Hello everyone, I'm Wenwen Dad!
How old is the child who needs a pillow? Do you want to sleep on the shaped pillow? It has always been a hot topic in parenting circles.
Some time ago, a friend sent a message: his child is 3 months old, the head sleeps a little off, asking whether to use a stereotyped pillow?
When I told him that children under the age of 1 did not need to sleep on pillows and that it was not recommended to sleep on the shaped pillow, he asked how old the child was and how old he needed to sleep on the pillow.
In order to let more people know, Wen Wen Dad decided to come and nag everyone about the child's "sleeping pillow".
01. Does the child want to sleep on the pillow?
Children can not sleep pillow, in fact, according to the child's spinal development, in general, children under 1 year old, the spine is relatively straight, at this time is not need to sleep pillow.
If you force a pillow under the child's neck, it will make the child feel uncomfortable, and in severe cases, it will cause breathing difficulties, which will affect development.
Therefore, only after the child's spine develops the physiological curvature of the birth, will the pillow be considered.
The American Pediatric Association does not recommend that children under 1 year of age use pillows, and do not place pillows next to the bed as much as possible.
The reason is that the mobility of children under 1 year old is very limited, if a child accidentally buries his face in the pillow and fails to turn over in time, it is likely to cause the risk of suffocation;
Second, most people are "deceived" by the name of the pillow, and the purpose of sleeping on the pillow is not the pillow part, but the pillow neck.
The human neck is not straight, but has a physiological curvature of a forward arch, and when people lie flat on the bed, there is a large gap between the neck and the bed.
At this time, you need a pillow to fill this gap, otherwise after sleeping for one night, the muscles and ligaments on the neck will always be in a tense state, and after waking up the next day, it is easy to have a stiff neck and painful condition.
But for children under 1 year old, the physiological curvature of the neck is not developed, it is straight and slippery. At this time, if you forcibly give the child a pillow, it will make the child feel uncomfortable.
It can be seen that children under 1 year old do not need to sleep on pillows.
02. How old is the child who needs to sleep on the pillow?
In response to this problem, Wen Wen Dad also consulted a pediatrician at that time, and later also read a lot of parenting books, suggesting: When the child is 1 and a half years old, with the physiological curvature of the neck gradually developing, you can sleep in the small bed alone, you can sleep on the pillow; of course, after the child is 2 years old, it is also a good choice to sleep on the pillow.
When the child needs to sleep on the pillow, he will also give the mother some "small signals", telling the mother that he has to sleep on the pillow, and the mother pays attention to the capture:
Your child's shoulders are > head wide
Generally speaking, newborns who have just been born, the shoulder width is smaller than the width of the head, and there is no need to sleep on the pillow at this time; when the shoulder width > the head width, the mother has to prepare a pillow for the child;
After using the pillow, the child sleeps more soundly
When the child is more than 1 year old, the mother can try to raise the child's head, if the child sleeps more soundly, it means that it is time to sleep on the pillow;
When sleeping, children like to pillow something under the head
When my daughter was about 1 and a half years old, every time she slept, she liked to rip the adult's pillow and put it under her head. Later, the wife used a pillow for her daughter, and then she never pulled the adult's pillow again, and slept more soundly.
"I'm going to sleep on the pillow," the child said
When the child is 1 year old, he gradually begins to speak, and some children who speak early will germinate the words "I want to sleep on the pillow".
All in all, when the child is 1 year old, mothers should pay attention to capturing these "small signals" and buy a small pillow for the child in time.
03. What kind of pillow do you choose for your child?
In Wen Wen's father's view, the pillow selected for the child cannot be too hard or too soft. If it is too hard, not only is the pillow uncomfortable, but also affects the quality of sleep, you want to put a brick under the neck to sleep, can you sleep comfortably? Similarly, pillows are too soft to support the neck and can sleep uncomfortably.
Therefore, it is not easy to choose a suitable pillow for your child, which can be referenced from the following points:
Look at the height of the pillow, which can be adjusted best
As the child grows and develops, the physiological curvature of the neck is also different, so the pillow prepared for the child is as adjustable as possible.
When your child sleeps on a pillow, the head and body should be on the same level as possible. It is generally recommended that the pillow that children start to use, adjust from 3cm height, and generally 6cm-9cm during school age, which can relax the neck muscles.
Mothers can also adjust the height of the pillow appropriately according to the child's sleeping position, if the child is lying flat, the pillow supports the head, which is about 2cm higher than the place where the neck is supported.
If the child prefers to lie on his side, then the height of the pillow is best for one shoulder width.
Look at the material of the pillow, pure cotton is better
Pillows for children to sleep in, to choose as much as possible is not easy to allergies and breathable, it is recommended to choose pure cotton is better.
As for the pillow core, we must also pay attention to the selection of materials, and pay attention to whether there will be breeding germs and mites? Whether it will be allergic, whether the breathability is good or not.
It is generally recommended to choose pure cotton, memory foam, latex pillow, etc. for children, for the following reasons:
Pure cotton pillow core: good breathability, not easy to allergies;
Latex pillow core: not easy to breed mites and bacteria, good resilience, very suitable for children with asthma;
Memory foam pillow core: more obedient, better support;
Look at the softness and hardness of the pillow
When choosing a pillow for your child, you can judge the softness and hardness of the pillow by pressing.
Generally speaking, when pressing with the hand, if the pillow does not sink, then it means that the pillow is hard; if, after pressing, the pillow is difficult to rebound on its own, it means that the pillow is too soft.
In short, too soft and hard pillows are not suitable for children to sleep; it is necessary to choose a soft and hard pillow for children as much as possible, that is, after pressing with the hand, the pillow can naturally return to its previous shape.
Extended reading: Does your child want to sleep on the shaped pillow?
When the daughter was more than one year old, the wife also wanted to use the stereotyped pillow, looking at the merchant's propaganda that "those who have not slept partially can be prevented, and those who have slept partially can be corrected", and they can't help but start.
But is it really useful to advertise so well?
Wen Wen dad consulted the pediatrician around him, and also read the relevant information, and found that the shaped pillow did not have much effect on preventing and correcting the baby's deviation.
Children before the age of 1, because the skull is soft and elastic, if they stay in a position for a long time to sleep, they are prone to sleep on the head. To avoid this problem, moms can regularly change their children's sleeping positions.
Write to the end:
After choosing a pillow for your child, pay attention to the placement, the pillow is not under the head and shoulders, but pillow on the neck.
At the same time, children are prone to sweating when they sleep, and pillows are easy to breed bacteria when they sleep, so it is recommended to wash once every half a month or so.
Disclaimer: The image comes from the Internet and has nothing to do with the content of this article; if it is infringing, please contact to delete it.