We generally recommend a pillow from about 2 years old, however there is no reason to introduce one if the child has not asked for one or is not wriggling round in bed.
Pillows can be useful when a child goes into a bed, as it can help anchor them in one place! You can say "Lie down on your pillow!"
Pillows should definitely not be used under the age of 1 year, as it is considered to be unsafe before this age.
Pillows..what age did you introduce a pillow for your child/children?
When they went into a big bed at around 2yrs.
At 12 months for all my four children. I used a nursery pillow (thinner than the usual pillow)
I did it at 2 when he moved into his big bed.
2 and he is still in a cot.
I did it at 23mths when he went into his big bed
..at 18months when moved to a big bed....but not a big puffy pillow, just a little one
Around 2 in preparation for putting him in the big bed, as I was hoping to encourage him to stay in one spot. Didn't work though! :)
At 18 months. Still in a cot. My son has asthma so it's good for him to be elevated. It's a hypo-allergenic cot pillow. He loves it and it encourages him to stay in one spot, in preparation for a big bed soon.
I think it was just before he turned two :-)
He was around 2 for my eldest but for my youngest was a lot earlier as he was a snuffly chesty baby so needed to be elevated...
Very flat pillow, when they moved to a big bed.
When DS moved into a big bed, so 18 mths, was just a skinny one.
My twins are 3.5 and still don't have one. They don't seem too bothered about it, even when they creep into our bed they don't use ours.
Flat pillow just before 2yo when moved into a big bed
At 2yrs 9mnths, when he asked for one. And it's a very thin one.
23 months when he moved into a big bed
Was thinking of adding one (under cot sheet). Where do people get the nursery / little ones from?
Same @Laura, he had one (a small cot pillow) at about 14 months, and now at 18 months he has just moved into a bed with his "big boy" pillow :-) he ends up sleepimg sideways right on top of it :-)
We introduced a kids pillow in Caleb's cot at just before 2... a couple of months later we moved Caleb into his "big boys" bed... :) Transition couldn't have been smoother..
My little girl has bad colic and is in our bed most nights. Over the last week or 2 she has started using mine and she is 22months, so starting to introduce one in her cot, see if it helps her stay in her own bed more (but i doubt it!)
She'll be 3 next month and still doesn't have one... she uses mine when she hops in for cuddles, but for overnights at grandma's we take the pillow off. she had sinus probs and is better sleeping flat, snores like a freight train if elevated! ;)
I gave Zac one at 12mths i think, tho it was a baby one so it was very thin then changed it to a washable one as he gets very sweaty and the pillow needs to be able to be washed think changed at 18nths. He sitll in cot at 2.5yrs!
Shonna is 15 month now and she don't want a pillow. She pulls it out of her bed.
15mths for our wee man. I wanted to get him use to staying in one spot when he went into a big bed. He slept in his big bed last night for the first time and slept right through. (he is now 20mths)
What to people base their decision on? It seems to me that until one is NEEDED, there's no point giving one - but how do you know one is needed?? Also would seem to depend on sleeping position - when I sleep on my stomach, I push my pillow away..... So, for a tummy-sleeping child, is a pillow needed at all?
In the uk where i spent the last 15yr as a nanny they say 12mths to introduce a pillow
Just before big bed transition to get her used to it so around 20 months. I bought a new one and took out half the gutz and sewed it back up so it was super flat!
Yea i was wondering is there some reason you HAVE to give them a pillow, my girl is 16months and if shes not well and in bed with me she wont go to sleep unless shes in between the pillowsn so was thinking of just not giving her one when she goes in a big bed
My DD has always been a bit mature for her age (4 and 1/2yrs now) so as soon as she was in her big girls bed at around 15months I think!
Oh no told a lie, it was more like 18months sorry!
FYI the SIDS reccomendation is for no pillows under the age of 2 and no pillows at all in cots. Many chiropractors and osteopaths dont reccomend using a pillow until your child asks for one, usually around 2.5-3 yrs old
Miss 2 1/2 got 1 at 15m when moved to big bed but still push it away/ wont sleep with it. I more have it there to make the bed look good in the day hahaha.
I introduced a month before i put my twins into big beds. it let them realise which way to lie and i found they slept better in the big bed when it was introduced
18 months but I take it out of her cot when I go to bed at night - more for my peace of mind than anything, she likes her pillow & asks to have it. We have done it in preparation of moving her into a bed at 20 months as my 3 month old will need the cot.
18 months old (still in a cot), but its one of the thin ones from the baby store....we got one because our little man kept getting out of his duvet, bunching his bedding into a pillow at the other end of the cot and then falling asleep on it, we took it as a sign he wanted one!
Approx 18 months when the side was taken off her cot. It meant she no longer travelled around the cot - we used to find her all over the place prior to taking the side off/giving her a pillow.
I didn't use a pillow really, my son was about 3 months old and he had a cold so I popped it under the mattress, But I now do use one and he sleeps so much better at night he is almost 1 and I don't care what people think of me for doing it, as I feel the more you fuss and bicker over your child the more likely there may end up something wrong with them.
My daughter would use her blanket as a pillow so i gave her one when she was 15months old - it's a normal size adult one and she loves it slept so much better with it but then again she is a tummy sleeper!
At two years when we moved her into big bed. She would end up off the bed and around the cot so think it helps a bit with that
18 months... Just a thin one from baby factory. She hardly sleeps on it though she always ends up at the other end of the cot and she quite often falls asleep on her blankie anyway. :-)
When we moved her into her big bed, approx 20months, got mum to make a satin pillowcase as she would end up wicked birds nest and knots on normal pilllowcases .... ;)
A beautiful little soft little one that was mine as a baby at around 15mths and have moved to a big one at 18mths after a case of croup which seemed to be helpful at the time she was sick...now for the move to big bed soon as she is a very tall girl.
My 'baby' is 16months and sleeps upside down round the wrong way in her cot anyway so even if I gave her a pillow she wouldnt end up with her head on it. I dont see what the rush is. I probably give her one when she moves into a big bed
Went in to a single bed around 17 months and at that time we got her a super thin pillow, which she is still using now.
