Best pillow for flat head baby: Best Baby Head Shaping Pillows

What to look for when choosing a pillow for a child

Caring mothers are ready to surround their baby with the highest quality interior items and sleep accessories: a comfortable bed, a mattress made of natural materials, an orthopedic pillow, delicate bedding and an airy blanket. Maximum effort to make your son or daughter sleep better. However, there is still a chance that it will backfire and harm the comfort and health of the child. To prevent this from happening, find out in this article what to look for when choosing the most important item for a healthy sleep — pillows.

When to buy?

The first question that comes to mind is: at what age should you buy a pillow for your child? Newly born babies and even one-year-old babies do not need a pillow. In children of this age, the proportions of the head differ from the proportions of an adult. Therefore, pediatricians recommend using a children’s mattress and resorting to pillows only as directed by a doctor.

It is worth returning to the question of buying a soft assistant when the baby has already grown up. 1.5 years is the right age to purchase the first pillow.

Which pillow is best for a baby?

Basic parameters — height, size and shape. Let’s talk separately about each of them:

• The bed affects the size. Choose one that fits in the crib, but is not too small, otherwise it will constantly move around the surface of the bed.
• The height should be equal to the distance from the earlobe to the neck. No lush and voluminous pillows, which mothers and grandmothers teach. In the supine position, the cervical spine should not bend. The correct position of the head is on the same level with the back. So the child will sleep soundly and comfortably, allowing mom to take a break from household chores.
• For children 1.5-2 years old, a flat, solid pillow from 2 to 6 cm, for example, made of latex, memory or PU foam, is suitable. Thus, the baby gets used to using the sleep accessory. From the age of 3, it is better not to use a monolithic form, because it is inconvenient to put a hand under it. For the same reason, you should not use fashionable orthopedic pillows with rolls under the neck or notches under the head. They are calculated that a person sleeps in the same correct position. This is difficult for small children who are mobile in their sleep, turning over and moving around the mattress.

High-quality pillow filling is the key to sound sleep!

Soft pillow made of artificial swan down or ground latex, suitable for children from 3 years old. It is convenient to use it, as it supports the child’s head well in any position, and the price for it is less than the «fancy» models made of monolithic materials with rollers and recesses.

However, for children from 1.5 to 3 years old, such fillers are not suitable, their pillow should be thin, and loose or fibrous fillers will collect in one of the corners, making the pillow wavy. For young children, it is right to choose one-piece flat latex, memory or PPU, giving a product thickness of 2 to 6 cm.

Pediatricians do not recommend choosing natural down or wool at any age, as they can cause allergies and accumulate dust. We basically do not add such pillows to our assortment. In this matter, artificial materials are much more reliable, and do not require special care.

Our catalog contains more than 50 models for both young children and teenagers. In stock there are both orthopedic and ordinary pillows, as well as pillowcases and other products for children’s sleep. Take a look at the special section, and if you have any questions, please contact our kind consultants by phone 8-800-100-5432!

Pillow for children | Nutrilak

Kushalieva Xenia

Published: 03/29/2023

Reading time: 4 minutes

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Pillow is a standard bed item, and it would seem that it should be in the bed by default. That is why inexperienced young parents buy pillows for newborns (and with them blankets, bumpers and canopies), not suspecting that all these soft cozy accessories are not only unnecessary, but also dangerous for babies. But for older children, the pillow will provide a sweet sound sleep, though only if it is chosen correctly.

At what age does a child need a pillow?

Newborns do not need a pillow for two reasons. First, in babies, the head is large relative to the body, the neck is short, and the spine does not yet have bends. When a child lies on a flat horizontal surface, his head and body are in line. If you put the baby on a pillow, his cervical vertebrae will take an unnatural position, and there is a high probability of their deformation. Secondly, in the first months of life, the baby still cannot freely raise and turn his head. If he accidentally buries his nose into the pillow, he may simply suffocate.

Children need a pillow from about two years of age. Approximately — because there is no strict norm here, because all children are different. Someone without a pillow will sleep comfortably until school or even for the rest of their lives. Someone will start to need a pillow a little earlier.

How do you know when it’s time for your child to buy a pillow? You will notice that he began to put his hand under his cheek, tuck the covers under his head, crawl onto your pillow when he sleeps next to you in the side bed or if you practice co-sleeping.

It may also be that in the morning the pillow on which the baby fell asleep will be at his feet or on the floor. This is also normal. The child is looking for a comfortable position. If the pillow bothers him, then her time has not yet come. Do not insist that the baby get used to sleeping on a pillow. The choice must be his.

How to choose a pillow for a child?

Whatever the pillow, the child should sleep on it in comfort and safety. These are the basic requirements when choosing a pillow. To ensure them, you need to pay attention to several parameters:

• Form. No matter how originality is desired, the best pillow shape for a child is a classic rectangular one. Fantasy pillows in the form of clouds, animal faces, various figures are good as a decor. Sleeping on them is uncomfortable and unsafe.

• Size. The standard sizes of a children’s pillow are 25×40 and 40×60 cm. You can easily find pillowcases for such pillows. When choosing, focus on the width of the baby’s bed. The pillow should not be much narrower, otherwise the child will roll. A wider one, on the contrary, will gather into folds and bumps, and it will be uncomfortable to sleep on it.

• Cushion height. This indicator is more important than size. For toddlers 2-3 years old, the pillow should be no higher than 3 cm. For preschoolers — 5-6 cm.

• Filler. It depends on the filler how well the pillow retains its shape, supports the head, lets air through — “breathes”. Despite the trend towards everything natural, natural fillers for a baby pillow are just not recommended. Dust mites quickly start up in wool, fluff, and cleaning such pillows at home is impossible. In addition, these fillers can cause an allergic reaction in a child. Hypoallergenic natural filler — buckwheat husk. But for a baby pillow, it is also not the best option, as it rustles and is difficult to care for. Artificial fillers like synthetic winterizer, holofiber, as well as bamboo fiber close to them, do not cause allergies, are easily washed, but quickly lose their shape and support the head worse. Good reviews on modern fillers with the so-called «memory effect» are Memory Foam (memoriform), soy foam, latex, but products made from them are much more expensive.

Another important criterion when choosing a pillow is the preference of the baby. Here the situation is like with a pacifier: you can choose the ideal model, but for reasons only clear to him, the child will flatly refuse it. It is impossible to predict in advance how the child will react to your choice, so be prepared for the fact that you will have to look for a pillow by trial and error.

What kind of pillow can a child and what can’t?

Based on the recommendations for choosing a pillow, we can conclude that the baby can sleep on a pillow that is suitable for him in size and height, moderately elastic, with hypoallergenic filler.

A pillow intended for adults is not allowed for a child: too high, too soft or hard. Pillows filled with down, feathers or wool will not suit the baby, especially if they are from a grandmother’s dowry and have not been cleaned for a long time. Pillows are also dangerous, the pillowcases of which are replete with decor: decorated with ribbons, ruffles, embroidery or fastened with buttons. A pillowcase for a baby pillow should be made of natural fabric and without unnecessary elements.

Orthopedic pillow for children

The word «orthopedic» originally referred only to items necessary for the treatment of any deformities or diseases of the body, in particular the musculoskeletal system. For children up to a year, orthopedic pillows are used precisely for therapeutic purposes: with torticollis, hypo- and hypertonicity of the muscles, and some neurological abnormalities. Orthopedic pillows for babies — «butterfly», «ring», «donut» — are used strictly on the recommendation and under the supervision of a doctor. “Just in case” or “for beauty”, it is absolutely impossible for a baby to purchase such a pillow.

As for orthopedic pillows for children 2-3 years of age and older, here the definition of «orthopedic» refers rather to properties that affect the correct posture. The purchase of an orthopedic pillow should be approached critically. For example, an orthopedic pillow with different side heights suggests that the higher side is used for side sleepers and the flatter side for back sleepers. But will a three-year-old child turn over a pillow while turning in his sleep? Probably not. So this kind of view for young children is not the best choice. If the orthopedic properties are provided by a modern filler, then such a pillow can be a good purchase, again, provided that the baby likes it.

Conclusions

1. Pillow for a child: at what age do you need it? Not earlier than 2 years. It is important to take into account not only age, but also the individual characteristics and preferences of the baby.

2. When choosing a pillow for a child, evaluate the size, shape, and material of the product.

3. A child should not sleep on a pillow for adults, filler made of natural fluff, wool or feather is undesirable, decorative elements in the form of ribbons, buttons are dangerous.