Not only do we go over our list of the best mattresses for stomach sleepers, but also we have an entire section dedicated to research and guidance when it comes to picking the right mattress. We will discuss all different types of mattresses, what to do if you rotate between several positions at night, and a whole host of other topics that are relevant to you.
Hopefully you can recognize just how much hard work our editors put into this guide. To be quite frank, it’s not as easy as picking a few beds and moving on. We’ve reviewed dozens upon dozens of mattresses, and we go through a rigorous selection process in order to recommend just a few stellar beds. But I don’t want to bury the lead to much—let’s take a look at the best mattresses for stomach sleepers:
|
Soft Foam
Tuft & Needle is quite possibly the most popular budget mattress online. The bed is comfortable and accommodates all types of sleepers.
| Applied in Cart Check Current Offers You’ll be redirected to Tuft & Needle’s site |
|
Mixed Foam
Dawn is a firm mattress from Helix Sleep. It has pocket coils and dense foams such that we think back and stomach sleepers in particular will really like this bed.
| Code: RIZ100 $100 Off You’ll be redirected to Helix’s site |
|
Memory Foam
Layla is a memory foam mattress that’s flippable and features a “Soft” and “Firm” side.
| Code: RIZSLUMBER Extra $10 Off You’ll be redirected to Layla’s site |
|
Soft Foam
Brooklyn Bedding Signature is one of the best mattresses for the money online. It has pocketed coils, it’s made in the USA, comes in three firmness options, and sells for far less than you’d expect.
| Code: RIZKNOWS20 20% Off You’ll be redirected to Brooklyn Bedding’s site |
|
Memory Foam
Bear Mattress is not only one of the most popular memory foam beds online, but also one of the most affordable at under $800 for the queen size.
| Code: SY25 25% Off + Free Pillows You’ll be redirected to Bear’s site |
As you can see, we don’t use a numbered list. We think that leaves out a lot of context. For example, we know that a large group of people are side and stomach sleepers, so we wanted to have a pick just for them. The same is true of back and stomach sleepers, as well as people that know they specifically want a memory foam mattress.
Over the past couple months, we’ve tested pretty much all the big bed in a box mattresses out there. As such, we think we have a pretty good grasp of which are the best mattresses for back and stomach sleepers. And let me just add that it hasn’t been just one of us testing these beds. Jeff, Olivia, D. Payne and Matt have all spent their fair share sleeping and rolling around on these mattresses and all of us are quite different – we’re different heights and weights and we’re different kinds of sleepers (back, stomach, side, combo). So there were a lot of different perspectives that went into making this list. Also, none of the brands on this list paid us to make this video or write this post. We are completely independent and proud of it.
Tuft & Needle is a little unique in that adding layers upon layers is not their focus. Rather their mattress is comprised of just two layers – a thick piece of support foam and their proprietary Adaptive foam. But don’t let those two layers fool you. This mattress provides plenty of support. We give the Tuft mattress a 5.5 out of 10 on our firmness scale. It kind of feels in between that of memory foam and latex foam. It compresses where you need it but it’s very responsive and you never get that sinking feeling. As such, we think this bed is great for back and stomach sleepers. It also does a good job of limiting motion transfer so you won’t be upsetting your partner if you happen to move around a lot in your sleep.
In terms of pricing, I already kind of eluded to it before, Tuft & Needle is one of the best values out there. Pricing ranges from $325 for a twin to $700 for a king. They don’t often run discounts but when they do, Amazon usually matches the pricing so that’s a good place to check. It’s also worth noting that T&N backs their mattress with a 10 year warranty and offers a 100 night risk free trial.
Bottom line – If you’re a strict back or stomach sleeper and you’re on a tight budget, Tuft & Needle might just be your best bet.
What’s unique about Helix is that each mattress is customized. First, you fill out a 2-3 minute sleep questionnaire where you answer a variety of questions about yourself and your sleep preferences. Your answers are then entered into Helix’s algorithm which designs the optimal mattress for you. What’s also cool is that you can customize each side of the mattress if you want making this a great option for couples.
So overall, just a really cool concept and the actual mattress is pretty solid as well. Instead of being an all foam bed, the middle layer is actually comprised of hundreds of tiny micro coils. Like Tuft & Needle, the feel of the bed is kind of in between that of memory foam and latex. The top layer is fairly soft and overall it’s a very comfortable bed. And obviously, it’s a little hard to opine on firmness since you can get it as firm or as soft as you’d like. If you’re a back or stomach sleeper though, you should lean more towards the firm side for a little extra support.
Pricing is a little on the high side – $600 for a twin to $1,195 for a king. Can’t say I’m surprised by the price tag considering it is a custom, made-to-order mattress. We can help you make it a little less expensive though – Use code SY75 for $75 off any mattress. Promotions for Helix change throughout the year, with major holidays still being the best time to get a bigger deal. That said, the coupon above will work for you year round. Helix also offers a 10 year warranty and a 100 night risk free trial with each mattress.
Overall, we like Helix a lot. Yes, it’s a bit expensive, but we think its a great bed for back and stomach sleepers and a solid option for couples as well.
What is especially interesting about Layla is that it’s flippable. That’s right, you can actually sleep on both sides of the mattress – it’s got a soft side and a firm side. We give the soft side a 5/10 on our firmness scale. This side has a great balance between being soft and supportive while also providing quite a bit of support. All kinds of sleepers (back, stomach and side) will be just fine with this side. But if you’re a little heavier, the firm side is probably the way to go. We give the firm side a 6.5/10 on our firmness scale. It’s pretty firm but it will soften over time. Overall, it’s just a really nice bed – we love the versatility it offers. Plus, this mattress breathes extremely well and stays pretty darn cool. We actually put in our tier 2 category for coolness, so really good there. Also, motion transfer is pretty much non-existent.
Layla prices their mattresses affordably. All of their mattresses are below the $1,000 mark. Plus, we have a discount code for you to make the mattress even cheaper. Right now, you can get $100 off the Layla mattress. Also, Layla offers a 120 night risk free trial and a lifetime warranty, both of which beat industry averages.
In our eyes, Layla is a no-brainer tier 1 mattress. It’s priced affordably, it’s super comfortable and it sleeps cool. Given the fact that it’s flippable, we are pretty confident one of the sides will fit your needs.
Brooklyn Bedding has made some notable improvements with their new Signature model. Most notably, it’s now a hybrid mattress. Brooklyn has got rid of the old 6″ layer of dense polyurethane foam and replaced it with a 6″ layer of ascension pocketed coils. As a result, the new medium Signature version is much softer and accommodating. Unlike the old version, the medium version is now ideal for all kinds of sleepers (side, back and stomach). If you’re a strict back or stomach sleeper, we’d recommend going with their firm version. This version provides a little more lumbar support for all you back sleepers out there.
Just for clarification purposes, the information below refers to the old Brooklyn Signature model. Check our new review for the most up to date information about the Brooklyn Bedding Signature mattress.
Brooklyn actually offers three different options for their bed (soft, medium, firm) but for the purposes of this list we’ll be referring to the medium model, which we give a 6.5/10 on our firmness scale. Of all the mattresses we’ve tried, it feels the most like a traditional inner spring mattress rather than an all-foam bed, which it actually is. But even though it doesn’t feel like memory foam, it’s still really comfortable. In our opinion it’s a little too firm for side and combo sleepers. If you’re a heavier individual or you’re primarily a back or side sleeper though, it’s a great option. There’s pretty much no sinkage with this mattress and you never get that stuck-in-the-mud feeling. In terms of coolness, it’s in our tier three category. It won’t sleep hot, we’d just say its temperature neutral.
Pricing is about average for the industry, ranging from $599 for a twin to $1,149 for a king. However, you can make the mattress even cheaper by using code SIGNATURE150 for $150 off. Brooklyn offers a 10 year warranty and 120 night risk free trial as well.
If you like the traditional inner spring mattress feel and you’re a back/side sleeper, Brooklyn might be your best option. It also doesn’t hurt that their mattresses are pretty cheap comparatively speaking.
Jeff has been sleeping on this bed for the past 15+ months and he absolutely loves it. Bear, like Layla, also made our Best Mattresses list. Overall, we’d give it a 6/10 on our firmness scale and it will soften up over time. So it’s firm but it’s not too firm. It’s still very comfortable. Likewise, it feels a little like memory foam but not too much like it, which is nice. This mattress just has a really nice balance to it. There’s pretty much no sinkage – you never feel as if you’re sinking into the mattress, rather you always feel as if you’re still on top of it.
It’s ideal for back and stomach sleepers, but combo sleepers just should be just fine as well once the bed softens up a little. It also sleeps decently cool – we’d put in our tier 2 category along with Layla. Lastly, it does a great job of limiting motion transfer. I don’t think you’ll have issues waking up your partner if you roll around a lot or vice versa. Another interesting thing about Bear is that they market this bed mostly to athletes because their mattress cover is made from a celliant material that’s supposed to help with restful sleep, increased oxygen levels and recovery.
Bear offers a 10 year warranty and a 100 night risk free trial. And like a lot of the mattresses on this list, Bear is priced pretty affordably with all their mattresses coming in below $1,000. And we got you covered to make it even cheaper – use code RIZ125 for $125 off any mattress.
Bear is one of our favorite mattresses, period. It’s firm, but not too firm. It has a little bit of that memory foam feel while still providing the optimal amount of support for back and stomach sleepers. If you’re a back/stomach sleeper and want to play it safe, we are pretty confident Bear will get the job done.
Honorable Mention:
- Lull Bed: Almost cracked the list. Think of Lull as a slightly firmer Casper and Eve.
- Nest Bedding Love & Sleep: Feels very similar to Tuft & Needle, it’s just a little more expensive, but with a lifetime warranty.
Selection Process For Our Top Rated Mattresses
We are extremely cautious with the mattresses and brands we recommend. Our integrity is all that we have and it is the reason that we take such care with all of our content. Let’s put it this way: you don’t get to 520 thousand subscribers and over 100 million views on YouTube without treating people fairly and providing good work. We know that you want unbiased advice and don’t want your time wasted when it comes to mattress reviews.
As such, we want you to know that no one paid us to publish positive or negative remarks about their mattress, or any others. Our opinions are completely our own. And while we do receive most mattresses for free, we do not consider them payment because they just sit in our office after we post our initial review. We actually keep them on hand so that we can re-review, test, and compare these mattresses in the future. This allows us to make tough decisions when we think two or three beds are equally good for stomach sleepers, as an example. We often go back and retest mattresses to break a tie and feel more confident about our top rated picks.
We mention all of this because when we say these are the best rated mattresses for stomach sleepers, we want you to believe us, and trust that no one is behind the scenes dictating what we do or say. Our company does earn affiliate commissions when you purchase through many of our links, however, we consider this a very fair system. If you like the work that we produce—and agree that a mattress is great for stomach sleepers—you can support us by using our links. If you don’t like our work, you can simply not purchase through our links.
That’s just a little background info that we want our readers to be aware of. As for how we picked the best mattress for stomach sleepers, you should know that it’s not an easy process. In addition to spending countless hours researching, testing, and reviewing each mattress, we round up our editorial team to select our top picks. We argue the case for each mattress and collectively pick which we think are the best mattress options for stomach sleepers. Again, it’s not an easy process. It takes us many hours, and is something that we regularly reevaluate throughout the year.
As such, our top rated pick for the best mattress for belly sleepers might change overtime as we collect more information and conduct additional tests. We think this is a good thing. As much as we want to be consistent, we realize that updated content is more important. Our goal is to reevaluate each one of our best mattress lists once or twice per year, or whenever we review a new mattress that we think might break the list.
What Makes A Great Mattress For Stomach Sleepers?
The process by which we select the best mattress for stomach sleepers, or any sleepers for that matter, is subjective and objective. In other words, we try to be objective by using measures such as price, thickness, trial periods, and return policies, but we recognize that our editorial input is equally as important. For instance, mattress firmness is often not able to be objectively measured. As such, we provide our own estimates. Further, as a team we try to gauge comfort, support, and value to ultimately crown the best rated mattresses.
Besides that, there is one element that most stomach sleepers will agree on, and that is firmness. Most back and stomach sleepers will want a mattress that’s between a 6 and 10 on the firmness scale, meaning they are on the firmer side. Stomach sleepers typically want to feel as though they’re laying on top of the bed rather than being enveloped by it.
Now, it is critical that you know that firmness estimates are just that estimates. If you’re outside our “average build” range of about 150 lbs to 230 lbs, a mattress will either feel softer or firmer to you. As an example, if you’re 100 lbs, the vast majority of beds (sans those that are listed as “plush”) will feel firmer to you. Inversely, if you’re anywhere from 230 lbs to 250 lbs, or heavier, nearly all beds will feel softer than what we quote. We try to note this in each of our mattress reviews, but on the off chance that you missed it, we wanted to hammer it home here for you.
So, just to conclude, the best mattress for stomach sleepers, regardless of weight, is a firm one. How firm? That’s up to you, but typically people are searching for a bed in the 6 to 8 range if they prefer medium firm, or 8-10 range if they want extra firm.
What Obese Stomach Sleepers Should Be Thinking About
Whenever a heavy person is looking for a new mattress, our advice is mostly the same. And that is, look for a coil mattress. It’s not that foam beds are bad—we like them plenty, just not for obese stomach sleepers—it’s just that coil beds are universally accepted to be the best type of mattress for heavy people.
Why is this? It has to do with the coils, obviously. They tend to offer more bi-directional support than a simple dense foam. Even more, the coils are often made of recycled steel, so as durable as many of these modern foams are, it’s hard to be coils for obese sleepers.
Once you’ve accepted that coil beds are the best type of mattress, it’s time that you think about the mattress firmness. As we discussed in the section above, heavy people will think most beds are softer than will the average American. And, according to a survey we conducted with over 2,300 respondents, at least 12% of people weigh over 250 lbs, so there’s a large group of stomach sleepers (no pun intended) that will want to think more critically about mattress firmness. If you are indeed an obese stomach sleeper, you will want a bed that feels medium firm or extra firm, to you.
Often times that means going with a bed that’s firmer than quoted. So, if you see a mattress that’s a 6 on our firmness scale, that will likely be too soft for you. You probably want something that’s no less than an 8, and in many cases, it’s best to try a mattress in the 9-10 range.
For instance, Big Fig is a mattress that’s made just for obese and large people. We consider it to be properly firm, or somewhere in the 8-10 range. This would be a superb pick if you’re an overweight stomach sleeper. It offers support like no other and is firmer. In fact, Big Fig is one of our favorite mattresses for heavy people, regardless of type, price, etc. They will usually even bundle in a suitable mattress foundation with your purchase.
Stomach Sleepers With Back Pain Should Consider This
Whenever we discuss people with health conditions such as back pain, we like to mention that our websites are not run by doctors. In fact, we don’t have a doctor on staff, though, on several occasions we have discussed with chiropractors the topics of back pain and suitable types of mattresses. If you are dealing with lower back pain, or any ailment for that matter, you should schedule an appointment with your doctor or physician before you go out and buy a new mattress.
If you’re feeling confident that you have your back pain under control, you should most likely go with a firm, supportive mattress. I know I’m sounding like a broken record at this point, but stomach sleepers with lower back pain will want to make concerted effort to get extra support under their core and lumbar region. If you feel as though you’re being pulled out of alignment by the mattress, it’s time to consider something new. It could be that you need a firmer bed or just one that’s more supportive.
So then, what makes a supportive mattress for back pain? The short answer is that you want a bed that feels like it’s holding its ground. Some of this will come down to your body weight. In general, however, average and lightweight individuals can take their pick between all-foam beds and hybrid beds. Heavy people, though, will want to stick strictly to those extra-supportive coil beds.
Let’s discuss supportive foam beds for stomach sleepers with back pain. The first bed that comes to mind is Loom and Leaf, which is a memory foam mattress. It’s thicker than your average foam bed and offers a good deal of support. If you’re under ~ 230 lbs, chances are you’ll agree that the firmness and support levels are just right. They also offer this particular mattress in two firmness profiles.
Another bed with a foam support core that might be a good option is Casper Wave, which actually has a hyper-targeted support design for people with back pain. It’s not a “firm mattress” per se, but it’s quite supportive for a foam bed, and is from a highly reputable brand. Level Sleep is another bed that has a similar zoned support design, and could serve as a viable foam mattress for stomach sleepers with back pain.
The Best Type Of Mattress For Stomach Sleepers
There is definitely a best type of mattress for you, but it likely is different for other people. As such, here’s just a quick list of the best types of mattresses for stomach sleepers:
Memory Foam Mattress
These types of mattresses tend to offer a nice amount of support, especially if you get a firmer model. Even so, memory foam mattresses will offer a little pressure relief to form to the shape of your body. There are plenty of great memory foam mattresses for stomach sleepers out there.
Coil
This just refers to the support system. You can still have a memory foam mattress even if it has a coil base.
Poly Foam
If you see a proprietary foam, chances are that it’s just a derivation of polyurethane foam. We don’t have issues with that at all, but we want you to know that proprietary foam beds and poly foam beds are both options for stomach sleepers. Most of the time, the decision will hinge on the firmness and support.
Latex
Most of the time latex foam is naturally-derived and has a resilient, reactive feel to it. Not only that, but latex foam is typically regarded as a firmer material because of how resilient and bouncy it is. As such, latex mattresses can make a great option for stomach sleepers.
Air
We cautiously recommend air mattresses, but only premium air mattresses. You want a bed with additional comfort layers, such as memory foam, on top of the air chamber so that the air chamber only acts as your support base. Even still, a lot of premium air mattresses only inflate to about an 8 on our firmness scale. They do, however, have the added advantage of being customizable.
Gel-Like
There’s really only a few beds on the market that use a gel-like material. You should therefore take them on a case-by-case basis. We do, however, regard certain gel mattresses as a great option for stomach sleepers.
What To Consider As A Stomach And Side Sleeper
If you sleep mostly on your stomach and side, the right mattress is definitely out there, but chances are that it’s softer than it would be if you were a strict stomach sleeper. In a lot of cases, stomach and back sleepers need a mattress that sits between a 4 and 8 on our firmness scale. Now, I know that’s a wide range, but in order to narrow that range you need to factor in two things: your weight and dominant sleeping position.
If you’re 110 lbs and sleep mostly on your side, you’ll typically want the softer option, which is the 4. If you’re a stomach and side sleeper that favors your stomach 90% of the time during the night you will likely need the bed in the 6-8 range.
A lot of stomach and side sleepers will like memory foam mattresses that offer pressure relief, but not too much. For memory foam beds, the range needs to be just a little firmer because the bed will soften as heat and pressure are mixed in.
If You’re A Back And Stomach Sleeper
Whether you’re a back and stomach sleeper or a stomach and side sleeper, you’re a “combination sleeper.” As a result, you want a bed that’s not at either end of the spectrum (i.e. not extremely soft or firm). With back and stomach sleepers, however, you can get away with going firmer. In fact, your sweet spot is usually between a 6 and 10, again, depending on your weight and dominant sleeping position.