Between a newborn, a dog, and far too much coffee, sleep had become something I used to have.
No one warns you how much not sleeping becomes part of the routine when you have a baby. I mean, they do but you don’t really get it until you’re several months deep and your brain feels like it’s buffering.
Add in a dog who thinks the bed is his kingdom, the occasional night-feed acrobatics, and a mattress that’s been hanging on since my pre-kid life, and it was all feeling a bit ridiculous.
The mattress we had wasn’t terrible. In fact, it was an Emma one of the better-known foam mattresses on the market and it served us well for a few years. it was comfortable, reliable, and noticeably better than the lumpy spring mattress it replaced. But with a newborn in the picture and our sleep windows shrinking, I realised it wasn’t quite hitting the mark anymore. I needed something with more structure. Less sink, more support.
I already had a Simba foam mattress topper on the guest bed, and honestly, I’d always loved it. It made a huge difference to that mattress soft, breathable, and surprisingly supportive for something so slim. So when the team at Simba offered to send over their Hybrid Mattress for us to try, my expectations were high.
It arrives neatly rolled in a surprisingly compact box (which, naturally, the dog claimed as his new throne). Once unwrapped, it fluffed up quickly and unlike a lot of memory foam mattresses, there wasn’t that weird factory smell. Just soft, supportive comfort.
The Simba Hybrid is made of multiple layers including foam for pressure relief, springs for airflow, and a breathable top layer that doesn’t trap heat. But all you really need to know is that it feels like the sleep version of a sigh. Firm enough that your back’s supported, soft enough that you don’t feel like you’re lying on gym matting.
My partner and I sleep in what I now think of as shifts, with the baby monitor never far from reach. The dog rotates between our feet and the pillow. Nobody is doing eight solid hours — and probably won’t for a while.
But even with the broken rhythms, I’ve noticed the sleep I do get is deeper. I fall asleep faster, don’t wake up aching, and I’m no longer subtly resenting the mattress every time I roll over. Which is a small, quiet win — but right now, those matter.
And crucially: the Simba mattress doesn’t transfer movement. So, when the dog dreams about chasing squirrels or one of us sneaks out of bed to check the baby, the other isn’t jolted awake. That’s gold.
No mattress can change how many times a night I wake up but Simba has changed how I feel when I get up. Less stiff, more rested, and without that dull, familiar tension in my back.
If you’re a parent, or just a person living a slightly chaotic life who’s trying to get more out of the hours you do sleep this is worth it. It’s not a cure-all. But it’s one of the most tangible, practical upgrades I’ve made in a long time.
You can check out the Simba Hybrid Mattress here:
