As the husband and I tend to opt for the luxury of a comfy hotel bed over the joys of a deflating rubber blow up mattress, our boys have been somewhat ‘camping deprived’. The poor little mites refuse to miss out though and periodically take matters into their own hands.
The two older boys frequently double up at the weekends and it’s not unusual to go into the bedroom to check on them to be greeted by the sight of various impromptu tents above little curled up bodies fast asleep on the hard floor.
Occasionally there’s been a moment of panic when I’ve stumbled into the bedroom in the darkness to find their beds are empty and for a few moments I can’t find them at all!
Although their makeshift tents are usually erected inside the bedroom, it seems that it can’t be proper camping unless you’ve packed your suitcase, complete with teddy . . .
When they have friends round for a sleepover they often ask us to put a tent up in the playroom, which helps saves the arguments about who sleeps in which bed and has the advantage that I don’t have to do all that horrendous packing and laundry that come with regular camping! It amazes me that nobody’s ever asked about blow up beds or complained about the lack of comfort!
This is all great fun and apart from the mess it tends to create (grrrrrrr) I’m all for it.
Recently I thought it was getting a bit out of hand though, as the ten year old had rejected his real bed in favour of a mattress on the floor for several weeks. I finally discovered that he wasn’t simply seeking adventure but rather a comfortable place to rest his bones. I’m not sure I’d like to admit just how long we’d had his mattress, but suffice to say that sleeping on the floor had become a much more attractive option.
Enter this weird, long box which a courier plonked unceremoniously in my hallway one day.
DORMEO MEMORY MATTRESS REVIEW
I had an inkling of what might have been in the box, but the shape didn’t make sense. Never having had a memory foam mattress before, I’d been anticipating its arrival via a couple of strong blokes with a delivery lorry, followed by some wrestling of the unwieldy double mattress up the stairs. In fact the package was so neat, light and simple to carry I thought perhaps I’d been sent a topper in error instead of an actual mattress!
But no, the label definitely said “Dormeo Memory mattress” so we opened up the plastic and laid it onto the bed.
COST
The cost of this double mattress at the time of writing is £199 so a relatively modest outlay.
APPEARANCE AND USER EXPERIENCE
The first thing that struck me was how thin it looked compared to its “posturepedic” predecessor. When I lay down with my weight distributed across it, the thinness didn’t seem to be an issue but when I sat up I would have liked to have had more padding under my bottom. I also noticed it wasn’t bouncy like a sprung mattress so I was interested to find out how my ten year old with insomniac tendencies would get on with it. His somewhat poetic review follows:-“This is the best mattress I’ve ever used. The other one I used to have was not a very nice experience, but when I got this new one it turned my troubles of sleeping upside down. Now I have unlimited access to the dreamworld!
Have you ever sat and wondered
“I wonder what would happen if my mattress had magical powers”
No? Well you’re thinking about it now so you have. Don’t be fooled this is definitely is magic*. What else could make you fall asleep in two minutes. Even through the racket of your brother Bobby crying, you’ll be asleep in moments.
Even if you paid me 1 million pounds I wouldn’t go back to my old one. Well maybe not a million but I’m sure you get the general idea.
The only downside of this mattress is you can’t bounce on it and that’s because it’s made of memory foam instead of springs.
This review is by the crafter! I hope you enjoyed it
Yours sincerely
The Crafter
How lovely – a mattress with magical powers! Well maybe it’s not exactly magic but having been designed by NASA for astronauts, memory foam does seem to be quite clever technology and both boys who regularly sleep on it have said they find it extremely comfortable.
FURTHER INFORMATION
If you’d like more information about how memory foam was developed and who might benefit from it, you can find it on the Dormeo site here (Update: Dormeo Link no longer working)
GUARANTEED COMFORT?
So the ten year old loves it, but if you haven’t slept on a mattress like this before how can you be sure you’ll like it? Dormeo offers a 60 night comfort guarantee so if you’re not happy after 60 days, they say you can contact their dedicated team of Sleep Experts and they’ll happily listen to your feedback and refund you the value of the mattress.
THE VERDICT
I like the idea of a comfort guarantee. I think it would make me feel much more likely to opt for one of their products.
The husband and I are due a new mattress too but we’re still sleeping on a sprung mattress for now. If we opted for memory foam I think I’d choose a thicker option, particularly as I often sit up reading or working in bed and wouldn’t like to think I might be aware of the bed slats below.
From the children there are absolutely no complaints. The ten year old seems to be sleeping much better than before and they appear to have modified their gymnastics stunts to suit the new soft rather than springy mattress! Oh and there’s been no camping at all since we’ve had it. You don’t think this means we’re going to have to go tent shopping do you?!
What about you? Have you opted for memory foam and if so would you recommend it?
DISCLOSURE: DORMEO SENT US A DOUBLE MATTRESS FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS REVIEW. ALL OPINIONS ARE OUR OWN.
*MAGICAL POWERS CANNOT BE GUARANTEED AND MAY BE SUBJECT TO MY/YOUR CHILD’S IMAGINATION.
We have a memory foam mattress that we bought 7 years ago. It was going fairly well until I had my baby (about 5 years into it’s life). Sitting up in bed to breastfeed at night destroyed it. It now has huge dents where my bottom and feet were. I wouldn’t recommend it if you intend to sit up reading and doing work. It may just be that ours was relatively cheap so one of the more expensive ones might not be destroyed by this (isn’t that always the way?). I would suggest looking at reviews/forums for other peoples experiences.
Love it Helen. Our own mattress has definitely seen better days so perhaps I’ll invest in one for us at some point. In the meantime though, I have images of your boys trying their hardest to bounce to the ceiling on a non-springy memory foam mattress – hilarious!
Helen Edwell03/12/2014, 16:14
Yep we have all got memory foam mattresses. Love them. No more springs in my back. I believe though that there is an argument out in cyber world favouring against memory foam mattresses for children as they are not supportive for their spines. We have had ours 3 years now for the children and currently no complaints of backache and no dents in the ceiling as the memory foam mattress does not spring them skywards high enough.
Thanks a lot for sharing I’ve been looking for this type of mattress with such a texture that support body well.
You’re welcome, Anna. Glad it was helpful
We have a memory foam mattress that we bought 7 years ago. It was going fairly well until I had my baby (about 5 years into it’s life). Sitting up in bed to breastfeed at night destroyed it. It now has huge dents where my bottom and feet were. I wouldn’t recommend it if you intend to sit up reading and doing work. It may just be that ours was relatively cheap so one of the more expensive ones might not be destroyed by this (isn’t that always the way?). I would suggest looking at reviews/forums for other peoples experiences.
Love it Helen. Our own mattress has definitely seen better days so perhaps I’ll invest in one for us at some point. In the meantime though, I have images of your boys trying their hardest to bounce to the ceiling on a non-springy memory foam mattress – hilarious!
Yep we have all got memory foam mattresses. Love them. No more springs in my back. I believe though that there is an argument out in cyber world favouring against memory foam mattresses for children as they are not supportive for their spines. We have had ours 3 years now for the children and currently no complaints of backache and no dents in the ceiling as the memory foam mattress does not spring them skywards high enough.