The bed is a place for restful sleep that allows you to forget all your worries and recharge for the next day. However, even the bed is not a safe place free from all the stress. For sensitive sleepers, having a mattress that moves and slides all over the bed platform can be something that ruins their good night’s sleep.
The mattress should be reliable enough to stay in place for the whole night, no matter how much you’re moving. Even if you’re a restless sleeper, the mattress that is sliding off the bed frame shouldn’t be one of your worries.
If the mattress is not secure, your place of rest is not secure either and the fact that the mattress can slide off the bed frame completely can be a significant reason to worry. If this is your case, and your mattress can’t seem to stay in place throughout the night, you’ve come to the right place.
We will cover the main practical tips as well as recommend products that will prevent your mattress from moving from side to side every time you lay down on it.
Reasons Why Your Mattress Slides Off Your Platform Bed
Before telling you our best tips on how to get rid of this problem, let us explain why you’re having it in the first place. These are the most common reasons why your mattress is sliding off your platform bed and doesn’t seem to stay in place.
– Old Mattress
If your mattress is reaching its retirement age (around 7 years), it is expected that its integrity will start taking a dip. The years that it has been exposed to oil, sweat and dust, accumulate at the bottom which causes the mattress to start losing the necessary friction that otherwise prevents it from sliding.
– No Friction at the Bottom
The friction is also a key factor that keeps your mattress from sliding off your bed frame. And different materials differ in the amount of friction that they are able to provide for your mattress. For example, latex or memory foam mattresses aren’t able to produce the same level of grip and the mattresses that are made from these two materials are particularly prone to sliding.
– No Rails on Bed Platform
The railings on the side of the bed play an important role in the stability of your mattress and is a useful design that your bed frame should include. If there are rails on the bed platform, the mattress cannot move from side to side, even if its made from materials that are more prone to it, like latex or memory foam.
Another problem arises if the mattress is larger than the rail. Then it is common that it will be popping out of the place. When buying a bed platform, consider the one that has bed rails that will keep any mattress in place and save yourself future problems.
How to Prevent Your Mattress from Sliding?
If you’re the one who has to readjust the mattress after every time you use it, don’t lose hope, this can be fixed. There are many solutions that we recommend that you could test out and use in order to solve this problem.
– The Right Bed Frame
More often than not, the bed frame is causing this problem. If it is too small or too large for your mattress, the incompatibility can manifest in this way. If the frame is too large and you don’t want to buy a new one, the temporary solution is to fill the empty space with wooden planks. This can solve the issue in the short term but it would be ideal to get a bed frame that fits perfectly with your mattress.
– Non-slip Padding
Another short-term solution that is easy to implement if a moving mattress is getting on your nerves, is buying a non-slip pad. This works similarly to the one used for carpets and will be fine to use with mattresses made from latex, memory foam, or even air beds.
You can even use your yoga mat which you can put under your mattress. These work well because they provide a great surface grip. A challenge when using these is positioning the pad under larger mattresses. It would be a good idea to ask someone else for help when doing that.
– Elastic Straps
You can use elastic straps to help you with your mattress struggles. This is not the perfect solution, but when combined with anti-slip padding, it will work well in order to prevent your mattress from moving and will help to keep it in place, no matter how much you are moving on top of it.
The negative you should consider if you’re thinking of using elastic straps is that these could affect your comfort while sleeping. Sometimes, you can feel the elastic straps underneath the bedsheet. Placing a thin mattress pad should help you remove this discomfort.
– Velcro Straps
Another easy solution that can help you to prevent your mattress from sliding off your bed platform is using velcro straps. You can buy these and attach them underneath the mattress. Be careful when installing them and make sure that they loop around the spaces in between the platform correctly, and don’t forget to attach the other end of the pieces to the mattress.
– Shelf Liners
A solution that is even more affordable than non-slip pads, is using shelf liners. These aren’t as effective as anti-slip pads, but you can still use them to line the edges of your bed frame and fill the empty space.
If you only need to fill the little amount of space, shelf liners could be an easy and cheap solution. One roll measures around 12 to 24 inches and can be 48 to 60 inches long, so measure the amount of space you need to fill and try how it works for you.
– Double-Sided Tapes
Another quick fix to the problem is using double-sided tapes. If you’re not afraid of the delicate process that can turn out quite messy, try this one too. Of course, you can count on double-sided tapes only as a short-term solution.
These can, however, damage the bottom of your mattress and even tear the fabric, so unless you’re desperate, it might be worth it to look for a more permanent fix.
– Clean the Bed Platform
This is a fix that people don’t tend to pay much attention to, but cleaning the bed platform underneath the mattress will get rid of dust that can significantly reduce the friction and grip of your mattress.
– Encase Your Mattress to Prevent Degradation
Taking measures early can be a great strategy to prevent future problems with your mattress. Using a full-cover mattress encasement helps it to preserve its integrity and makes sure the friction with the bed platform is enhanced.
It is not an easy task to place a large mattress into an encasement, so it is a good idea to ask someone for help. Keeping one or two extra encasements is useful for when you want to wash the one you’re using.
– Move the Bed to a Different Position
If the space in your bedroom allows it, moving your bed to a different position, preferably moving it beside the wall can help significantly. By blocking one side and using a wall for the mattress to get some natural stability, you know it won’t be moving in that direction anymore. Keep in mind that it can still slide to the other side though.
You never know, sometimes a simple change like that can be significant in solving your mattress problems and there’s no harm in trying. Changing up the look of your bedroom can be an exciting process so why not to move other furniture into a different position too?
– Complete Overhaul
Sometimes, getting a new mattress or a bed frame can be easier, less costly, less time consuming and more effective than trying all the options available to you. If you know that the best years of your mattress or a bed frame are long gone, consider starting from scratch and simply getting a new one. Getting a mattress that will fit perfectly into the bed frame will be worth the investment and eliminate the unwanted sliding.
Prevent the Problem from Happening
If you’re getting a new mattress, make sure that you don’t repeat the same mistakes so you won’t have to encounter this problem again in the future. Choose the perfect mattress for your bed frame, or vice versa, and invest in mattress protection products such as the full-body covers.
Wrapping Up
Don’t let the sliding mattress ruin a good night’s sleep. Try the tips from our list to prevent your mattress from sliding and causing you a headache every time you lie down. Do you have any other tips for the mattress sliding problem?