Pillow?

[Flossie]

Hi all,

I was wondering when do you introduce a pillow? DD is onl 11 months but she loves putting her head down on her soft toys in her cot.

I was going to try it during a day sleep - but is she too young??? Is it dangerous?

[Ngala]

Floss - I've been thinking about this too but havent decided to try it yet! So I am interested in what other people say about this...

[Nai]

DD got one last month and she is over 2 - maybe I'm a mean mummy but she seemed quite happy without one up until then. She loves her pillow now!!

[*EmJa*]

im not sure if there is a recommened age for when they can have a pillow, but i have been thinking of getting DD one as she loves laying on the ones on the couch. i have seen toddler pillows in k-mart before so might have to go back and check them out!

[Visitor7]

Nina started having a pillow from around 11 months. I got her a very thin one. She loves her pillow.

[Ezz]

SIDS and Kids suggest not using a pillow until they are old enough to sleep in a bed:

Soft, puffy pillows and bumpers are not necessary in a cot. They may cover the baby’s face and obstruct breathing. Older babies in a cot can use pillows and bumpers as a step to climb up and fall out of the cot. Once a child starts to sleep in a bed, a pillow may be introduced.

[Snacks]

Gee, I would've thought a little thin pillow wouldn't be too dangerous... But then, I've broken a few of SIDS and KIDS rules in the past. I guess it's up to you and your judgement.
Natty sleeps fine without one. She too likes to rest her head against soft things when she's tired... But I'm more concerned about having another thing to wash, LOL! I'd rather avoid it for as long as I can :P

[Evie76]

Daniel was seriously not sleeping well around 13 months. He didn't have a pillow so I gave him one one night to see if that was the issue, he fell straight to sleep and slept the whole night through. Ever since he's had one every night and he sleeps like a......well.......baby.

It also tends to lift his head if he has a cold or something and he has no where near as much trouble breathing.

He has an adult pilow that fills the top of the cot so that there are no gaps on either side of the pillow for him to slip down. The infant pillows are too small and he inevitably ends up rolling off them.

He had nothing in the bed with him until twelve months, and he finds the pillow extremely comfortable, so I'm leaving it in there.

[Curly]

I gave DS a pillow at 18 months to see if he would sleep more comfortably (ie - through the night, finally, at last???) We are also about to move him into a big boy's bed and I thought that if he had a pillow in the cot for a few weeks that would perhaps make the new bed seem not seem so strange.

He is sleeping better at night, not sure if I can put that down to the pillow but the pillow DID stop him moving around so much in his cot.

The pillow I got him was a latex cot pillow, about 3cms thick and it "fills" the top of the cot. However he does seem to adore sleeping on my pillow next to me if we bring him into bed with us so I have been kind of wondering if I should get him a "proper" pillow - I've found lestypuss' comment good food for thought! DS has a big head!

[KymH]

My DD got a pillow at about 12ish months (can't exactly remember, even though it wasn't long ago!!) as an experiment in the hope she'd sleep better (she'd started hogging mine when she'd come in to our bed, virtually every night).

She LOVES it and it did/has helped her sleep to a small extent.

She had started trying to sleep on top of her "flat-out ted" - bedtime teddy and has always been into snuggling into things....

I got a thin "cot" pillow.

[foreva*your*mummy]

wow i just gave myDS 1 about 3 months ago and he was over 3!! it seems so old now that i look at the age of all the other baby's with one haha, he never seemd to mind and slept fine without it untill he started using a teddy bear. We gave him one and he absolutly loves it ( its really thin though).
I think it all depends on your child and what you think.

[CrystalBoo]

Autumn has two adult size, thin (so she can't use them as climbing devices) pillows in her cot - one at each end as she's such a mover. She was always sleeping on mine when in bed with me so I ended up giving her two of ours for the smell in the hopes she would sleep better in her own bed. We have a movement monitor so it has never really worried me SIDS wise - even if she's on top of it, her breathing can be detected ( I experimented LOL) She loves hers.