SELECTING YOUR CHILD’S PILLOWS

Selecting your child’s pillow and knowing which one to choose – When should your child sleep on a pillow?

You will get 100 answers from 100 health professionals, but so long as the pillow is not oversoft and thus lacking even support for the neck and head, then you can safely say 3 years and over. Before that your child is best to be left with no pillow … at least that’s what we are told by health professionals. Particularly for children under 2 years.

Of course there’s many design and height and density factors that come into play with what pillow for your child, and some ‘childrens’ pillows are appropriate for children three to four, while others cater for children from five up, and others for kids 7 and over.

The key is the even distribution of weight between the neck and head, ensuring the natural alignment of the spine is encouraged during sleep. In other words keeping the neck supported, and the head cradled, and aligned to the spine’s natural curvature.

Factors to consider when selection a pillow for a child

When selecting your kid’s pillow, imagine your child in the preferred side-sleeping position (less tension on the spine), and check the gap between your child’s shoulder blade and the base of his or her neck, and also factor in how far your child’s shoulder sinks into the mattress, and then selected the pillow on that basis after further allowing for the distance your child’s face sinks into the pillow of choice.

So, to sum up, it is the cavity that is left between the shoulder blade and the base of the neck that has to be filled if the natural alignment is to be maintained. Try and calculate what this is and you have the ideal platform for your child through the night.

It’s not hard. Just press your fingers into the mattress, check the density of the pillow and allow for the sinking, and hey presto you have the equation down pat!

But be sure to get a contoured pillow, because if not your child’s spine won’t be naturally aligned during sleep. A contoured pillow supports the neck and cradles the head. An old-fashioned regular shape oval pillow simply supports the head and not the neck, and during the night is pushed further and further from the child’s head. No good for your child’s posture!

Therapeutic pillow produces a number of children’s pillows, including

• My First Pillow For boys and girls of 2 or more years old. Recommended from 2+ This pillow was created to help promote restful sleep for your child while understanding that he/she is not the same size as you. Children need the proper size pillows to achieve a good night’s sleep, which helps them thrive and bounce into the day after a good nights sleep

• Family Pillow in Junior profile for children 7 years and older; The Tranquillow Children’s pillow for children 3-7; and the Naturelle Low latex contoured pillow for children 8 years and upwards.