Sleeping on a Sofa Bed or Sleeper Sofa is one of the worst experiences you can have. Why do we torture our friends and family with such a thing?
Also, why is it more comfortable to sleep on the sleeper sofa in the couch position then sleeping on it in the bed position? Why? Because sleeper sofas suck, that’s why.
The good news is that you can quickly make a sofa bed more comfortable by using Mattress Pad/Topper. But you can’t use just any pad!
The problem
The problem with adding a mattress pad to a sleeper sofa is that it can’t be too thick. But if you can’t put a thick mattress pad or mattress topper on the sofa bed then why even bother?
The sofa bed mattress is usually 4 to 5 inches thick, which is not even that thick and only adding a 1-inch thick topper to it is not helpful at all.
The average or the mattress thickness that most people are familiar with is 8 to 10 inches thick. To have a mattress worth sleeping on it needs a depth of at least 8 inches. If you were asleep on a sleeper sofa then trust me, 8 inches would be a dream compared to what is on it now.
So how do we get 8-inch thick mattress without it being too thick?
Stacked those toppers
Yes, the best solution is to stack multiple mattress toppers on top of each other to get to about 8 inches.
Don’t go out and buy 5 mattress toppers; that would be just silly, and surprisingly would not work that well.
The average height of a sofa bed mattress is about 5 inches, so really all you need is a 3-inch mattress topper.
The mattress pad you should be looking at is a Memory Foam topper. My go to 3-inch mattress topper would be LUCID 3″ Ventilated Memory Foam Mattress Topper*.
Adding a 3-inch thick memory foam topper to a sofa bed can make it sleepable to anyone. If all you have is 2-inch thick mattress pads laying around, then that is when you want to stack them. Don’t stack them 3 high as it is not very effective because it starts to bend awkwardly.
You also got to make sure you put a cover over all of it. Get a Mattress Protector like this one* and cover the sofa bed’s mattress and the toppers. Usually, the sofa bed is in front of a TV, and people like to eat and drink in front of the TV, so let’s make sure the pad doesn’t get ruined by a can of soda.
I know what you’re thinking… “I would never buy a mattress protector because I don’t like sleeping on plastic.” Mattress protectors have come a long ways from the plastic ones that so many people think of. They feel like a regular bed sheet, but yet stop liquids from going through. Also, some even sleep cool!
Storing the pad
To keep the mattress from being too thick you’ll need to remove the topper once you’re done with it.
Avoid closing the sofa bed and leaving the topper still attached – it might not close, and you’ll damage the topper. What you want to do instead is roll up the mattress topper and store it away. I have a little how-to guide on how to do this here.