Sleep Number vs. Sleep to Live, vs. Regular mattress

[annemoonstar]

DH and I are hoping to use some money we will be getting for the holidays to put towards a new king size bed We have been looking into the different options and are currently debating whether to go for a regular mattress or one of the fancier beds, like a sleep number or sleep to live bed. We do bed share with our 8.5 month old and don't have plans to stop anytime soon (especially if we have more room!!).

Does anyone have experience with bed sharing on one of the specialty mattresses? Any experiences (good or bad) with either that you all could share?


Thank you!

[FeminineFigure]

We have a king sized sleep number. It is quite "fancy" in that it also can incline into a sitting position. However, we did not get the pillow top. I love it for a few reasons (and this is specific to our bed--you can get cheaper ones that don't go up and down):
1. I can adjust the firmness of my side--I feel safer to have a very firm matress with the baby. Hubby can have his side to whatever.
2. No bed sagging. All our other mattresses would eventually sag.
3. I LOVE my incline adjusting. It was so helpful for my unexpected c-section and for middle of the night nursing before I got comfortable side nursing. Now I'm starting a routine inclined where I read my 6 month old a book while he sits up, then put the bed down and nurse him to sleep.

A negative: with a king sized sleep number, you have the space in the middle of the bed. I'm not very bothered by laying on the crack, but my hubby is very sensitive to bumps and texture in the bed, so he stays 100% on his side. Baby should not sleep in the middle, but I've figured out a solution for it. I didn't want him to sleep on just one side, so I bought a Humanity Bed that I can alternate sides. So if I want the baby in the middle, I put that there, and we all have an arm rest!

[jldumm]

I never actually "slept" on the sleep number but i laid on my moms with babe for nurse and nap time. and i did not feel safe at all. way to easy for baby to be in a hole, especially if you get up before or go to sleep later. if you weren't worried about suffocating it actually might be nice because they can't roll out of it easily. The PP seemed like she had a solution for the problem am describing, but i didn't really get it.

[Jenne]

You might try out a sleep number bed by staying at a Radisson. We had decided that was the bed we wanted. Then we spent a night on one and were glad we didn't buy before we tried! We saved thousands! The sleep number bed was awful for cuddling--there is a hump in the middle of the bed unless both sleep numbers are aligned to it. I would not have felt comfortable bed sharing with a child.

We wound up buying a bed similar to the Sheraton Sweet sleeper. Hotel beds aren't as durable as beds for home use so we didn't get the hotel bed. We love it and we love the king size.

Hope this helps and best of luck. I'd rather buy a used car from a seedy salesman that a mattress!

Jenne

[gracemamma]

I'd also think about the chemicals that go into making the mattresses and how the offgassing could affect little cosleepers. I dont know anything about those mattresses but this is something I've been thinking about our tempur-pedic & our 4.5 mo. old co-sleeper. Since there is data out there about traditional crib mattreses being harmful to LOs, I've been wondering about the adult mattresses. Just my 2 cents. I hope you find a great bed!