what sort of mattress would you buy for a 5yo?

[Aranea]

My poor 5yo has a horrible mattress at the moment, so I want to buy her a better one. But I have no idea what sort of mattress is appropriate... any ideas? (I'll be getting a full sized single mattress btw)

i would buy the best you can afford. Dont like the memory foam ones personally as i find them very hot and very hard and unforgiving.

Is the best thing for a 5yo the same thing as the best thing for an adult then?

i think you need a good quality mattress with pocket springs rather than coil springs. A good support but with the comfort that if you lie on your arm, you dont wake up wondering whose arm is in bed with youThere is nothing worse than a numb arm or shoulder. Just bought a really good mattress for DS2 although his previous one was quite new. It was about £240 ponds just for the mattress but he says it is wonderful

Ah, thank you - I have just been reading the John Lewis mattress guide in some befuddlement and wondering whether pocket springs were worth the extra money for someone that light!

I agree with alypaly that you should get the best you can afford. My dcs have pocket sprung mattresses and until dh and I got a new bed recently, we preferred their beds for comfort!

damn, damn, I'm really going to have to splash out or feel guilty now, aren't I?

lol
Worth it though as a good mattress will give several years of comfort and your dd will sleep better and have better support than with an inferior one.
I think coil springs would be fine but not foam. Try some out yourself and it will give you an idea of what you find most comfortable yourself.

We bought good quality (Relyon) open coil mattresses for our DSs - and they found them comfortable. I'd spend somewhere between £200-£300 for a single mattress.
Your 5 year old will weigh the same as you (or perhaps more) by the time he/she moves away from home, so it is worth investing in a decent mattress for the future.

Good point Lilymaid. I feel really stupid now, but I hadn't actually thought that far ahead!