A mattress pad is a pad, thick sheet, or thin mattress, used for several reasons. Some mattress pads offer extra cushioning and support to a bed. One may purchase a mattress pad to act as a buffer between the mattress and sheet, minimizing body soil to the mattress. Other people will use a mattress pad to protect the mattress of a young child, or adults who suffer from urinary incontinence.

The mattress pad used for urinary incontinence tends to have a plastic backing that does not allow fluid to touch the mattress. When young children are switched from cribs to big kid beds, they have frequently not quite transitioned to being fully potty trained. Or they may have occasional accidents at night. Older children may still suffer accidents at night due to a smaller bladder.

One type of this mattress pad may cover the bed much like a fitted sheet. Others may be large water resistant pads, similar to the smaller lap or puddle pads one uses for infants. The word pad in this case is a misnomer, since these rectangles of cloth are not padded. This type doesn’t even tuck in, so it may need to be adjusted occasionally.

One can also purchase a rubberized or vinyl mattress cover that zips up around the bed. Frequent complaints with this type of mattress pad or cover is that it tends to add to one’s body heat at night. It can also be quite noisy when one moves on the bed. The newer fitted sheet type mattress pad is now more popular.

Mattress pads used to keep the bottom sheet from contact with the bed also resemble the fitted sheet. They may be quilted or padded. They are washable, but will not resist absorbing liquids like the plastic backed pads. The degree of padding depends upon the manufacturer. Some are heavily quilted, providing some cushioning. Others are quite flat.

The mattress pad designed to offer extra cushioning or support, may look like a thin mattress in shape. They are usually purchased in sizes, and vary in their degree of effectiveness. For years, a foam egg crate style was popular, but now the most popular are the memory foam pads. Another popular type is the down pad, or down feather bed, which is laid directly on top of the bed, and under the bottom sheet.

Any of these cushioned pads may help make a bed feel more comfortable, but beds with peaks, lumps or depressions, may not fully be softened by use of a mattress pad. One advantage to the egg crate style is that it is easy to order this type of padding to be cut in certain sizes. For example, a married couple has different bedding needs: one wants more cushioning, while the other prefers a firm bed. An egg crate pad can be purchased or cut for one side of the bed only, without significantly affecting the height of the bed’s other side.