How to Keep a Mattress from Sliding?

Waking up to find your mattress out of position can be frustrating and somewhat humiliating. Sometimes, even the best mattress still works its way out of the frame, hampering your sleep in the process.

While there are a handful of culprits, the good news is that you can keep a mattress from sliding with simple hacks!

In this article, you'll learn about factors causing mattress slides and how to stop a mattress from sliding to ensure quality sleep every night.

Key Takeaways

• To keep your mattress from sliding, try using a velcro strip or carpet tape; they’re easy to apply and are highly efficient. Or manually reinforce the space between your mattress and bed frame, same as mattress and box spring joints.
• While trying to understand what’s causing your mattress to slide, check the mattress's age to see if it’s still in optimal condition, what type it is, and whether it actually fits your bed frame or not.

How to Keep a Mattress from Sliding - Tips and Tricks to Follow

Your mattress provides comfort, support, and a safe place to sleep. You want to do everything you can to ensure it stays in place and doesn't slide. There are lots of ways you can stop your mattress from sliding, but we'll go over the most common methods.

Using Carpet Tape

Carpet tape offers the best combination of comfort and stability. It goes under the mattress and keeps the bottom area firmly in place. The tape comes in rolls, so you can cut it to the right length and apply it to the bottom of your mattress. Not every mattress has a polypropylene base, one of the most demanded plastic compositions for various applications, including keeping a mattress in one place (1). In cases like these, using external sources, like carpet tape, can effectively keep your bed stable.

Wedge the sides of the frame and the mattress

Do you want a quick fix? Wedge something between the sides of the frame and the mattress(2). I particularly love this style as it didn’t involve me making any purchases or going through stress to fix my sliding mattress. You can use any material you want; however, I used some loose clothes for mine, and they worked perfectly.

Pro Tip: Although most materials work, avoid slippery materials like polyester. This fabric is not as grippy as cotton and may be more tedious or less helpful in addressing the problem.

Velcro Strip

You can also add a Velcro strip to the mattress if you want to attach it to the base of your bed frame. This will help keep the mattress from sliding when you sleep, but it will still allow you to move around the bed and readjust as needed.

Bed Rails

Bed rails not only prevent a mattress from sliding they also improve airflow. 

You can find bed rails at most hardware stores or online retailers, but be sure to buy a quality product to achieve your goal.

Mattress Stabilizers

Mattress stabilizers are similar to bed rails, but they are more portable. You can apply them simultaneously as your bedding, and you can use them with or without a box spring bed frame.

Reinforce The Mattress and Box Spring Joints

Just like wedging the sides of the frame and mattress, securing the joints with small braces or wood blocks can get the job done easily. If you’re handy with woodworking tools like me, you can add these pieces yourself; or you can take them to a professional and have them added while you wait in the convenience of your home.

What Makes A Mattress Slide?

Now you know how to stop a mattress from sliding, let's understand what causes it in the first place.

Mattress Age

Mattresses age differently depending on their materials. Some mattresses may begin to slide after only 10 years. Your mattress will begin to slide if its foam is too soft. Or maybe your mattress is made partly of memory foam. Memory foam mattresses in Canada become softer over time, and it takes longer to firm back up. This means that you may need to replace your mattress if it's a decade old or more.

Pro Tip: It’s best to outright replace a mattress after 7-10 years, regardless of whether it’s shifting around. Most mattresses' lifespans fall in this range and can save you from uncomfortable sleep due to the integrity waning over time.

Mattress Composition

Your mattress composite material matters too—whether latex, memory foam, innerspring or hybrid mattresses. Each has different properties that make them slip-resistant. For instance, innerspring mattresses don't compress like memory foam, so they're firmer and more stable. In addition, the coils themselves provide additional support, which helps keep out movement. Because memory foam compresses and rebounds, it tends to shift and allow movement. On the other hand, latex is firm and stays put once you lay on it.

Mattresses with great motion isolation are less prone to sliding. This is because they absorb shock from movements that would’ve ordinarily caused your mattress to slide. And in addition, they ensure a disturbance-free sleep.

Mattress Size

If your mattress size isn't right, it could also cause motion problems. It's always best to check out mattress sizes in Canada when hunting for a new mattress. Larger mattresses tend to splay apart when you sleep, allowing the entire surface to shift. In addition, people with larger body frames usually sit further away from the edge of the mattress than those with smaller bodies. 

This means that they'll end up sitting farther off-center than someone else of a smaller stature would. There's no way to maintain balance when that happens, especially since there aren't any built-in supports.

Another obvious problem in this aspect is using the wrong bed frame size. If your mattress doesn’t fit the entire bed frame, then it’ll probably move around. The same way you can’t use a bigger mattress on a small size bed frame, the mattress will sink, move around, and might cause you back pain.

Mould Growth 

Mould growth can weaken the fibres and cause them to stretch out, creating sagging and movement. To minimize the possibility of mould growing in your bedroom, try cleaning the air filter regularly.

Too Many People Sleeping On Your Mattress

Mattresses used frequently or continuously will start to wear out sooner than mattresses that sit empty most of the time. Make sure you rotate your mattresses every few weeks to keep them fresh.

To increase your mattress’s lifespan, you should flip it at least once every six months; this allows the dents from one side to recover while the other is in use. However, if your mattress is one-sided (unflippable), you should rotate, switch the head and feet settings once every three months.

Unstable Foundation 

If the foundation of your current bed cannot support the weight of your mattress, you may find it sliding all over the place. Mattresses don't just sit on the floor or frame; they rely on a strong foundation to keep them in place.

Also read: Mattresses for Side Sleepers

Lack of Friction

The lack of friction caused by carpeted floors, high-quality bedding, and low firmness levels can contribute to a sliding mattress. Be sure that your floor has adequate traction so that the surface doesn't have any gaps or large areas filled with soft particles. And make sure to buy enough quality bedding to cover all potential points of contact with the mattress. When laying down to rest, the last thing you need is a structure that doesn't support your mattress.

Other Causes Of Slippage

Stuffing the entire mattress, such as pillows, blankets, etc., can make it harder to get good support underneath and lead to the mattress slipping.

You'd want to move all furniture or other obstructions beneath before putting the mattress in position.

Overstuffing may cause the mattress to slip as its weight compresses against any underlying support surface. Also, consider using anti-slip pads under the legs of the bed, on the floor, or even on top of the box springs. These can help prevent foot-related leg rolling by providing friction.

Also read: Luxury Mattresses

Final Words

There you have it—keep a mattress from Sliding. While numerous factors can lead to this problem, ultimately, you'd want to find a solution to eliminate the movement. If you've started experiencing these issues, it's likely best to replace the mattress completely. Good luck!

Still have questions about how to keep a mattress from sliding? Alex Savy, the Co-Founder and Chief Editor at Comfynorth has reviewed countless sleep products with over 4 years in the industry and can help you find what you’re looking for. Reach out through email at [email protected]. When emailing Alex, include your full name and phone number or email address.