<p>Has anyone had any experience with getting a memory foam pad for a college dorm? My D is starting college early (in 3 weeks) to attend a summer long language program and I'm having to work faster than I expected to get her ready to live away from home. I thought a comfortable bed might be the ticket for her to adjust to dorm life.</p>
<p>I wondered if any wise CC parents could give me advice on this if they have experience with it. If I do get one I wonder how transportable and sturdy they are. We are close enough to drive so everything will be going in the car.</p>
<p>We have a memory foam pad for my daughters bed at home. It’s the real deal, very heavy and expensive, around $150 at Costco. For college last fall I bought her a foam pad at Bed Bath and Beyond or Linens and Things. Only $20 and much smaller and lighter. It is not that same as the $150 model but good enough. We also bought a new maddress pad that had lots of extra padding and that fits over the foam pad and mattress. So it’s over all a big improvement over the basic college dorm mattress.</p>
<p>You might want to consider a feather bed topper- I’m not sure how it compares in cost to a memory foam pad, but it’s another, comfortable alternative. Why not bring your daughter to Bed Bath and Beyond or Linens and Things and let her “sample” memory foam and feather bed and see which she prefers?</p>
<p>We’ve used ‘normal’ foam pads for the college bed. They’re inexpensive and lightwaight and make a big difference in comfort. Even though they’re not ‘extra-long’ like the dorm beds they’re adequate.</p>
<p>I actually like the convoluted foam much better than the memory foam mattress pads. It seems to breathe better, which is great when you’re in a dorm with no air conditioning during the hot months of the year.</p>
<p>Just be sure to get the right size for the bed. Many dorm beds are extra long and can be a little difficult to find the right size.</p>
<p>I actually used both a foam topper and mattress pad on my beds in college. The beds wound up being more comfortable than the one I grew up sleeping on (likely because my step brothers had the same mattresses while they were growing up before me).</p>
<p>D got a foam pad/egg crate for her college bed. She was very happy to have it after sitting on her mattress which was concave, like a canoe. She also had a mattress pad to go on top and good cotton sheets.</p>
<p>Every year you’ll find the “what to pack”/“what not to pack” threads. I read them extensively last year–lots of conflicting advice (one of my favorites was the “one set vs. two sets of sheets”), but there seemed to mostly be consensus on the memory foam as being beneficial on a dorm mattress. Got a pretty inexpensive one for DS#1 ($30-$40, I think) (and even twin-XL)–no comments from him but brought it back home to send with him for next year. He’ll be in a dorm all four years, so if it improved the comfort of his bed even a bit, it seemed like a good investment.</p>
<p>We bought a cheapy one online somewhere - probably the same quality as the Target version. It was 15 or $20. Couldn’t find the XL twin size, so bought a queen (all sizes were the same price) and trimmed the side off to fit. S1 kept that extra skinny piece rolled up under his bed. It came in handy the couple times his younger brother spent the night – narrow, but at least a little extra padding for under the sleeping bag.</p>
<p>*Note - while I’d recommend the memory foam, the chemical odor did bug me quite a bit. We let S1’s air out for about two weeks before he left for college. I don’t think I could have stood the smell right out of the package.</p>
<p>Bought the one from Costco. It comes with a cover which I think helps it last. It just finished 1st year of grad school. So 5 years and still good. This is first year son hasn’t come home for more than a few days. Other summers I washed cover and aired/spray disinfected the mattress outside on hammock, before son used it on home bed. Foam is regular twin. Son leaves the gap at head of bed rather than the foot. He says with pillow he doesn’t notice gap. I bought foam for H & I, husband prefers gap at bottom. The foam vs eggcrate was an obcession of mine 5 yrs ago.</p>
<p>We bought our memoryfoam mattress from a company in America that makes them in America - bedinabox.com - and it had NO odor. The memory foam stuff we got from Costco stunk for …well, going on two years now!!! I don’t know if they make toppers, but we are really happy with the bed. Don’t worry about getting XL eggcrate toppers, regular twin will do. Your head is on a pillow and doesn’t need topper, and your feet don’t either. The difference in length is only a few inches anyway…</p>
<p>Wow - thank you, many great responses. I was trying to make up my mind what to do and I thought - ah ha tap into the collective CC brain!</p>
<p>D has the regular foam with a thick mattress pad at home but especially liked the memory foam she tried but I never thought of the feather bed topper. I have a feeling that making her bed comfy will help with the transition.</p>
<p>Those of you who have the memory foam - are they pretty sturdy? I was worried that it wouldn’t hold up with being schlepped around over the years but it sounds like it is fairly sturdy. I had heard of the odor problem but that the American made ones didn’t have the odor. I think one company is Comfort Innovations or something like that - Kohls carries that one.</p>
Don’t worry about getting XL eggcrate toppers, regular twin will do. Your head is on a pillow and doesn’t need topper, and your feet don’t either. The difference in length is only a few inches anyway…</p>