby since I lost the last one at 5 months along in my pregnancy. She is my 5th baby, I did not worry like this with my first, I think I was just too dumb. Now with an overkill over info online, there is just more to worry about.

I still want to get the toppers for my other kids beds. They love my bed. They call it the Marshmellow bed. My 10 year old son is deaf, and he has a lot of skin issues and alergies too, I was hoping a latex topper might help him.

Leo, I have a 2" wool topper already. Sometimes I use it and sometimes I feel it causes lower back pain due to no support.

I'm thinking that surely a Talatech 14ILD will provide more support than a fluffy wool topper. Of course, I have been wrong before and I could be wrong again. But I'd like to try the soft latex.

mycakebed wrote:

Jim, maybe your wool pad is more densely packed then my wool on top mattress pad, it looks like sheepskin rugs.  Of course mine will be going flat in time I am sure.  But yours is inside the cotton right?

Maybe you are right and the soft latex (if only 1") will fill in the small of your back for more comfort.  You got to keep trying right?  me too.
 

Good idea.  Then the small (lower back) will get some relief with a small pillow under the knees.

I am not sure how long you have had your Sleepeze bed, but have you talked to Shawn again?  Can he get you a 1" or 2" soft latex, and replace the soft 3" latex for a medium or firm?  I am getting the impression from many folks that 3" of soft is just too darn much soft for your back.

If you read Lynn's posts she uses 1" soft latex over a firm latex base.  For some people (light weight) this might be the solution.

As for the 50's Sears beds, wouldn't you like to have one of those to see what they are like?

For myself, I have on one side of the bed, 3" of XF (36 ILD) over 3" of XF over 3" of XF, and on the other side, 3" of F (32 ILD) over 3" of XF over 3" of XF.  There is a 2" soft convoluted topper over all of that.

The XF/XF/XF side started out being my side, then I became attracted to my husband's F/XF/XF side and switched our layers around so that would be my side.  Although it is a little softer, my back is hurting again, so I'm about to go back to XF/XF/XF.

I feel the Sleepez mattress configuration might be too soft for those of us with back pain issues.  My daughter has the Sleepez mattress (10000 model)  in F/M/S, and the soft layer is definitely too soft for someone with back issues, although it's very comfy for a quick lie down or for someone who doesn't have back issues and likes a cushy mattress.

I would recommend you switch out that top layer for something firmer, and maybe even switch the middle layer to go one level firmer as well. 

The great thing about latex mattresses is our ability to exchange layers until we find what will work best for us.  Or, if it doesn't work at all, you have the 90 day trial period to return the whole mattress.  There's nothing to regret here, you are trying out a mattress - if you can't exchange layers to get it right for your back, or even after exchanging, you still can't get it right, you can return it.  That is a much better deal than what you would have gotten if you'd walked into a mattress shop and purchased a mattress there.  In a traditional mattress store, you may be able to do one mattress exchange, if you're lucky, but most won't let you return for a refund.

So the very best advice I can give to anyone who is seriously considering latex is to give yourself plenty of time, and to purchase from a company that gives you unlimited exchanges for a reasonable period of time. And then has a hundred percent refund policy.

Once I got used to my latex bed ( I had previsously slept on a waterbeds for 20 years) I found that it gave me both excellent support and just the right amount of cushioning so that I could become comfortable and get a good nights sleep.

Again the principle point I want to make is to be patient with yourself and don't always blame the bed when a nights sleep doesn't go as well as you would like. There are many factors which can cause a person's body to not relax and sleep properly that are not due to the mattress.

Leo, thanks for the idea. My layers were soft over soft over medium. I now lay on a 2" soft talalay over medium then firm on the bottom. It still feels too soft. Wish I would have gotten Dunlop in the bottom layers. I want to replace that too soft top layer, but I'm not sure if they allow you to return the topper?. and yes it would be nice to sleep on an old classic Sears latex. I figure if it was good enough for our folks back then, then it's good enough today...

btw, i LOVE my costco fiberbed. right now i have it doubled up on the latex (still too hard) it feels like sleeping on a cloud and definitely takes the edge off of a hard sleeping surface.

while latex is healthy, i also am not loving the odor. i have a good nose and i wake up smelling like rubber. it really permeates everything including myself.  apparently, the ability to smell latex is a genetic thing, my husband can smell it but it doesn't bother him, but for me it is the first thing i smell when i walk in the front door. i'm hoping it eventually goes away???

I have never been satistified with all latex.  I use 1" of Sensus memory foam (about 14ILD) on top and a wool topper to create a different feel and less push back.  Sensus is not too expensive at overstock (not sure if it is totally authentic but it works okay).  Of course, memory foam has its own smell issues, so I aired it out with a fan for a couple of days.