Hi TandyH,
Welcome to our Mattress Forum!
I am chiming in the Luma Sleep dedicated Expert forum to offer some guidance and apologize on behalf of our overzealous new subscriber BillyIdol. The multitude of mattress suggestions of various mattresses of different makes,, materials, and styles that he offered don’t seem to take into account your particular circumstances and may be more misleading than helpful.. So I'll bring the discussion on track and I'll do my best to give some direction to help simplify your search and diminish the “overwhelm” you are experiencing.
I want to go look at the Sleep Number beds but he is highly against them due to the bladders in them. He suggests we get a Latex Hybrid but I am very worried about the nonadjustable components of a hybrid vs an adjustable that could be more suited for both of our needs.
While the Sleep number's air bladders have an adjustability feature I’d tend to agree with your husband’s assessment. You can see some of my general comments about air mattresses
here
and
in this article.
While any mattress can be a good match for a specific person because each person's needs and preferences or the criteria that are most important to them can be very different ... in general terms I would tend to avoid them unless there is a very compelling reason that an airbed would be a better choice in "real life" (outside of the many "marketing stories" that you will hear about them) than the many other options or types of mattresses that are available to you. You can certainly find comfort adjustability in a traditional well-designed mattress of good quality/value which is well within your budget. Your husband’s choice of “a hybrid mattress” has many advantages including good ventilation, ease of handling the mattress, motion isolation, and conforming well to the body profile as you can see in the first video by
Mattress Makers
which is one of the
Trusted members
of our site.
I have had to switch to being a side sleeper because it hurts to sleep on my stomach or back. I have developed pressure points on my hips due to the mattress being on the more firm side and me having, what I call, "child bearing hips". I toss and turn a lot more than I ever have and I wake up with my hips hurting.
Different sleeping positions are part of what determines how deep a cradle you need and how thick the comfort layer(s) should be. This, in turn, affects the type of support layers that will be appropriate. The layers underneath this comfort layer can help with pressure relief for those who change positions and with thinner upper layers or ....if you sleep solely on your side it can be primarily focused on preventing your heavier parts from sinking down too far (and bottoming out onto the firmer layers below) with thicker comfort layers.
Of course, your weight and body profile will also make a difference in how far you tend to sink in and how deep a cradle you need in your mattress so for more on your "statistics", and how they can affect your choices you can read this
article here
.
As you are now a side sleeper I would also throw into the mix that a suitable pillow is an essential part of good alignment for the head and neck and upper body because the gap between the head and the mattress and the curve of the cervical spine needs to be supported just like all other parts of the spine.
Here are some intial thoughts to help find a good direction and narrow your search.
1. The simplest and most inexpensive solution would be to keep your current Awara mattress and add a topper for more comfort (making sure it is suitable for both you and your husband) This would imply that the mattress is in good condition (not sagging) and that both you and your husband are close enough in your comfort support needs so that you do not need his/her side mattress customization. If this is the case a topper like
Luma Sleep here
could be all you need.
2. If the comfort differential between you and your husband is widely different you could either purchase a new mattress with a zippered cover and with split side by side comfort customization and interchangeable comfort layers for fine tunning like this
Foam Sweet Foam mattress here
or
DIY Mattress here
.
.... go the DIY route as other subscribers have done (but keep in mind this is a more challenging process of trial and error) You'd need to contact the seller though as policies and availability change quite often lately due to supplier supply chain issues.
3. If you are considering the DIY route you could either reuse layers from your previous firmer mattress and purchase separate comfort layers to match the needs for you and your husband. Essentially you’ll be cutting open the Awara mattress, and “rebuilding it” into a zippered cover.
4. Purchase a new mattress that has more specialized zoning like
FloBeds VZone mattressess.
. Zoning, in general, is suitable for people that have more difficulty finding a mattress with the right "balance" between comfort/pressure relief (under the shoulders especially) and support/alignment (under the hips/pelvis especially) or who have more challenging circumstances or sensitivities, body types that are more difficult to "match" to a mattress, more complex medical issues, or who have a history of having more difficulty in finding a mattress that works well for them. There is more about zoning in
this article
and in
post #11 here
and the additional posts it links to but the only way to know whether any specific mattress (zoned or otherwise) will be a good match for you in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP will be based on careful testing or your own personal experience. This all depends on how much your “child bearing hips” cause you to sink through the mattress and bottom out onto the firmer layer below.
I do not know how much you had a chance to do some basic readings since you found our website but it’s worth mentioning that mattress search is a very personal quest. The first "rule" of mattress shopping is to always remember that nobody can speak to how any specific mattress will "feel" for someone else or whether it will be a good "match" in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure Relief, and Personal Preferences) because this is too subjective and relative to different body types, sleeping positions, and individual preferences, sensitivities, and circumstances and you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress.
The first place to start your research is the
mattress shopping tutorial here
(there is a condensed version of it at the end of that post) which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice ... and perhaps, more importantly, know how and why to avoid the worst ones. Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you've read are
post #2 here
which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best "match" for you in terms of "comfort", firmness, and PPP that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn't turn out as well as you hoped for and
post #13 here
which has more about the most important parts of the "value" of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well he will sleep), durability (how long he will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the parts of your
personal value equation
that are most important to you (including the price of course and the options you have available after a purchase if your choice doesn't turn out as well as you hoped for).
This said we’ll be here to offer our guidance and support to help avoid many of the pitfalls of mattress purchasing.
Phoenix
@BillyIdol as much as I appreciate your enthusiasm and participation in various threads since you registered 6 days ago with 21 posts, I’d like to ask that you refrain from interjecting other discussions in progress, especially in dedicated expert forums such as this current thread in LumaSleep's . .Contributions are much appreciated as long as they bring some valuable info and take into account the Question's specific context and person's criteria.