Pregnancy brings about a lot of changes not only to your lifestyle- eating habits, sleep patterns and mood fluctuations, but also sets in a lot of physical changes in the body. Especially, in the last trimester sleeping patterns take a toll and exactly that is when you need a good night’s sleep to rejuvenate and wake up feeling fresh. However, it gets difficult to sleep on your back or stomach during the later stages of pregnancy. A pregnancy pillow is then a solution to all your sleeping problems. These come in various shapes, sizes and fillers to easily adapt to your body position and shape giving you comfortable sleep hours. But before we look into the best pregnancy pillows that you can buy in India, let us understand the various types of pregnancy pillows which will help you in your pick and choice of pillow depending on your preferred sleep position and the benefits of pregnancy pillows.
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Benefits of Pregnancy pillows
- Sleeping on your side during pregnancy is the most preferred and recommended position. However, this can get difficult due to changing shape of your belly. With a pregnancy pillow, which supports your body shape and helps you accommodate better, it helps you sleep comfortably on your side and eases the blood circulation. Pregnancy pillows, unlike the usual pillows that we use, are soft, cushioned and comfortable to snuggle and sleep.
- Body aches, especially in the lumbar region is common during pregnancy. Added to it, due to the weight you carry of in your womb and your body weight, numbness around the neck, legs and back is not an uncommon tale to tell. Pregnancy pillow relieves you of all sorts of numbness and pain that one feels during the pregnancy.
- With the pain and numbness, it is quite difficult to get a comfortable and sound sleep at night or anytime during the day. With pregnancy pillow helping to ease out your discomfort, you can sleep longer and improved quality of sleep.
- Pregnancy pillows come handy even post-delivery when you need a comfortable position for yourself and your baby during breastfeeding.
Types of Pregnancy Pillows
Pregnancy pillows come in various shapes suiting women with different sleep positions. The available options in the market are:
- Wedge Pillow: The simplest form of pregnancy pillow, wedge pillows come in basically two shapes. A round shaped pregnancy pillow which is in the shape of a semi-circle and a triangular wedge pillow which imitates the shape of a three-dimensional triangle. These are small in size thus making them portable and easy to carry during travel and lighter on the pocket. These can be used under the tummy or behind the back to prevent pain and stress on the back and hips. Alternatively, you can also put this under or over your regular pillow if you wish to rest your head on an elevation and relieves from acid reflux and heartburn which are quite common during pregnancy. These are small, cost less and are a comfortable option if you prefer to snuggle to a pillow during the short naps. However, due to the small size, these may not be comfortable for a night’s sleep and you may wish to switch to full length or full body pregnancy pillows.
- Full Length Pregnancy Pillow: Full length pillows are long and cover the entire length of the body. These are flexible and it adapts easily to your body, your changing sleep positions and your curves. These are suitable to rest your arms, legs and your belly and may not be a high performer in relieving the pain from your back. These are available in two variants. With the length and size remaining same, you can either choose from a less non-flexible one which is made of polyester fibers or an extremely flexible one filled with microbeads or Styrofoam balls.
- Full body Pregnancy Pillow: These are the one-in-all pillows offering you the comfort of snuggling to them and easing and relieving you from any back or hip aches. These come in two shapes.
- C-Shaped full body pregnancy pillow which imitates the letter C and supports your head, belly, back, knees and legs. The C shape is suitable to adapt to the C shape of your body when sleeping with the top being used to rest your head and the base allowing you to tuck it between your legs.
- U-Shaped full body pregnancy pillow, as the name suggests, is shaped as a U and is a perfect pick for women who prefer sleeping on their backs. You can rest your head on the top of the U and the two arms can be the resting platforms for both your legs.
- Full body pregnancy pillows are ideal to use even after pregnancy during breastfeeding. However, owing to their size and quality, these are priced on the higher side and occupy lot more space on the bed than any other variant of the pregnancy pillows.
Best Pregnancy Pillows
MomToBe C Shape Maternity Pillow
The best pregnancy pillow providing support to the back, shoulders and legs thus relieving the pain and prevents aches. It is designed under the supervision of gynaecologists and physiotherapists complying with the international quality standards. These provide a great deal of support to your arms with the design being wider. Additionally, these are non-reflexive, hypoallergenic, microfiber pillows that come with a detachable cover for the ease of cleaning and maintaining hygiene. This product is highly flexible and can be twisted to make a small U pillow to support your legs and hips while in the seated position and can be comfortably used while you are reading or watching TV. It is made of comfortable cotton fabric, has a capacity of 60kgs and come in the dimension of 42 x 22 x 13.2 cm yet low on weight weighing only 1.3kgs. You can buy the pillow here.
Leachco Back ‘N Belly Contoured Body Pillow
One of most preferred and bestselling pregnancy pillows suited for resting the full body. It is a U-shaped pillow and offers maximum comfort to the spine and neck along with adequate space to rest the arms and legs. It provides a uniform support to your hips and belly and aligns your hips in a neutral position preventing any discomfort or pain. Additionally, the shape allows the user to comfortably change sides without having to lift up the pillow and aligning it on the side you are sleeping on. This comes with the dimension 129.5 x 85.1 x 22.2 cm and is heavier than a C shaped pillow-weighs 3.19kgs. You can click here to buy this pregnancy pillow.
Boppy Pregnancy Wedge
If you are looking for some comfort while you are travelling or while you are resting but not sleeping in your day to day life during pregnancy, Boppy pregnancy wedge pillow is an ideal choice. You can use it in addition to a regular pillow to rest your head or use it under your back for additional support while you are half-seated. This is small in size, portable and comes in a detachable cover and thus, easy to wash and maintain. It is made of soft cotton fabric and is of dimension 14.5 x 11 x 3.5 inches. You can buy the Boppy Pregnancy wedge here.
Pregnancy pillows not just provide you comfort during the period but also helps you to breastfeed your baby by latching them in a comfortable position. However, you must exercise care while picking up one keeping in mind the filling used, the fabric it is made of and of course, your need.
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