<p>My daughter will be in New North and definitely wants to make the bed more comfortable with a pillow-top mattress pad. I have picked one out but also am very willing to purchase a memory foam topper to put under the pad. Is this too much/too thick/unnecessary or a good idea? Thanks in advance to any experienced students/parents!</p>
<p>Some kids can sleep on a board, but our athlete needed to sleep well and not have back issues, etc. A thick mattress pad won’t do much and for a really good thick one of those you are spending a lot of $ anyway, might as well get a topper. S brought a 3 inch memory foam topper and it was worth every penny. We still used mattress pad on top of it. If it doesn’t need to air out, don’t unpack it till you get there, you can’t get it back in the packaging as they are pressure packed or something. Just watch reviews on smell and breathability of the topper. 4 other kids in his suite ended up getting the same one after seeing how great his bed was.</p>
<p>You can actually get an integrated mattress pad and foam topper. That’s what my D got, we bought it at BBB. I don’t know about the beds in NN but she said her bed in Fluor with her topper and Tempurpedic pillow was the most comfortable bed she’s ever had. I agree with the post above about the smell and it can depend on how sensitive you are…some memory foam can have a strong initial odor that takes a good airing out over a lengthy period (this pad/topper was fine). I bought a pillow at Garnet Hill for my D to use over the summer (less $ vs. another Tempurpedic) and we’ve been airing it for 2 weeks trying to get out that smell.</p>
<p>@CADREAMIN
Do you have any problem with sheets fitting with the mattress, foam topper and mattress pad? I wanted to do exactly what you have done (for my S) but I was worried that if it was too thick the sheets wouldn’t fit. Do you just use regular (Twin XL) sheets?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Our D used the memory foam, then a sort of hypo allergic feather bed topper, then the sheets (twin xl). The sheets fit fine. I did air the memory foam at home for a while–she’s very sensitive to odor.</p>
<p>The sheets fit fine because sheets nowadays are made for the bigger size standard mattress. The dorm beds are much smaller in depth than a standard mattress so by the time you add topper and pad it ends up being close to a standard size mattress. I got twin xl sheets from Pottery Barn and a set online from Amazon and they were fine. Another comment about toppers, watch the reviews cause some TXL aren’t the right size, make sure they are at least 76-78" long, that will be fine on an 80" bed. Just watch ones that are 72 or 74, that is too short. We were happy with one we found on Overstock for $114 it was a 3" Green tea something. Amazon has same one under a different company name for $149 but if you look at picture it is same one. We didn’t have any issue with smell but if you can air it at home that could be good, but it is big when it unpacks, you would really have to smoosh it to get it back in a box. We actually bought a second one for a guest bed at home and it has been great.</p>
<p>Thank you so much! That is VERY helpful information!</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the great recommendations!</p>