<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I need to order or buy padding. Which is the favorite - egg carton or memory foam?</p>
<p>Where did you buy yours for XL bed?</p>
<p>Elaine</p>
<p>We got a great memory foam topper at our local Walmart last summer. It was not XL–but we noticed that many twin toppers where a few inches shy of a full twin, perhaps for sheeting purposes. Anyway, this one was the full twin length, and it was NOT noticeably short on the XL bed. It was a good four inches thick, and D loved it. She will be using it again this year. Friends who can and sat on the bed all wanted one. It was pricey and well worth it. It was the only 4 inch foam at Walmart, and better quality at a lover price than BB&B–which was a surprise. </p>
<p>The biggest problem is that the air is removed for shipping, and once you take it out of the package, it is HUGE and bulky. No big deal when it goes on the bed, but a hassle at the end of the term when you are packing up. Remember to use some twine or heavy fishing line, and roll it up and tie it. You will never get it back into the small space that it took up in the box, but it was great.</p>
<p>This is the one–it comes in XL now. [Walmart.com:</a> Spa Sensations 4’’ Memory Foam Mattress-Topper: Furniture](<a href=“http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4569413&findingMethod=rr]Walmart.com:”>http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4569413&findingMethod=rr). The price is lower, and you can have it delivered to your Walmart store, or any Walmart store. D had no “dips” in the topper where it did not spring back, even after a year.</p>
<p>DH and I have a memory foam topped mattress on our bed at home. After 2 years of everyday use, we have two trenches with a ridge in the middle. It is still OK to sleep on but not as great as when new and the foam was “springy”. DH complains that it is hot though I don’t really notice it.</p>
<p>Both my kids used egg crate mattress. S2 inherited it fr. S1 and added a feather topper for extra comfort.</p>
<p>Most dorm mattresses are awful. For both my son and D we used an egg crate topper with a feather bed topper over it. We then added a thick mattress pad to hold it all together. The fitted sheet went over the top and the end result was an extremely comfortable bed. </p>
<p>Memory foam can be warm so having the egg crate covered by the feather bed delivered comfort and temperature control.</p>
<p>It all came from Bed Bath and Beyond.</p>
<p>Oops cross posted with packmom…</p>
<p>…No dips and the pad is reversible so you can rotate (not that a college kid would.)</p>
<p>We’ve used egg crate at home for years, so my kids aren’t getting anything fancier at school!</p>
<p>But the mattresses at school are usually 10 times worse than at home. They are thinner, meant to be indestructible (wear over any comfort), waterproof, often 10 years old already and without a nice pad can be pretty uncomfortable. This is not just a luxury, this can be a necessity. Lack of proper sleep leads to all sorts of problems. Mine went without a lot, but I splurged on the foam topper. Wrapped it up and gave it to her for graduation.</p>
<p>^True, though my son’s bed at Carnegie Mellon had a perfectly decent mattress on it, better than his bunk bed at home did until we finally got around to replacing the original.</p>
<p>I slept on my dorm mattress all those years ago with no extra padding. Maybe our mattresses at home weren’t so hot either so I didn’t know the difference:)</p>
<p>When S2 came back fr. orientation last summer, he described the dorm mattress as “slablike”.</p>