As your children grow, their needs change. And while food and sneakers perhaps come to mind first, finding the right mattress for your kid once they’ve outgrown the crib is a less-discussed element of raising children.
The Saatva Youth mattress is a luxury-grade hybrid bed designed specifically for growing kids. The mattress is strategically dual-sided, meaning it is flippable and can act as two beds in one. One side features above-average firmness suitable for younger children aged 3 to 7 years old, while the other side offers a medium-firm firmness for older kids aged 8 to 12 years old. This design not only provides optimal support for your little ones according to their needs and age, but also makes the bed a good long-term investment because it prevents the need to change out your kids mattress after a few years.
To help you determine if the Saatva Youth mattress is right for your family, our team at Mattress Clarity conducted a range of tests to assess its quality and comfort level. Our sleep specialists rigorously test every mattress using a medically approved methodology that includes objective evaluations and tester opinions. Furthermore, our chief medical advisor, Dr. Raj Dasgupta, MD, FACP, FCCP, FAASM, provides additional insight to ensure our recommendations are medically sound.
Over the past seven years, we’ve tested more than 500 mattresses and helped over 40,000 shoppers find the best mattress for their home (with 5,919 of those in 2024 alone). In this review, I’ll break down all our findings on the Saatva Youth mattress and compare it to similar high-quality kids mattresses designed to support the sleep health of growing bodies.
The Saatva Youth has a flippable design that should last several years while your kiddo grows. The firmer side works best for children ages 3 to 7, while the softer side is for children 8 to 12. It’s a classic medium-firm overall and has a bouncy feel that makes it easy to move around on—perfect for kiddos who have some energy to burn before bed.
Saatva Youth Mattress Performance: My Overall Rating
As with every new mattress we review, we thoroughly examined the Saatva Youth’s construction and performance across multiple categories to determine if it supports quality sleep. This kids mattress exceeded expectations across the testing board, earning a 4.8/5 rating.
Notably, the Saatva Youth mattress impressed all of our testers and even outperformed many adult mattresses in our tests. The bed received a score of 4.8/5 for its edge support, a 4 for cooling, and high marks for its pressure-relieving feel. Additionally, the bed’s generous warranty, reliable customer support, and extended trial period resulted in a 5-star customer experience score.
However, this high-quality luxury mattress is priced accordingly ($799 for a twin), which may be out of budget for some parents.
For more clarity on the meaning of each testing category, simply hover your cursor over the category you’re curious about below to learn more.
I Recommend the Saatva Youth For…
- Accident-prone sleepers – Children who have nighttime accidents or are prone to spills should appreciate the water-resistant organic cotton cover on the Saatva Youth mattress. The cover is made specifically with growing kids and hygiene in mind.
- Hot sleepers -The breathable hybrid design and efficient cooling features on the mattress should make it great for kids who struggle to fall asleep due to feeling sweaty or overheated.
- Allergy-prone children – The mattress is hypoallergenic and eco-friendly, making it an ideal choice for children with allergies and parents seeking a non-toxic bed for their kids.
- Back sleepers – The zoned lumbar support on the Saatva Youth mattress makes it a great choice for kids between 8 and 12 who tend to sleep on their backs and could even help prevent back pain.
I Don’t Recommend the Saatva Youth For…
- Heavier sleepers – Saatva Youth’s weight limit (on both sides) is 250 pounds, making the mattress less accessible to heavier sleepers and possibly to parents looking to co-sleep or borrow their kid’s bed for a while.
- Budget-minded parents – Some parents may find the Saatva Youth mattress to be a bit pricey, especially when compared to more affordable kids’ beds.
- Wary shoppers -Despite a 365-night sleep trial, Saatva still requires a $99 fee to process returns.
How Firm Is the Saatva Youth Mattress?
Your sleeping patterns help to determine the type of firmness someone would want in a bed. For example, side sleepers tend to prefer softer mattresses, while stomach sleepers prefer firmer mattresses. At Mattress Clarity, we use a firmness scale ranging from 1 to 10 to rate a bed’s firmness, with one being the softest and 10 being the firmest. The industry standard firmness is generally considered to be a medium-firmness at 6.5/10, which tends to be ideal for back and combination sleepers.
The 10-inch thick, flippable Saatva Youth mattress has two firmness options in one. One side has a firmer-than-average (7/10) firmness. The other offers a medium-firm firmness (6.5/10). The multiple firmness options offered in one bed make the Saatva Youth a mattress that your child can use for years as they grow.
Note: While the Saatva website lists the softer side for younger kids and the firmer side for older kids, this is not in line with the conventional wisdom in sleep science. We typically recommend the opposite. “While there’s no steadfast rule, in broad strokes, kids younger than 7 should sleep on a very firm mattress to ensure proper spinal alignment,” says Dr. Dasgupta. “We can introduce softer comfort for kids 8 and up.” With this in mind, we’ll describe the softer side as being for older kids and the firmer side as being best suited to the youngest sleepers.
How Well Did the Saatva Youth Perform?
Here’s a detailed overview of how the Saatva Youth mattress did during our various performance tests, and how it compares to average mattress scores.
| Test | Performance | Average |
| Firmness | 7/10 – Firm 6.5/10 – Medium-firm | 6.7/10 – Medium-Firm |
| Side Sleeper Comfort | Excellent | – |
| Back Sleeper Comfort | Excellent | – |
| Stomach Sleeper Comfort | Good | – |
| Pressure Relief | 4.3/5 | 3.8 |
| Edge Support | 4.8/5 | 4.1 |
| Cooling | 4/5 | 4 |
| Noise | 5/5 | 4.5 |
| Trial Period | 5/5 | 4.3 |
| Warranty | 5/5 | 4.6 |
| Unboxing & Moving | 5/5 | 4.2 |
| Readiness After Unboxing | 5/5 | – |
| Off-gassing | 5/5 | – |
How Does the Saatva Youth Feel for Different Body Types and Sleeping Positions?
The Saatva Youth’s softer side is designed for older kids (aged 8 to 12) and accommodates all sleeper types, but is particularly helpful for side, back, and lighter-weight stomach sleepers. The firmer side, suitable for kids aged 3 to 7 years old, should also accommodate all sleeper types; however, lighter-weight side sleepers may find it a little too firm. Moreover, it’s important to remember that Saatva does not suggest its Youth mattress for sleepers weighing over 250 pounds.
Overall, most children should be able to enjoy this mattress when using the side designed for their age group, thanks to its strategic child-focused construction and the versatility offered by the bed’s hybrid design.
| Sleeper Weight | Side Sleepers | Back Sleepers | Stomach Sleepers |
| Light (under 130 lbs) | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent |
| Average (130-230 lbs) | Excellent | Excellent | Good |
| Heavy (over 230 lbs and under 250 pounds) | Good | Good | Unpleasant |
Average-Weight Tester
Although not a child, our average-weight Certified Sleep Science Coach, Kenny Timper, put his experience into simple terms, saying, “I felt cozy on the mattress overall.” He tried out both sides of the mattress.
Kid Tester – 4’10”, 80 lbs
Conrad, our 10-year-old kid tester, said, “I think kids who are side sleepers will feel comfortable on this bed.” He also tried the mattress on his back and said he felt “supported and lifted on the bed’s surface.” He tried out the softer side for 8- to 12-year-olds.
Saatva Youth In-Depth Test Results
Pressure Relief
The quality of pressure relief is determined by how well a bed helps to ease existing inflammation or prevent the development of inflammation in your body while you sleep. According to our Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Raj Dasgupta, “If you have a mattress that doesn’t match your needs, it can make your pressure point discomfort worse.” Hence, we take pressure relief very seriously at Mattress Clarity when presenting our research to potential mattress buyers.
To test the Saatva Youth’s pressure relief, we used both kid testers and adult testers in the lightweight and average-weight categories. Our lightweight adult tester, Riley Otis, tried the softer side of the Saatva Youth and gave it a rating of 4.5/5 for back sleeping and 4/5 for side sleeping. She described her near-perfect back-sleeping review by saying, “Back sleeping feels best for me. My hips are sinking slightly, but I’m overall supported and not experiencing pressure or pain anywhere. I could probably sleep on my back on this bed for a night and wake up pain-free.”
Our 10-year-old tester, Conrad, who is also in the lightweight category, described excellent pressure relief when sleeping both on his side and back. He also mentioned quality support, even when sleeping on his stomach on the Saatva Youth. “My hips are lifted and supported, it feels comfortable, and I could stay there for a while,” Conrad said.
According to our testers, the Saatva Youth overall offered impressive pressure relief in multiple sleeping positions. The versatility of the bed, in part due to its hybrid design that combines innerspring coils with contouring memory foam, makes it an ideal choice for combination sleepers seeking a high-quality bed. Parents should take note of this versatility, as many children change their sleeping patterns as they grow, and the Saatva Youth could potentially be the best mattress to accommodate your child’s developmental changes.
Edge Support
The quality of edge support is determined by the sturdiness of the bed’s edges, especially when sitting or sleeping on them. With the Saatva Youth being a bed for kids, edge support may be seen as particularly important for parents when reading a book to their child at night, or to ensure consistent full-surface support across the entire bed for their child.
Our lightweight adult tester, Riley Otis, and 10-year-old tester, Conrad, were brought in to test the quality of the Saatva Youth’s edge support. Both our testers evaluated how the edges felt when getting in and out of the bed, sitting on the bed, and sleeping on the edges.
Riley tested out the softer side meant for children 8 to 12. When it came to sitting on the edges and getting in and out of the bed, Riley said, “The edges feel very supportive with minimal sagging when sitting on them. Parents should have no problem sitting there with their kids to read them a story or tuck them in at night.” She went on to describe how it felt resting on the edges. “I feel lifted and not at risk of falling off the bed regardless of my position,” she said. Additionally, Riley measured just 0.2 inches of sinkage when sitting on the edge, which is considered excellent. Overall, she gave the mattress a perfect 5/5 for its edge support.
Conrad gave the firmer side meant for children aged 3 to 7 a try. He described feeling a little bit of sinkage, but said that “it would be an OK spot to sit for a long period of time.” When resting on the edges, he found reliable support. “It’s pretty nice, the center and the edge are at the same support level, and I don’t feel at risk of falling,” he said. He gave the mattress a 4/5 for its edge support, citing some sinkage. Still, overall he was pleased with his experience.
Cooling
Falling asleep feeling trapped in your body heat is something many sleepers of all ages face. I call people who struggle with this “hot sleepers,” and they need a mattress with quality materials that specializes in keeping them cool and comfortable.
The Saatva Youth is a hybrid mattress with multiple cooling elements like breathable innerspring coils and a high-density foam layer designed with waves for better airflow. As with every bed we review at Mattress Clarity, we applied both technology and human experience to test out the true effectiveness of these features.
First, we used a thermal gun to measure the temperature buildup in the Saatva Youth mattress over time. Our tester took a reading of the mattress’s surface temperature before anyone had lain on it and then again after seven minutes of resting on it to compare the two. This helps us determine how well the bed’s cooling features dissipates body heat or traps it in the bed. For context, a temperature increase of less than 10 degrees Fahrenheit is considered great, 10-15 degrees is average, and above 15 degrees is considered subpar to unpleasant.
Tester Kenny Timper conducted our cooling test on both sides of the Saatva Youth. On the 3- to 7-year-old side, he found a starting mattress temperature of 71.3 degrees with the gun and a final temperature of 77.7 degrees, a 6.4-degree increase. On the 8- to 12-year-old side, he performed the same test and found only a 6-degree rise after resting on it. A mere 6- to 6.4-degree temperature increase is considered excellent cooling.
Kenny’s second test was a more subjective assessment—he simply rested on the mattress and reported how warm or cool he felt. In contrast to the thermal gun test, Kenny did feel the mattress was a little warm. “It doesn’t really feel cool or breathable, but I didn’t feel like I was overheating either,” he said. “I would say it warms up a little bit, but it is mostly cozy.”
Overall, the technology and Kenny’s personal experience led Kenny to give the Saatva Youth a 4/5 stars, deeming the mattress a potentially great choice for hot sleepers.
Motion Isolation
According to Dr. Raj Dasgupta, “Motion isolation can be an overall comfort indicator, as it promotes sound sleep and less waking up through the night.” Motion isolation refers to a bed’s ability to minimise disruptive motion transfer at its core in response to a sleeper’s movements. Typically, this is a concern for couples sharing a bed, but it is also important for single sleepers, especially those prone to restlessness during sleep.
Memory foam beds tend to offer the best motion isolation, while innerspring mattresses often provide less effective motion isolation. The Saatva Youth is a hybrid mattress that includes both high-density memory foam and innerspring layers to offer the best of both worlds. The bed’s dual coil (innerspring) layer is at its core, providing airflow and support, with multiple foam layers on each side that cushion the sleeper and isolate motion. While the Saatva Youth may not be as efficient as some all-foam mattresses in isolating motion, you should still expect quality motion isolation from the mattress, making it easier for kids who move around at night to avoid waking themselves up.
Response
The quality of a bed’s responsiveness is determined by how well it returns to its original shape while moving on it or sleeping on it. This correlates to how easily one can switch positions on a bed and expect consistent support when doing so. Children who move around at night will want a bed that follows them with quality responsiveness, ensuring optimal spine support and cushioning without problematic sinkage into the bed, wherever they end up on it during their sleep.
Latex hybrid and innerspring mattresses tend to offer the best bounce and responsiveness, especially when compared to memory foam mattresses. However, despite the Saatva Youth not including latex, its hybrid design should help generate quality bounce from the bed’s innerspring support layer. This also helps prevent problematic sinkage for your child sleeping on its surface while also allowing them to enjoy the cushioning cradle of foam in the comfort layer.
Sinkage: Light
Mattress sinkage refers to the depth to which a person dips into a mattress when sleeping on it. Some sinkage can be very comfortable, such as feeling like you’re falling into the embrace of cushioning memory foam. However, sinkage that is too deep can be problematic, resulting in a lack of spinal alignment support, as one example.
The Saatva Youth’s hybrid design offers a child the comfort of memory foam with the sturdier support of an innerspring core, which in most cases should likely result in healthy sinkage. Our tester, Riley Otis, only measured 0.2 inches of sinkage when resting on the bed’s edges. This minimal amount of sinkage may not be ideal for side sleepers or individuals who want to really sink into a mattress’s comfort layers. Yet, considering the quality of pressure relief experienced by our testers, this suggests that your child should get a healthy combination of joint and spine support while still enjoying the cozy cushioning of the bed’s memory foam layers.
Bounce: Moderate
Bounce is related to a bed’s responsiveness and correlates with how easily one can move around on its surface. Latex hybrids or firmer mattresses tend to offer the best bounce. Another way to understand it is that a bed with good bounce will likely make it easier for your child to jump on the bed without getting stuck in it.
You can likely expect a moderate bounce on the Saatva Youth due to its strong, recycled steel coiled layer, which generates sturdier support and bounce upwards through the bed’s foam layers to the surface. Your child may prefer jumping on a latex mattress, but the support offered by the Saatva Youth hybrid should make moving around on it easier than on an all-foam mattress and potentially deliver a quality balance of cushioning and bounce.
Noise
Creaky or loud mattresses can cause you to wake up as you move around in the night, especially if you’re a light sleeper. Our testers claimed they “didn’t observe any noise from the Saatva Youth bed” despite it having coils, which tend to be responsible for that notorious mattress creaking sound. However, the coils on the Saatva Youth are strategically encased in foam, which likely contributed to the lack of noise our testers experienced when resting on it.
Adjustable Base Compatibility
According to Saatva, its Saatva Youth mattress is not compatible with an adjustable base. However, the mattress is compatible with most bunk or loft beds if the guard rails are at least 15 inches tall, according to Saatva.
Saatva Youth Customer Experience Scores
A mattress is a long-term investment, and understanding what to expect from a bed’s manufacturer is important before making a purchase. Here, I’ll break down Saatva’s warranty and trial.
Trial Period
The Saatva Youth includes a year-long sleep trial, which we scored 5/5. You can expect a $99 fee if you choose to return the mattress, which may be a bit frustrating, but considering trials usually range from one month to a year, this is a very generous trial period.
Warranty
Saatva offers a lifetime warranty from the point of purchase, which is as good as it gets, and resulted in a 5/5 score. However, there is a little fine print. After the first two years of use, Saatva requires a $149 processing fee. Moreover, Saatva also offers an alternative to returns by allowing you to keep your original mattress and receive a new one at a discounted price (the new one must be the same model as the original).
Unboxing and Moving
Your purchase of the Saatva Youth includes delivery and setup, which is known as “‘white glove delivery.” Saatva will deliver your mattress to your home, set it up wherever you’d like, and even remove your old mattress if requested.
Readiness After Unboxing
The Saatva Youth is delivered straight to your home’s room of choice, so no unboxing is required.
Off-gassing
The Saatva Youth is not delivered compressed in a box, so you should expect minimal to no off-gassing.
Saatva Youth Construction
Here, I’ll break down the materials and construction of the Saatva Youth.
Mattress Height & Weight
The Saatva Youth mattress measures 10 inches in height. The twin-size model weighs 45 pounds, the twin XL weighs 56 pounds, and the full size weighs 61 pounds.
Materials
The Saatva Youth is a hybrid mattress that combines foam and coils in its construction. Saatva is made in the USA and sources higher-end, eco-friendly materials in building its Youth mattress. The Saatva Youth uses organic cotton in its cover, recycled steel coils in its innerspring layer, and a natural thistle pulp flame retardant that is free from fiberglass.
Layers
The Saatva Youth has six layers. On each side of the mattress is a soft organic cotton cover that is treated to be water-resistant. This cover is designed specifically to help parents deal with spills, stains, or nighttime accidents that can be expected from a growing child.
Under the cover on each side is a comfort foam layer. On the softer side, the comfort foam layer offers zoned support, with extra firmness where more weight is exerted. Underneath this and at the bed’s core is a layer of recycled steel coils that are encased in foam to promote airflow and generate responsiveness and support upwards. Then, you have another slightly denser foam layer underneath the other cover side, which offers body contouring and comfort while still delivering spinal support and a firmer feel.
How to Try and Buy the Saatva Youth Mattress
The Saatva Youth mattress is most easily available on Saatva’s official website. Saatva isn’t available on Amazon or brick-and-mortar mattress shops. However, it has showrooms in major cities across the USA. If a showroom isn’t near you to try the mattress in person, you can at least trust in Saatva’s generous 365-night sleep trial to ease concerns about ordering the mattress for your home.
Saatva Youth Prices & Sizes
| Size | Dimensions | Price |
| Twin | 38″ x 75″ | $795.00 |
| Twin XL | 38″ x 80″ | $935.00 |
| Full | 54” x 75” | $1055.00 |
How the Saatva Youth Compares
- Nectar Kids Mattress – More affordable
- Leesa Kids – Very bunk bed friendly
- Helix Kids Mattress – Able to be used by 2-year-olds
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Saatva Youth Mattress |
Nectar Kids Mattress |
Leesa Kids |
Helix Kids Mattress |
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| Rating | ||||
| Firmness | Medium-firm: 6.5/10 | Multiple firmness options | ||
| Material | Innerspring | Foam | Foam | Hybrid |
| Cooling | — | — | ||
| Best For |
Back Sleepers,
Stomach Sleepers, Hot Sleepers |
Back Sleepers,
Stomach Sleepers, Kids |
Kids
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Side Sleepers,
Back Sleepers, Stomach Sleepers |
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If you’re still unsure about the Saatva Youth, here’s how it compares to some of the other mattresses for young sleepers we’ve tested and reviewed at Mattress Clarity.
Saatva Youth vs. Nectar Kids
The Nectar is an all-foam mattress that is two inches shorter than the Saatva Youth and more affordable ($299 for a twin). Similar to the Saatva Youth, the Nectar Kids also offers dual-sided use with two firmness levels in one bed to accommodate children of different ages according to their sleeping needs.
While Nectar does use some cooling foam materials, our testers found better cooling for hot sleepers offered by the Saatva Youth due to its hybrid design. Additionally, our testers found better spinal and joint support when testing the Saatva Youth.
Overall, the Saatva Youth outperforms the Nectar Kids as a go-to mattress for growing children due to its more versatile design. However, this brings a much higher price tag than the Nectar.
Saatva Youth vs. Leesa Kids
Leesa Kids, which is designed specifically for sleepers ages 4 and up, is a more affordable mattress ($499 for a twin) than the Saatva Youth. However, it’s only available in a twin and full, while the Saatva Youth is also available in a twin XL. Both mattresses have a 6.5-out-of-10 medium-firm feel, but the Leesa Kids is not flippable, so it only has that one firmness option and side that can be used.
The Leesa Kids bed is only 7.5 inches tall, which makes it great for bunk beds and trundle beds compared to the 10-inch-tall Saatva Youth that needs 15-inch guard rails to be safely secured. However, the Leesa Kids requires a mattress protector, and does not include water-resistant covers like the Saatva Youth, which should help the Saatva bed better survive accidents and spills over time.
Despite the Leesa Kids being more affordable than the Saatva Youth, the bed does not include a water-resistant cover or offer flippability, which may make the Saatva Youth worth the higher cost for growing bodies.
Saatva Youth vs. Helix Kids
The Helix Kids is also a flippable hybrid mattress designed specifically for young sleepers, with a similar price tag ($749 for a twin) as the Saatva Youth. The Helix Kids’ younger children’s side is accessible for children at 2 years old, according to Helix, whereas the Saatva Youth suggests use for kids over 3.
Both mattresses use high-quality eco-friendly materials and are very hypoallergenic. One major difference between the Helix Kids and Saatva Youth is in the customer experience. Helix does not offer free white glove delivery. This means the mattress will likely arrive compressed in a box, which may result in some off-gassing on arrival. You’ll also be responsible for moving and positioning the bed where you want it in your home on your own. Additionally, Helix only offers a 100-night sleep trial, compared to Saatva Youth’s 365-night sleep trial.
Saatva Youth Mattress FAQs
Is the Saatva Youth mattress worth it?
I would say the Saatva Youth is worth the price because it offers two beds in one, has a lifetime warranty, and is made with durable, high-end materials that should ensure your child gets a lot of quality years out of it.
What is the best mattress for kids to sleep on?
The best mattress for kids to sleep on is one that offers quality support, pressure relief, and body contouring according to their weight and sleeping patterns. Based on our testing, we think the Saatva Youth is among the best, though it might not work well for all young sleepers.
Do Saatva mattresses sag over time?
The premium materials used in the Saatva Youth mattress make it a highly durable bed unlikely to sag easily over time. Additionally, Saatva’s lifetime warranty shines a light on the brand’s confidence in customers getting a lot out of their mattress before any detrimental sagging.
How firm is the Saatva Youth mattress?
The Saatva Youth Mattress is flippable (meaning you can sleep on each side), with two different firmness options. We found one side to be medium-firm (6.5/10), and the other side to have a slightly more firm feel (7/10) with additional support.
