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. In fact, they do not need pillows to have a very comfortable sleep. Also, it is more safe for them without the pillows in their crib.So even if you got the pillow from the set of crib beddings, until your baby reaches toddler stage, experts all recommend that you do not use the pillow. The reason is that it may increase the change of your baby suffocating from the pillow if his face accidentally 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. In other words, the baby should at least be two years old. And that is if you want. There is really no need for them, even for toddlers, 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 parents might think that the baby pillow will provide the kids with additional comfort when they sleep but in reality, the baby is fine without the pillow. 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. Aside from that, they may also set off allergies.
And for those parents who really want to introduce pillows even when their baby is still in the crib, the experts recommend to use only pillows that are the size of airline pillows. Again the baby pillow must be firm and not the soft 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.