Buying dc's first twin mattress

[mamica]

Can you tell me about the mattress you bought when you first moved dc to a big boy/girl bed? What did you get? Where did you get it/shop for it? How much did you spend? How did you decide on a level of firmness? How long do you expect to keep dc in it (before you might upgrade to a full-size, for example)?

Thanks in advance!

[s7714]

We just bought twin mattresses for our DDs a few weeks ago. (We bought a bunk bed set but are leaving it split with one bed in each room until they get old enough to put them stacked.)

I went to two different stores where the sales guy was trying to sell me $400+ mattresses that were like 15" thick. They just didn't seem to understand a 15" mattress wouldn't be safe on the top bunk because the mattress would be almost the same height as the safety rail! At the third store I finally found a guy who could intelligently discuss what would actually work.

But anyway, I ended up going with two mattresses that were on the firm side. They were one of those "made exclusively for us" type brands, have 12 year warranties, are a no-flip design (meaning you don't have to constantly flip them over to avoid uneven wear) and were about $150 each after a sale price, coupon discount and taxes added. (I think they were around $200 each when not on sale and without the coupon.) Since both DDs were used to sleeping on ultra firm crib mattresses, I didn't want to switch to a really plush mattress all the sudden. The saleman also said that in all reality most children aren't going to weigh enough to put any pressure on the inner springs until they're like 9 years old, so going all out on a top of the line posturepedic bed for a toddler is kind of pointless. Not to mention that by 9 or 10 they'll also be old enough to express a preference in mattress softness or firmness, so you can always upgrade in 10ish years when you'd probably be wanting to change the mattress anyway (whether it be a larger bed or just a new one).

I did take my DDs with me to the stores and had them lay on a bunch of mattresses. Obviously I didn't expect my 2 yo to offer any real opinions, but my 4 yo did speak up when she thought a bed was too hard or too soft. (I told her to pretend she was Goldilocks looking for a bed to sleep in and she had to tell me which bed was "just right" ;) ) At this point we're not planning on upgrading to larger beds ever but we will probably upgrade them to a better quality mattress when they enter their teens and are done with the whole bed wetting and jumping on the bed phases of life!

ETA: I found a lot of decent priced (on sale) quality mattress on jcpenny.com, but of course shipping had to be taken into account when buying those. If I didn't come across the store where I bought mine at, I probably would have ordered from JCP. One thing I also wanted to mention is that at all three stores the salespeople said it was a good idea to buy before the end of the summer because at the end of the summer all the mattress prices go up!

Jennifer
Mommy to
Miss Pure Energy 3/03
Miss Limit Tester 6/05

Our bones may be brittle, but our spirit is unbreakable.
Osteogenesis Imperfecta www.oif.org