A baby pillow is an excellent practical gift for a small child. Choosing the right pillow can be tricky because of the wide range of pillows available. This guide will help you to choose the perfect baby pillow for the child in your life.
The most important question is, how old is the baby? Doctors recommend that children not be allowed to sleep with pillows until they turn two, since children under two can suffocate on pillows. Decorative pillows or nursing pillows are better gifts for babies under the age of two. If the child is a toddler of two or older, then they are ready for a sleeping pillow.
Decorative pillows are available in almost every size, shape, and color to match any decor. If buying a pillow off the shelf does not appeal to you, you can also personalize a baby pillow. For instance, have a pillow embroidered with a poem that is meaningful to the parents, or that expresses your hopes for the child. Or commission a pillow to be printed with a photograph of the babys grandparents. If you have artistic skills, you can even buy a plain baby pillow and a blank pillowcase, and paint or cross stitch a unique design.
A nursing pillow is large and shaped like a horseshoe, and the mother rests it in her lap to hold the baby up so that she does not have to support the baby in her arms when she nurses. (Fathers can use them when bottle feeding, too!) The main brand is Boppy, so nursing pillows are often called boppies, but there are a number of competing brands on the market as well.
A baby pillow that is designed for nighttime is smaller and flatter than an adults pillow. Full sized adult pillows can give children neck cramps and make them sleep poorly because they are proportioned differently from adults. Pillow fillings that adults find comfortable, like feathers and down, can trigger allergies in children, so you should avoid them. The best baby pillow is at least half as large and thick as an adults pillow, and is stuffed with a hypoallergenic filling and covered with soft, smooth fabric. To finish the gift, pick out cotton pillowcases that match the childs sheets.
If you follow this guide and your sense of the childs and the parents tastes, you will choose a baby pillow that will make a wonderful gift. When you give your present to the parents and the child, you can be sure that your gift is not only practical, it is also going to help an often fussy small child to sleep. Related Travel pillow | Baby head pillow |