photo by Blue Planet Studio via iStock

by For Your Little One, guest contributor

During and after pregnancy, keeping as comfortable as possible is vital to ensure that you and your baby are safe and happy. One of the most popular and effective ways to do this is by investing in a maternity pillow.

Today, For Your Little One experts are here to explain what a maternity pillow is and exactly how it can help during and after pregnancy.

What is a maternity pillow?

A maternity pillow’s primary purpose is to provide extra support to your body during sleep, whether pregnant or not. While pregnant, it can help take pressure away from your bump; after pregnancy, it can alleviate any excess pressure that may still be prevalent and simply offer a comfortable sleeping position.

Often called pregnancy pillows, they come in all shapes and sizes, but the most popular design is the extended horseshoe/arch shape, which can look like the following:

Photo courtesy of For Your Little One

How can a maternity pillow help during and after pregnancy?

Maternity pillows can help specifically in many ways. These include:

They allow you to sleep in a comfortable position.

Pregnancy is renowned for being an uncomfortable period of life, especially towards the end when your bump will be at its largest size. These issues can cause sleeping difficulties, which is less than ideal as you need all the energy and sleep you can get to make sure both you and your baby are safe and well.

Maternity pillows help prevent sleepless nights, offering you comfort to sleep throughout the night and get as much rest as possible. This is vital for a healthy and happy pregnancy, so prioritizing comfortable sleep is essential!

As well as this, pregnancy pillows can ensure that sitting down is comfortable during the day, no matter where you are. In addition, positioning them around your waist alleviates pressure from your back and abdomen, which is great during and after pregnancy.

They help with back, neck, and other body pains.

A pregnancy pillow can help keep your neck, back, belly, and hips aligned during sleep and reduce the pressure on your pubic bone and hips by keeping your legs together and supporting your tummy.

This can make a world of difference in your sleep, as reduced pain will help you sleep more efficiently, with the pillow helping prevent further injury and discomfort.

They increase blood circulation.

By making lying on your side more comfortable, pregnancy pillows can help to increase blood circulation while sleeping. 

When you’re pregnant, your body is constantly working extremely hard to pump enough blood around your body and to your baby. This is why it’s essential to ensure that blood circulation is always at high levels, with sideways sleeping helping make this possible.

They can help with breastfeeding.

Once your baby is born, you can continue using your pregnancy pillow for comfort and breastfeeding. 

The perfect alternative to a breastfeeding/nursing pillow, you can sit with your pregnancy pillow around you to perfectly position your baby for breastfeeding, allowing them to latch on comfortably.

They can prevent you from rolling onto your back during sleep

As stated above, blood must effectively circulate in your baby’s body and during sleep. This is done most efficiently by lying on your side, as lying on your back sometimes prevents blood from circulating to your baby correctly.

The pregnancy pillow assists you in staying on your side, preventing you from fully lying on your back when sleeping. 

They allow you to sleep away from home.

One of the great things about pregnancy pillows is that they’re portable; you can take them wherever you go and be just as comfortable as you are at home. This is especially ideal for those that want to go on holiday before the baby is born or spend time with family during pregnancy.

All in all, maternity/pregnancy pillows are essential for keeping you and your baby comfortable, healthy and happy throughout pregnancy and beyond.

Pregnancy is complicated, so making small changes or updating your habits is essential to ease the strain on your body and make the overall experience more comfortable and enjoyable for you and your baby. 

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