How to choose a breastfeeding pillow – A Buying Guide

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How to choose a breastfeeding pillow?

When mothers first start breastfeeding, the most common complaint is that they thought it would be a lot easier than it is. With a good nursing pillow, you can minimize the amount of work you put into breastfeeding and make it a lot less of a workout. Nursing pillows are also known as breastfeeding pillows or baby-feeding pillows.

They help ensure that you and your baby are in the most comfortable position possible for breastfeeding.

A top pillow for nursing moms ensures a secure latch, keeps your baby propped to the breast, and keeps your baby’s head and neck under control. This is great for preventing injuries as your baby’s head and neck are very fragile.

Why do you need a top breastfeeding pillow?

Most women who breastfeed will tell you that a nursing pillow is a must if you want to have an easy life when feeding your baby.

All would add that the most important feature of these types of pillows is that they help take the weight off of your arms and back as your baby gets heavy to hold for longer periods. Ideally, a nursing pillow or breastfeeding pillow will sit on your lap and wrap around your body. It will provide support for the mom and baby. It will also eliminate the need to hold your baby upright with your hands and arms all the time.

Nursing pillows and baby feeding pillows are ideally used during the first few months when your baby is still an infant and does not have good head and neck control and those who still cannot sit upright yet.

A good nursing pillow can help your baby make the transition to helping them sit upright on their own. Breastfeeding pillows do vary from one another, although the basics of how they work remain the same. The main difference is in the durability, the level of comfort, the feel of the material, and the amount of cushion and support it has. We have put together a buying guide below to help you understand the differences between the various nursing pillows on the market.

How to Choose a Breastfeeding Pillow – A Nursing and Breastfeeding Pillow Brief Buying Guide

Before committing to a particular breastfeeding pillow, you should be educating yourself on how to choose a nursing pillow. In the end, baby feeding pillows serve one purpose, which is to help you and your baby have an easier breastfeeding experience. The most important question you should ask yourself is how long you want to nurse your baby.

If you don’t plan on breastfeeding for longer than a few months, you may not want to invest so much money in a nursing pillow. If you know you will be at home all the time and feeding your baby organically, you may want to consider a good nursing pillow that will last a long time. Please see below for some more things to consider while shopping for the right breastfeeding pillow for you.

Comfort with a travel nursing pillow

The comfort level of your nursing pillow is probably one of the most important features to consider. Ideally, you want a nursing pillow that is soft and comfortable for you and your baby. But this comfort needs to be balanced, as having a pillow that is too soft and squishy is also not good.

You want something that strikes a great balance between firm and soft. It needs to be firm enough to give your baby enough head support. Likewise, it needs to provide neck support and be soft enough to give you comfort while breastfeeding. You may want to keep the pillow on your knees to ease breastfeeding.

Choose the Best Fit

Fit is quite important as well as you need to make sure it fits your torso in a way so that your baby’s head is also aligned with your breasts. Some nursing support pillows are designed to fit women with long torsos and some are designed for women with a shorter torsos. Many nursing pillows are flexible enough to accommodate all types of torso sizes.

Choose a nursing pillow shape

Breastfeeding pillows come in a variety of shapes and forms. The most common are C (also known as c-section), O, and U-shaped nursing pillows.

We like the U-shaped pillows. The main reason is that they tend to fit most body types. They also offer symmetry by having support for both of your arms regardless of how you hold your baby.

Select an Overall Nursing Fastening System

Some of the more advanced nursing pillows have a buckle and fastening system. These pillows are designed to prevent your baby from slipping between your body and the pillow. The trade-off is that it makes it more difficult to get your pillow on and off.

However, this is generally a minor annoyance compared to the benefit, which is to ensure your baby’s safety. If your baby tends to move around a lot, we highly recommend you look for a nursing pillow with a fastening system.

Portability of a Breastfeeding Pillow

The location of where you will be feeding your baby is important. If you know that you will mostly be breastfeeding at home, you may not care so much about a portable baby feeding pillow. Then you may want to buy a thick, heavy, and more comfortable pillow.

However, if you travel a lot and are on the road, then you may want to consider a more portable breastfeeding pillow. Maybe you want to opt for a pillow that can be folded up.

Cleaning a Breastfeed Pillow

Any nursing pillow should be easily cleaned. Most nursing pillows have covers that can be removed to be machine-washed. Depending on the fabric, these nursing pillows should be able to withstand many wash cycles and not fade in color.

One would think that most breastfeeding pillows should be machine washable. However, there are exceptions. These are for high-quality delicate linen, which should only be hand-washed.

Ideally, you should stick with natural materials, as synthetic materials tend to deteriorate quickly. However, synthetic materials are also cheaper, so it is also a trade-off to consider.