Mattresses for petite side sleepers

After sleeping on our current mattress for several decades, my partner and I are on the research hunt for a new one. Given our body types, permaculturish standards and hot climate where we live, we have come up with a short list of strict characteristics of what we are looking for in our mattress:
The mattress must be made out of natural materials and ideally organic where possible. For example: natural latex (bouncy), wool (naturally flame retardant - firefighter coats used to be made out of wool), organic cotton (covering), etc.
Medium to Medium-soft firmness. Mattress experts tend to recommend these firmness ratings petite body size slide-sleepers - which includes both of us!
As we are in a hot climate, the mattress must be temperature cool. Mattress experts are saying that latex with cools coils (aka: "hybrid" mattresses) are both good cooling characteristics. Some research I've read is claiming that talalay latex is more cooling than dunlop latex.

It’s been a very long time since we’ve looked at mattresses, so if anyone has any permacultural advice for us on this topic, it is greatly welcomed and appreciated.

Note: We are not receiving any kickbacks whatsoever from any of these producers. We simply want to share what we’ve found in our own research to help others who are in the same boat as us.
That said, if you know of any dubious greenwashing from any of these products &/or producers please mention them in this thread as a warning and hopefully as positive pressure on producers to improve their practices.

Given all of the above, we’ve come up with the following list of mattresses that are currently highest on our list and are within our budget; we hope all of our hours of research help someone out who has similar needs:

Eco TerraHybrid Latex Mattress.

Hybrid Latex Mattress: The Luxury Bliss.

Birch Natural Mattress.

Happsy Organic Mattress.

EcoCloud by WinkBeds.

Nest Natural Hybrid Latex.

Other mattresses that we looked at that have high "green" / "eco" standards were the Avocado Mattresses, the Awara Natural Foam Organic Mattress, and the EcoSleep Hybrid by Brooklyn Bedding. While these mattresses may be great for stomach sleepers, back sleepers, and heavier set body types, they are all listed as too firm for our needs.

While we do our best most of the time to engage in the regenerative, permacultural maker, zero-waste paradigm, we are aware that these mattresses listed here fall within the “green / eco-conscious” low-waste paradigm that preceded the current regenerative movement. If you’ve got information on regenerative mattress design and makers, we would also love to have that info included in this thread and will consider them in our next mattress purchase. Looking forward to hearing from folks as this is a big price item that will get a lot of use for a very long time.

Thanks in advance. :-)

Last year we bought a new mattress...or rather a mattress topper and a shikibuton that we layered. Bottom is latex, on the quite firm end of the scale, but I don't remember the number. On top we have cotton. Both layers are three inches thick. I'm 130lbs and my husband is 160, and we both sleep mainly on our sides. My husband has bony hips that are sensitive to pressure and he loves our mattress. It was a little soft for me at first, but I've gotten used to it.

I like having two layers so I can carry the shikibuton up and down the loft ladder and hang it outside in the sun.

Here's some info about buckwheat hull mattresses. I think they might have a special offer in digital marketplace forum too.

I went with sleeping organic...

https://sleepingorganic.com/

They have organic dunlap and natural talalay. If you are a petite side sleeper you will want the softest configuration you can get. I’m a side sleeper and a big and tall male and I have the softest talalay as my top layer (the lighter you are, the firmer a foam will feel, so go for super soft).

I did some research (foam softness level is fairly confusing and has three different units to measure the softness/firm levels of foam. Everyone mixes them in a fairly scrambled manner). When I decoded it all, and compared the firmness level of different companies, the softest talalay was from sleeping organic.

I also love that the organic cover has a zipper top (if any one layer of latex compresses/breaks down over time, I can replace the individual layer or even the cover if I need to. The price was very reasonable and I am very happy with the mattress.

I also got an adjustable base (from wayfair, sleeping organic had crazy high prices on their adjustable bases). An adjustable base on a quality foam bed is really nice. You can tilt the head and feet a little and it helps with sinus/snoring issues.

Feel free to hit me with any questions. I don’t work for them, I just happened to have bought my bed from them and I suspect my requirements were similar to yours (organic or as close to it as possible, zipper on the cover, and crazy comfortable for a side sleeper).

Good Luck!

Paul Eusey wrote:I

They have organic dunlap and natural talalay. If you are a petite side sleeper you will want the softest configuration you can get. I’m a side sleeper and a big and tall male and I have the softest talalay as my top layer (the lighter you are, the firmer a foam will feel, so go for super soft). !

I'd say this is very much to taste and not a rule. I looked back in my email and found my invoice. I got Dunlop latex, firm, which is supposedly iLD 35-42. I find it very soft. I suppose at 130lbs I'm not terribly petite, though. I'd also rather sleep on a blanket than a mattress, so I may be an outlier. At this point my husband would fall over laughing that I said may be instead of am in that last sentence.

My wife likes firm and is much much lighter than I am. She wishes she had gone with the Talalay extra soft (ILD 14-18) for the top layer on her side and she often naps on my side of the bed... I just checked the sleeping organic web site and for some reason they didn’t have the Talalay extra soft listed as a choice (like they did a few months ago). So they might have stopped carrying it or are out of stock. If you like what they have, you can call them to find out what’s going on (I couldn’t find anyone else with foam that soft, and that is really nice foam).

@Jan: Thanks for your input on the weight variations in your experience. A lot of these "mattress experts" use the word "petite" without defining the exact weight range they are referring too. I suppose that my partner and I might both be on the "heavier" side of petite. Not sure. Partner claims that she likes a firmer mattress, so we may end up doing a split level. Our next step is to go into mattress stores and test a few out and get a better idea before we spend this kind of dough.

@Mike B: Thanks for that link! The buckwheat hull mattress is DIY and affordable! So affordable in fact that it's definitely worth a test run IMO! I'll run that model by my partner as well. Thanks again.

@Paul: Woah! Totally customizable! I love the looks of this option! Two things might bump it from our list though: 1. supposedly coils (hybrid latex) add more cooling which is very important for our hot climate, and 2. Sleeping Organic recommends the 4-layer latex configuration for petite side-sleepers, which is great advice, but it unfortunately knocks that mattress out of our price range.
Also, on your comment about your wife wanting the extra soft on top: most all of these companies offer an "extra soft" mattress topper that can be added to the top of the mattress. Maybe she could get a smaller topper (eg. twin) and just put it on her side & see how she likes it. This is what I'm thinking about doing for myself as my partner claims that she likes it firmer.

Thanks again everyone! This is all so helpful! :-)

Mike Kenzie wrote:

supposedly coils (hybrid latex) add more cooling

Sleeping Organic recommends the 4-layer latex configuration for petite side-sleepers

Most all of these companies offer an "extra soft" mattress topper that can be added to the top of the mattress.

I’m a cool bed kinda person and I have had all sorts of mattresses over the years, including high end organic with coils, and I can’t notice any difference in them heat wise. I sweat just as bad on all of them. I was worried that a “all foam” bed would be warmer and it’s not.

The all foam mattress does much better on an adjustable base and I really like the adjustable bed even though I never read nor watch tv in bed. I just adjust for sleeping angle and can elevate the legs if I hurt/strain my back.

I’ve got the 3 layer mattress and it’s great for side sleepers. If I had to buy the bed all over again, I would still choose the 3 layer mattress.

The extra soft mattress toppers offered by all the other companies have the same softness rating as sleeping organic’s second softest foam. If sleeping organic gets their extra soft talalay option back, then it is the softest of all. (I did the shopping to get my wife a topper and I compared them all). She has been procrastinating getting the topper because they are not cheap and I suspect she is still trying to rationalize the expense (she is stubborn). I figured I would just buy it one of these days as a surprise (easier to ask forgiveness vs permission kinda thing).

A little background on how I got here... I got a sleep number bed way back when they first came out and I loved it until one of the air bladders blew a seam and it was going to take 6 to 8 weeks to get a replacement. That introduced me to a mattress with a zipper on the cover that allowed repair vs replace (even tho I didn’t opt to wait for that repair).

I then replaced it with a high end organic foam/coil mattress which didn’t have a zipper top and wore out fairly quick. The warranty process was so FUBAR’d that I didn’t bother with all the hoops and red tape and shipping to Canada at my expense. My next one was a different brand, high end organic that was nice. It didn’t have the zipper and my son had a few pee accidents on it when he was little and that ended that bed as well as led to the zipper top being a requirement.

That super soft foam isn’t as soft when you put it under a quilted cover (and also under an organic mattress protector), it’s still softer than the heavier foam under that same cover and protector, but it’s not like you are sleeping on a memory foam bed or anything. It still feels like a traditional mattress but a soft one without as much spring, just a little more cushy. My son (now 7) loves jumping on my bed and does it any time he gets the chance (foam is still springy, it’s just not “as” springy as a coil mattress, and the base has zero spring as it is an adjustable bed base and has to be rigid).

Bottom line is that now that I have a bed with a zipper cover, there is no component I can’t replace, including the cover. So in the future, I’m not going to be throwing down 2 to 8 grand on a total mattress replacement, I can get by with 2 to 6 hundred to replace a part of it (a single layer of foam or perhaps the cover).

My sleeping organic bed is not a single mattress, it’s 2 twin xl mattresses side by side, (which makes it the same size as a king)... So I can use the twin xl fitted sheets if the separate adjustable bases are going to be independent. I can use a single king fitted sheet if I have the bases linked (1 remote controls both sides at the same time). Regardless, the top sheet and top bedding is always king sized. And yes, I was worried that the split mattresses was going to bother us, but it’s actually quite nice and has more pros than cons (including repair cost).

Good Luck!

Here are some threads that you might find helpful:

https://permies.com/t/84606/Open-Eyes-Bedding-DIY-Mattress

https://permies.com/t/29629/search-organic-mattress

https://permies.com/t/53006/fiber-arts/Mattress-alternatives

And while this may not be an option these might be interesting:

https://permies.com/wiki/167637/pep-textiles/mattress-compressed-stuffing-PEP-BB

https://permies.com/wiki/161256/pep-textiles/cot-sized-mattress-PEP-BB

https://permies.com/t/153046/Cheap-Easy-Straw-Mattress-Rocket

https://permies.com/t/18713/permaculture-home-care-cleaning/purity/DIY-Buckwheat-Hull-Mattress-Kits

https://permies.com/t/54526/fiber-arts/Straw-Mattress

https://www.sachiorganics.com/

Here in Albuquerque we are lucky to have this amazing local business- since 1981! Cotton batting mattresses and pillows galore. I remember the owner coming in to Ocha Food Coop in 1982 when I started working at the Coop. It’s still run by her sons.

Wanted to put this great local NM biz in folks’ radar.

At one point in my life I was going to buy a brand new mattress, and I had heard wonderful things about latex mattresses. I bought one. It was very expensive. I did not find it at all comfortable. The support was lacking, it did not spring back to its original shape. It was too soft. It sagged.  I did not find it to be cooling.

Maybe I just bought the wrong brand, but how to would I have known?

I have been using futon mattresses, with a 2-3 inch layer of memory foam ever since.  I don’t have any idea if you could find a  futon to meet your criteria for organic, and less likely the memory foam… but if you found a futon, you might want to use a sheepskin for the mattress topper, instead of the memory foam.

One advantage of a futon mattress:  you can fold it in half when moving, put straps on it, and one person can carry it.

Good luck on your search!

From a slightly different angle -

About 6 months ago we scored a "brand new" Ecosa mattress from an Op shop.  They've got something like a 100 night guarantee.   When someone doesn't like the mattress for whatever reason Ecosa takes them back but can't sell them as new so they donate to op shops.  I haven't done the research into the materials they used the way I would have if we we're causing a good to be produced because, well, A) it's secondhand so, in my mind, the only footprint for us to consider was transporting it home and since we were in town on a different errand that was moot and 2) if it's off gassing nasty stuff the worst of it would have happened before it got into our home.  

The set up is two different components you can switch around for desired firmness (firm, medium-firm, medium) inside a washable cover so it seems like you'd have to buy a topper of some kind.  

As an aside, I always thought I'd hate foam mattresses but it only took about 3 nights before I was not only used to it but also stopped having sore spots from my mattress.

Jan White wrote:Last year we bought a new mattress...or rather a mattress topper and a shikibuton that we layered. Bottom is latex, on the quite firm end of the scale, but I don't remember the number. On top we have cotton. Both layers are three inches thick. I'm 130lbs and my husband is 160, and we both sleep mainly on our sides. My husband has bony hips that are sensitive to pressure and he loves our mattress. It was a little soft for me at first, but I've gotten used to it.

I like having two layers so I can carry the shikibuton up and down the loft ladder and hang it outside in the sun.

I second the shikibuton. I'm a side sleeper and I have a 4" thick one from j-life international I've been using for a few years. I use an egg crate foam peice under it that i salvaged from a kids Ikea mattress. Not organic but very offgassed and recycled. The flexibility of moving your mattress easily is amazing. I find it very comfortable and we just purchased a second one so that we can push them together to make a bigger bed when my partner is here, or use it as a guest bed. The simplicity, flexibility and fact that it is 100% cotton is what made it worth it for me. J-life also has all organic cotton and they're made in the USA.

I've been sleeping on a mattress made of a painters cloth stuffed with straw on top of a Rocket Mass Heater for a couple of years now.  For the most part it's been great, not unlike a futon.  There is a break in period after you first stuff it and the straw fibers are still long.  But over time the mattress starts to take on the form of your body and it's like floating on a cloud; this is especially true when the mass of my heater is warm.

The mattress still has the original straw in it but I add fresh straw and fluff it up a few times a year.   At this point the old straw is really broken down, I think I'll dump everything and mulch something in the spring and start fresh.   I love how biodegradable this thing is!

Straw Mattress

I read that the mass in the tipi rmh got hot enough to melt the plastic/glue in some sleeping pads on top of the end. Any idea what the temperature you need to watch for something like straw igniting at is?

Rich, delighted to hear of your straw tick mass heater innovation!

Maybe one day I can copy cat!  Ianto Evans said that if you’re lying on a heated cob bench it doesn’t feel hard, because the heat is so wonderful.  

The tube carrying the heat through the bench needs to be thick enough that the surface doesn’t get hot enough to scorch the padding a person might put on it though, and as I write this I am wondering if padding or cushions or mattresses don’t impede the radiant heat from leaving the mass.

Do you leave your mattress on the mass all the time, or do you want have exposed mass elsewhere?