When to Use Baby Pillows
03/25/09
It is normal for adults to sleep with pillows under our head. You might then assume that the same thing follows with babies. Well, the truth of the matter is, babies can sleep soundly and normally even without pillows. Moreover, they can have a very comfortable sleep even without the pillows. What's more, it would be safer for them to sleep without pillows on their cribs.. So even if you have the pillow from crib beddings, experts all agree that you should not use them until the baby is on his toddler stage. This is because the pillow only increases the risk of your baby suffocating from it if he happen to have his face end up on it.
So when is it safe to let your baby use pillow? Well, according to the recommendations of doctors, unless your baby is out on the crib and is sleeping on his toddler bed, you should not have your baby use a pillow. This means that the baby should be well into his second year of life. If you really want to, that is. Even toddler do not really need to use pillows yet. Even without the pillow, they can sleep quite comfortably. Most often, baby pillows are just something that provides the toddler with security, like the teddy bear.
Some pediatric sleep experts say that pillows are not really needed by infants, toddlers and even small children. The fact is that the baby is fine even without the pillow, even though the parents think that they provide additional comfort to their children. Nevertheless, for parents who really want to introduce their baby to pillow, these experts recommend staying away from the soft feather pillows. This is because these feather pillows are too soft and it may only smother the child if his head shrinks into it. Then they also usually set off allergies.
Experts also recommend soft and small size pillow, similar to airline pillow, to those parents who insist on introducing pillow to their children even if they are still in the crib. Once more, these baby pillows must be the soft and not the firm types. One thing that you should also keep in mind is that you must introduce the use of pillow on naptimes first. This way you can monitor your child's movement and how he sleeps with it. If you finally think that he would be safe with it, then you may now use the baby pillow regularly.Then you may now use the pillow regularly if you finally think he will be safe with it.
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