By Jasmine Stephens, Family Editor
Lower back pain is often seen as part and parcel of pregnancy with nearly 70% of pregnant women suffering at some point. Unfortunately, unlike many other pregnancy-related complaints, it often doesn’t end with labour and many women continue to experience lower back pain long after their babies are born due to weakened abdominal and back muscles and poor posture while breastfeeding and carrying their children. My own lower back problems have certainly been made considerably worse by carrying my 15kg toddler around on my hip. Among other things, the NHS suggests backache can be prevented or relieved by a firm mattress and Pilates classes so having got fed up of doing an impression of an 90-year old every time I got out of bed, I decided to start with the less taxing of the two and replace my old mattress.
Except buying a new mattress isn’t actually as easy as that, is it? It can be a baffling experience, with hundreds of different types of mattress available to choose from in an array of space-age materials, firmness ratings and price points.
It is therefore with great relief I can tell you that a company has decided enough is enough and changed the game. Sleeping Duck has perfected the mattress and so only needs to sell one; the Titan. As well as the mattress being customisable by way of a zip-in memory foam layer that can be simply exchanged free of charge if you’re not happy with your initial choice of firmness, they also offer an unprecedented 100-day trial so if you’re not fully satisfied they’ll give you your money back and even pay for a courier to collect the mattress from you. Basically speaking, they’ve got customer service nailed.
Just when I thought my level of excitement couldn’t get any higher, the Titan arrived vacuum-packed. Yes, you heard me. As I carefully cut away at the plastic packaging, it magically grew before my very eyes until it was at least four inches deeper than my old mattress. It does take a while to get used to a new mattress and the Titan was no exception, but not in the way you might expect. While fast asleep I found myself subconsciously marvelling at how comfortable it was compared to my old one. Because of my back problems, I had chosen the medium-firm core; the memory foam layers give such support that my lower back immediately felt less strained and the individual pocket springs meant I didn’t stir every time my husband rolled over. I only wish that I had got one while I was pregnant as it would have been great for supporting my achey hips and beach ball sized bump.
In the Titan, Sleeping Duck has engineered a mattress of incredibly high build quality at amazing value, which has given them the confidence to back it up with customer service that’s second-to-none. You can’t go wrong given the 100-day trial promise. I only hope that the guy working in their returns department has an alternative career plan, because I’ve got a feeling he’s not going to be very busy.
