The 10 Best U-Shaped Body Pillows for Pregnant Women
Pregnancy brings with it its fair share of trials and tribulations, and the best u shaped body pillow can really help to make life a bit more comfortable. Many women find themselves battling with sickness and nausea throughout the first trimester, which can make sleeping harder than usual. Just as the pregnancy nausea begins to wear off, a growing bump and wriggling baby can put paid to any plans you had to get some much-needed shut-eye.
One of the easiest ways to deal with pregnancy-related sleep discomfort is to invest in a body pillow to support your body into a more comfortable position. So, how do U-shaped body pillows help? In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about these handy sleep aids along with our recommendations for the 10 best u shaped pregnancy pillows.
10 Best U Shaped Pregnancy Pillow 2021
| Image | Name and Feature | Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Leachco Snoogle Original Maternity/Pregnancy Total Body Pillow | Check Price | |
|
Leachco Back ‘N Belly Pregnancy/Maternity Contoured Body Pillow | Check Price | |
|
Moonlight Slumber Comfort-U Total Body Support Pillow | Check Price | |
|
Naomi Home Cozy Body Pillow | Check Price | |
|
QUEEN ROSE Full Body Pregnancy Pillow | Check Price | |
|
KHOMO @ Extra Light Full Body Maternity Pillow | Check Price | |
|
Full Body Maternity Pillow with Contoured U-Shape by Bluestone | Check Price | |
|
Puredown U Shaped Adjustable Pregnancy Maternity Body Pillow | Check Price | |
|
AnQi 55-inch Full Body Pregnancy Pillow | Check Price | |
|
Meiz Pregnancy Pillow | Check Price |
What is a U-shaped Body Pillow for Pregnancy?
A u shaped full body pillow is designed to help alleviate some of the sleep issues we’ve described below. It is designed to fully encompass your sleeping body and prop you in a comfortable position on your side. One end can be positioned between your legs, helping to ease pressure and discomfort in your back and hips. It can also be used to support your bump as it grows larger
What Makes a Good Pregnancy Pillow?
The perfect U-shaped body pillow for pregnancy will look a little different for each woman. This is because each person has unique sleep needs and their own sense of comfort. However, there are some ingredients of a perfect U-shaped body pillow which you should always look out for:
- Supportive: While you want a pillow that’s soft enough to feel cosy, it’s also important that it provides your hips and bump with the support they need. Check that the pillow is rated highly by reviewers in terms of support.
- Removable cover: Just like any other item of your bedding, you’ll want to be able to remove and wash the cover of your body pillow.
- Hypoallergenic: Pregnancy can cause nasal congestion, so you won’t want to add to your sniffles if you tend to react to commonly-used pillow stuffing.
- Certifications: Ideally, your pillow will be either GREENGUARD Gold or Certi-Pur certified. This means that it has been manufactured without the use of harmful chemicals and has been extensively tested to ensure it doesn’t release dangerous levels of any gases into your sleeping environment. This is especially important if you have a respiratory condition such as asthma.
- Price: Many women feel that they have to spend a lot of money on a U-shaped pregnancy pillow to get something that’s comfortable. While it’s true that there are several pricey products that deliver on style and comfort, it’s also possible to purchase a great pregnancy pillow on a lower budget. So, don’t feel that you have to spend more than you can really afford.
- Additional covers: Try to choose a product that either comes with additional covers or gives you the option of purchasing extras. This means that you can continue to enjoy your pillow while the other cover is in the wash.
- Durability: You will want the pillow to last for at least the duration of your current pregnancy. Depending on your plans, you may wish to purchase a pillow with a very high rating in terms of durability in order for it to last you through any subsequent pregnancies or during your postpartum period.
- Breathable: Overheating at night can be a real problem for pregnant women. For this reason, it’s a good idea to choose a pillow with a breathable cover and filling to allow air to circulate and heat to escape during the night.
- Made in the USA: While you can purchase an extremely cheap u shaped pregnancy pillow from overseas, it’s best to stick to products made in the USA. This is because bedding products have to meet stringent safety guidelines in order to be approved under US law. It’s also safe to purchase bedding manufactured in Canada as they have similar health and safety laws.
Types of U-shaped Pillow Filling
There are various fillings available to choose form when it comes to U-shaped body pillows for pregnancy. Which type you ultimately opt to buy depends on your own preferences and needs. Here is our definitive guide to the most common types of pillow stuffing to help you make the best decision:
Synthetic
Synthetic stuffing is one of the most commonly available. Synthetic pillows tend to be affordable and are lightweight enough to make them easy to transport. They’re a great option for people with allergies as they are hypoallergenic. Synthetic pillows are easier to care for than some other pillow types and don’t make any unwanted noise if you rearrange them during the night.
However, a synthetic pillow may not be the best option if you are hoping to use your body pillow for a long time. This filling tends to become flat or form clumps quite easily. In general, expect a synthetic pillow to last you as little as six months and no longer than 2 years.
Feather
This filling can be a good option for those on a budget as they can be picked up quite cheaply. They can be easily shaped and bunched to create a shape that’s comfortable and supportive. Another major advantage of feather pillows is that they have a longer lifespan than many other fillings.
However, feather pillows are not especially supportive so may not be the best choice of filling for a u shaped pregnancy pillow. The quills can also work their way through the cover and dig in uncomfortably, and they can make a rustling noise when you move around during the night. Allergy sufferers may find that feather pillows trigger a reaction. Some people choose not to use feather pillows for ethical reasons.
Down
Down pillows are extremely soft and comfortable to sleep on. They can be a great choice for people who tend to sleep hot as they are very cool and allow air to circulate within. Down pillows are often expensive but may be worth the inflated price tag as they are very durable.
However, down pillows have many of the downsides common with feather pillows. They tend to trigger allergies and are not commonly used in body pillows because they are less supportive than many other fillings.
Memory foam
Memory foam pillows are a great option for a u shaped pillow for pregnant women because they are very supportive and contour to perfectly adapt to the shape of your sleeping body. These pillows are also very durable and relatively simple to care for.
However, memory foam can tend to sleep hot. This is less of an issue if you opt for shredded memory foam. This material often releases an unpleasant odour known as ‘off-gassing’, although this will dissipate over the course of a few days. This may be particularly bothersome to pregnant women with a heightened sense of smell, so it may be a good idea to allow the pillow to air for a few days before sleeping on it.
Latex
Latex behaves in a similar way to memory foam as it is able to mold itself to the shape of your body. However, it is usually more breathable and allows heat to escape more easily. This material is very supportive and is likely to last a long time.
The downside is that latex pillows are often very expensive and can be very heavy. It has the same potential issues with off-gassing as memory foam.
10 Best U-Shaped Body Pillow Reviews
Now you understand more about how a u-shaped maternity body pillow could help you during pregnancy, it’s time to check out our top 10 best-rated products for plenty of shopping inspiration. Here are the latest reviews of the 10 best u shaped body pillows for Pregnant People.
1. Leachco Snoogle Original Maternity/Pregnancy Total Body Pillow
The Snoogle Original big u shaped pillow takes pride of place at the top of our product list. This amazing product was specifically designed to meet the needs of pregnant women by a registered nurse and experienced mom, and her expertise really shows. This pillow is extremely popular with pregnant mommies and can be used as a support when lying down or sitting.
Key features
Sleeps cool: The Snoogle Original is 100% cotton, making it very breathable and allowing heat to dissipate during the night. This is good news for pregnant women suffering from overheating at night.
Customizable: This pillow is extremely easy to mold and position to support the unique shape of his body. Therefore, you can adjust it to support your growing bump along with your aching hips or back.
Easy to clean: The Snoogle pillow itself can be spot cleaned with a damp cloth very easily. The removable cover is suitable for both machine washing and tumble drying.
2. Leachco Back ‘N Belly Pregnancy/Maternity Contoured Body Pillow
This pillow is designed to provide simultaneous support to your bump and back while you sleep. This means that you don’t need to turn the pillow if you switch sides during the night. Therefore, this is a great choice for women who like to move around while they sleep. So, why do our experts love this comfort u body pillow so much?
Key features
Contoured for comfort: Look at the inside edges of the pillow and you’ll notice that it’s curved to reflect the shape of a pregnant body. This helps the pillow to provide a good level of support for your beck, belly, neck and shoulders.
No need to reposition: The pillow has the same design on both sides. This means that it works equally well if you turn over in the night without needing to reposition the pillow.
Sleeps cool: Like many other Leachco products, this product is made of 100% cotton. This is a great choice for pregnant women because it is very breathable, allowing heat to dissipate during the night and preventing overheating.
3. Moonlight Slumber Comfort-U Total Body Support Pillow
This giant u shaped body pillow is highly rated by pregnant moms for good reason. It’s specially designed to provide excellent support for pregnant bodies while ensuring good circulation throughout the night. For this reason, many expectant moms find it helps them to achieve a comfortable and relaxing night of sleep. Let’s look at the Moonlight Slumber body pillow in a little more detail.
Key features
Synthetic down filling: This pillow is filled with a modern material called an ‘extended polymer’. This makes the pillow more breathable, allowing freer airflow throughout and preventing overheating. At the same time, it helps the pillow to maintain its shape.
Healthy body alignment: The Moonlight Slumber pillow is designed to aid the alignment of your shoulders, spine and hips. This is very important for pregnant women as is helps alleviate some of the aches and pains common during this time.
Machine washable: It’s possible to machine wash the entire body pillow, which is quite unusual. This means it’s especially easy to keep fresh. The manufacturers guarantee that the filling won’t clump, even with repeated washes.
4. Naomi Home Cozy Body Pillow
The Naomi Home Cozy Body Pillow could be the ideal choice for style-conscious mommies-to-be. It’s available in five gorgeous colors, from vibrant red to a muted stone shade. This means you should be able to find a color to match your bedroom interior, whatever your taste. This pillow packs a punch when it comes to comfort and support as well, with curved contouring to match the shape of your pregnant body. Let’s find out exactly why out sleep experts recommend this u shaped pregnancy pillow.
Key features
Lumbar support: As pregnancy can be tough on your back, it’s great to see a pillow providing increased lumbar support. This means that your lower back is supported effectively throughout the night, reducing niggling aches and pains.
Synthetic polyester filling: This filling is designed to remain comfortable and supportive even after extended use. It’s hypoallergenic, making it ideal for allergy sufferers.
Doubles as nursing pillow: Once baby has arrived, this pillow can be reused as a nursing pillow. It’s just the right thickness to hold baby at the ideal height to reduce any strain on your neck and back.
5. QUEEN ROSE Full Body Pregnancy Pillow
This is yet another great option for those looking for a pregnancy pillow that’s both comfortable and stylish. It comes in one all-over color or a two-toned design depending on your personal preferences, and there are a range of colors to choose from to suit any bedroom design. Unlike many other products we’ve reviewed, this pillow comes in to sizes so you can pick according to your height. Let’s take a look in more detail.
Key features
Synthetic filling: This pillow is stuffed with bionic polyethylene. It’s designed to provide a good level of support while maintaining its shape. This makes it very suitable for expectant mothers, although other people may find it comfortable as well.
Reduces aches and pains: This pillow is designed to relieve common pregnancy aches and pains, back pain, sciatica and fibromyalgia.
Multi-functional: This pillow is perfect for use during pregnancy, but it can also be used as a reading pillow or for watching TV in bed. Many women choose to continue using it after the birth of their baby as a nursing pillow.
6. KHOMO @ Extra Light Full Body Maternity Pillow
This pillow is ideal for reducing night-time aches and pains for pregnant mommies. In fact, the manufacturers even describe it as like sleeping on a ‘cloud of bliss’! The support this pillow provides is ideal for back pain sufferers and can help prevent back ache from developing in the first place during pregnancy. So, why do our expert reviewers recommend this pillow? Read on to find out.
Key features
Cotton stuffing: The filling of this pillow is hypoallergenic and light, making it easy to move around so you can use the pillow anywhere. This material is also breathable, allowing heat to escape during the night and preventing overheating.
Helpful for various conditions: The manufacturers claim that this pillow can help relieve pain and discomfort at night caused by conditions including arthritis, fibromyalgia, acid reflux and nasal congestion.
Removable cover: You can easily unzip the cover of this pillow and launder it, making it extremely easy to keep clean and sanitary.
7. Full Body Maternity Pillow with Contoured U-Shape by Bluestone
This great pregnancy pillow from Bluestone is the perfect design for women who like to change position during their sleep. It provides an equal level of support on both sides, so there’s no requirement to turn the pillow around if you switch during the night. It’s specially designed to support a burgeoning baby bump while reducing any uncomfortable aches and pains that may be interfering with your sleep. Let’s explore the key features of the Bluestone maternity pillow.
Key features
Pain reduction: Bluestone say that their pillow is perfect for reducing aches and pains caused by common pregnancy complaints. These include back pain, hip and pelvis pain and acid reflux.
Multi-purpose: Apart from sleeping, the product is ideal for use as a reading pillow or for watching TV. It can also be used as a nursing pillow, raising and supporting the baby at the right height while supporting mom in a comfortable position.
Curves to your shape: The hour-glass curves on the inner edges of the pillow are designed to encourage your hips into the ideal healthy alignment. This can help to make sleep more comfortable during pregnancy.
8. Puredown U Shaped Adjustable Pregnancy Maternity Body Pillow
This super-soft and supportive pregnancy pillow is available in neutral beige or pale blue. It’s perfectly designed to support a pregnant belly during sleep and to reduce night time aches and pains. It also helps to prevent you rolling onto your back during your sleep, maintaining the safest possible position for both mother and baby during the night. Let’s take a focused look at this product’s key features.
Key features
Contoured support: The inner edges of this u shaped pregnancy pillow curve to mirror the shape of a pregnant woman’s body. This gives the best possible support for her back and belly.
Easy cleaning: The super-soft outer cover is designed to be easy to remove and wash. It’s high quality and durable to allow it to withstand multiple machine washes.
Multi-purpose: This pillow is ideal for use as a reading or TV pillow. It is also ideal for providing optimal support to the mother while supporting the baby at the correct height for nursing sessions.
9. AngQi 55-inch Full Body Pregnancy Pillow
While this pillow is designed to support the shape of a pregnant woman’s body, most people would find it comfortable to sleep on. It perfectly supports your shoulders, back, belly and hips to relieve many of the aches and pains associated with pregnancy. This makes it a fantastic aid for getting a great night of sleep while you’re expecting. So, why do we love the AngQi pregnancy pillow so much?
Key features
Multi-purpose: As well as for sleeping, this pillow can be used for watching television in bed or as a reading cushion. Once baby has arrived, it’s the perfect height for supporting both mother and infant during breastfeeding sessions.
Pain reduction: This pillow is designed to reduce pressure and pain caused by sciatica and fibromyalgia. It can also be used to help relieve acid reflux during pregnancy.
Easy cleaning: The plush cover can be easily removed, and machine washed, making it a breeze to keep your pillow fresh and clean.
10. Meiz Pregnancy Pillow
Rounding off our list is the Meiz pregnancy pillow. This ultra-luxe pillow has been improved by the manufacturers to be wider and more supportive, reducing pregnancy-related pain and discomfort. It comes in a stylish range of 5 colors, so every woman should be able to find one that fits in beautifully with her bedroom. Let’s take a closer look:
Key features
Adjustable polyester filling: The filling of this pillow is super-soft and can be adjusted depending on your preferences. This means that you can customize and mold the pillow into a shape that’s comfortable for your unique body.
Velvet-feel cover: The cover is made of a super-soft velvety fabric which is comforting and cosy to snuggle into. It’s also hypoallergenic and can be removed using the zipper and washed.
Therapeutic benefits: This pillow can help people with a range of conditions get a better and more comfortable night of sleep. This includes people with hypertension syndrome, fibromyalgia, sciatica and back pain.
Why is Sleep so Important During Pregnancy?
Every pregnant woman knows that pregnancy can make you feel really tired. So, it’s not surprising that many women choose to invest in products to help them sleep better such as U-shaped body pillows for pregnant women.
Pregnant women require both a good quality and good quantity of sleep. This is because of the enormous amount of energy it takes to grow and carry a baby. Most of the body’s systems are put under additional strain. While most adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep a night, pregnant women require 9-11 hours.
How Can Poor Sleep Affect Pregnancy?
If a woman is not getting enough sleep of a decent quality, this can affect her own health and her pregnancy in various ways. First of all, she may lack the get-up-and-go she needs to continue with her day-to-day life as her pregnancy takes up more and more of her energy. As remaining active is important in order to maintain a healthy pregnancy, this lack of energy could become problematic.
Inadequate sleep can also have an impact on weight gain. Feeling exhausted may cause a pregnant woman to eat too much or too little. Healthy weight gain is important during pregnancy. However, it is not advised to gain too much weight either. By failing to get enough sleep, a woman may find herself gaining too much or too little weight.
Some women experience mental health symptoms during pregnancy such as low mood, mood swings, anxiety and depression. Getting too little sleep can make these symptoms more severe. It’s important to seek help from your healthcare provider if you are concerned about your mental health or any other symptoms that worry you during your pregnancy.
How Does Pregnancy Effect Sleep?
Pregnancy is a demanding time from both a physical and emotional point of view. Common sleep issues include disturbed sleep caused by nausea, frequent night-time bathroom trips, acid reflux and an aching back.
These problems are usually caused by the extra hormones produced during pregnancy. Higher levels of estrogen and progesterone are especially likely to contribute to sleep problems. While these hormones are always present in the body, much higher levels are required to maintain a healthy pregnancy.
If a woman already has issues with sleep before she becomes pregnant, these may intensify once she is expecting. Sleep problems are likely to change depending on the stage of pregnancy the woman is in. Here’s a quick run-down of common pregnancy sleep problems according to trimester:
- First trimester: Many women report feeling exhausted during this time in their pregnancy. This can be worsened by common first-trimester sleep niggles such as insomnia, frequent night-time urination, body aches and morning sickness.
- Second trimester: This is often the most comfortable point of pregnancy, and many women say they have more energy during this period. Often, night-time urination eases up a bit as the uterus rises up and reduces pressure on the bladder. However, the weight and size of the growing baby can cause backache and muscle cramps, especially in the legs.
- Third trimester: As the third trimester progresses, a large bump can make finding a comfortable sleeping position very difficult. Frequency of urination is likely to increase along with aching in the back and pelvis and heartburn. If they haven’t already, many women choose to sleep using an aid such as a Ushaped body pillow for pregnancy to make sleeping more comfortable.
Pregnancy and Sleeping Position
Another problem commonly affecting pregnant women is the need to change their sleeping position. As their bumps grow, most women find that stomach sleeping quickly becomes impossible. Back sleepers don’t fare much better, as this position can restrict blood flow to the baby and isn’t recommended in later pregnancy.
It’s recommended that pregnant women sleep on their sides, preferably on the left. This position allows optimal blood flow to the placenta. However, this can feel uncomfortable if a woman has slept on her back or front up until this point. In this situation, a U-shaped body pillow for pregnancy can be very useful.
The Bottom Line
Hopefully, you now understand just what a u shaped body pillow for pregnancy is and how it can help you get a better night’s sleep. Using our top tips for choosing the perfect pillow, it’s easy to shop for a product that will suit your body and sleep needs perfectly. Remember to always consult with your health care provider if you are experiencing worrying sleep problems or pain during your pregnancy.
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