Mattress Forum

Side/Stomach sleeping is the most difficult combination to deal with as side sleeping needs some softness on top to "fill in the gaps" to keep your spine aligned and relieve pressure on the "bony parts" while stomach sleeping needs something firmer ... perhaps with a thinner layer for basic comfort ... to prevent hyperextension of the spine into the mattress. In other words they are polar opposites in terms of what is best for each position.

What topper is "best for you" (there is no best) depends on the mattress you have under it, on your height and weight, sleeping position (which we have ty), sensitivities to pressure issues, any injuries or health issues, and personal preferences regarding the feel of a mattress.

In very general terms though, the best for this combination would be a topper that is as thin and as firm as your hips can stand to keep your back in alignment when you are on your stomach. It would probably be wiser to use a resilient material so that you have both softness for comforming and more support on your stomach (HR polyfoam or better yet latex) however YMMV.

Personal testing in a store on a mattress similar to yours would be the most accurate way of all.

If you can provide a little more information about your current mattress and the others (height weight etc), then it would be easier to be a little more specific.

Phoenix

I have a very firm, full size, pocket coil bed that is handmade with very little poly.  I am 5'3" tall and weigh 120 lbs.  I have no health/pain problems.  I need a topper that will allow my shoulder to sink in during side sleeping, but firm enough for stomach sleeping, as you said.  I bought a 3", 4 lb. topper.  After a few hours of decent-feeling side sleeping, it hammocked and was too soft when I turned on my stomach.  I need a very supportive, dense foam and maybe I should have gotten "visco-elastic" instead of "memory foam"?  The high quality Temprupedic feels great to me, but I can't afford it, and this bed is new, but I knew I'd need a good topper to soften it up.  I'm not crazy about latex - it feels like a hard, layered futon mattress when I'm on side. 

This is the topper I bought: 

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Serta-Memory-Foam-3-inch-Mattress-Topper/1528629/product.html

This is my bed:

http://www.gardnermattress.com/PocketedCoil.html

PS I just edited my posts to read "Serta" instead of "Sealy"

Your mattress was a great choice as I am a big fan of local and regional manufacturers. You actually have no polyfoam at all in it according to the specs ... which is wonderful. The 2-3" (not sure which version you have) of talalay latex that is on top of your pocket coils would actually feel quite soft to most people. When you weigh a lot less though a softer ILD of latex feels firmer than it would to most other people. Someone that weighed over 200 lbs for example may feel like 24 or 28 ILD latex was quite soft. The choice of latex on top of your mattress is a good one for your sleeping positions as it has the best combination of resiliency, ability to comform to your body shape (like memory foam), and soft feel of any other material. I would imagine that if you need just a little deeper "cradle" to relieve pressure that either a very very soft latex (14 ILD) or a thinner layer of denser memory foam would likely work better. Even dense memory foam thicker than this would really only affect how long it took you to sink through it and likely put you out of alignment. You would likely go to sleep feeling fine and wake up with a sore back. There is a possibility that you could get away with 2" but it would be risky given the soft latex underneath. Denser memory foams do provide slightly better support than less dense as they do have very low elasticity rather than none but even the most dense memory foam (including Tempurpedic HD memory foam) must have a supportive material underneath it (inner springs or poly or latex) as even the "most supportive" memory foam has far less resilience and support than any other material commonly used in a mattress.

Phoenix

I couldn't afford the 3" talalay so I chose 2".  It is very firm, as I am mostly a side sleeper.  Every morning, I wake up too early because my shoulder hurts.

So in totality, are you saying that since this 3", 4lb topper is way too soft and I wake up with an aching back, that I return it for one that is no thicker than 2" but dense?  Like how dense?   

Thank you.

Memory foam is a strange animal. There is a wide variety of different feels and qualities available depending on who makes the memory foam. A denser memory foam can feel softer than a less dense memory foam or it could be the other way around depending on who makes it and the chemicals they use to "tailor" it's qualities. In general though a denser memory foam will have a "little more" ability to support than a less dense memory foam although they are all poor for support qualities and are at the bottom of the range here since they all "melt away from pressure" ... some more quickly and some more slowly. This is why all memory foam mattresses only use memory foam in the top layers and a different type of supportive foam or material underneath it. If I was in your shoes and was buying memory foam I would certainly choose denser (meaning 5.0lbs and above). Denser memory foams are also typically more durable than less dense memory foams (they will keep their qualities longer). These are all generalizations as each memory foam manufacturer makes their memory foam slightly differently and can use a wide range of chemicals to make changes to it's "performance".

I would use the absolute thinnest layer that would solve the shoulder pressure issue (if 1" solved the shoulder pressure then it would be much better than 2) as the thicker you go with any memory foam the more likely you will hyperextend your back on your stomach. If the upper 2" layer of your mattress is 19 ILD latex, then this too is very soft (even though it feels firm to you) and would allow you to sink into it.

Because 19ILD latex is so soft (assuming it is 19 and they didn't build it with firmer latex because of your stomach sleeping) and you are feeling like it is so firm (futon like) ... I am suspecting that you may have very firm springs even though they are pocket coils and that the firmness you are feeling is coming from the springs and not the latex (you are going through the 2" latex and laying on the springs on your side). If this is the case and given your weight then it would also indicate the need for a very thin layer on top (1"). It would be rare that someone of your height/weight would go through 3" of foam (with the exception of memory foam) although you very well could go through 2" of very soft latex on your side and feel some pressure on your shoulders from what was under it.

To recap, I would choose 1" of 5lb or higher memory foam (2" would be risky) purchased from a place where I could return it if I went with memory foam at all. You would be experimenting and since in your case any memory foam may not work too well (lack of support), the ability to return it would be very important to me.

Phoenix

I will hve to return or sell the Serta 3" topper from overstock.com I think, and then will try thin, denser memory foam at a place I can return it if needed.

I suppose the alternative would be another layer of latex?

How does your mattress with no topper feel when you are sleeping on your stomach?

Phoenix

Without a topper, this well-made pocket-coil bed feels fine when I'm on my stomach, maybe even a little too firm - it's damn hard.  I don't think they made mine with anything but coils and 2" of latex, even though the link I provided above shows more poly, etc.  They might have changed their specs after I bought it last summer.  But with this topper I bottom out on, the whole thing is a messy marshmallow both for stomach and side.  I'm worried about turning from stomach to side with memory foam and not being able to get out of the impression but maybe that's only for expensive, very dense Tempurpedic.  And I'm worried that Latex will compress hard like the layers of a futon mattress.  Can't there be anything that isn't complicated for me throw on as a topper? 

Latex is the most durable of all the foams and there are many cases of people using latex mattresses for over 20 years with no depressions. One of the reasons so many like it is because it doesn't lose it's qualities for a very long time. They typically even last longer than an innerspring (depending on the innerspring and the type and firmness of the latex to some degree).

Since the mattress seems OK on your stomach and needs more softness for the side sleeping I would still suggest ....

"In very general terms though, the best for this combination would be a topper that is as thin and as firm as your hips can stand to keep your back in alignment when you are on your stomach. It would probably be wiser to use a resilient material so that you have both softness for comforming and more support on your stomach (HR polyfoam or better yet latex) however YMMV."

While soft latex can be as pressure relieving as memory form ... it will hold you up better when you are on your stomach. It may be worth trying an inch first and then buying one more if this isn't quite enough

Phoenix