· Maeve Sutton
How to wash a pregnancy pillow
A pregnancy pillow lives in a bed for several months, every night, and then usually carries on through feeding. How you clean it decides how long it lasts — which is why a cover that comes off completely is worth more than any feature on a spec sheet.
The cover, in the machine
Unzip it fully and take it right off — on our pillow the zip runs along one arm, so the cover comes away in one piece. Wash it on a cold cycle, and let it air-dry. Skip the tumble dryer: heat is what shrinks a cover, and a cover that has shrunk will never go back on properly.
Wash it as often as you need to. That is the whole point of a removable cover, and it is the thing buyers mention without being asked — 20 of our 129 written reviews bring up the cover and how easily it comes off. Nobody thinks about this before buying; everybody talks about it after.
Why the filled pillow stays out
For anything that reaches the filling, spot-clean with a damp cloth and a little mild detergent, then let it dry flat and completely before putting the cover back on. Between washes, airing it for a couple of hours in a dry room does more than most people expect.
Bringing the volume back
After several weeks in a bed, any filling settles. Loose fibre is the one that responds to being worked:
- Take the cover off.
- Hold the pillow by one arm and shake it along its length, twice or three times.
- Work the filling back towards the thin spots with your hands — usually the middle of the arms, where your weight sits.
- Leave it flat for an hour before putting the cover back on.
This is the practical difference between fillings. Fibre comes back; microbeads settle for good, and no amount of shaking recovers the volume. Our guide on what each filling does goes through all four.
The first few hours after delivery
The pillow arrives vacuum-packed — that is how it fits into a box you can carry rather than a crate. Out of the packaging it takes a few hours to regain its full volume.
So unpack it in the morning if you plan to sleep with it that night. Eighteen of our 129 written reviews mention exactly this, and it is the single most common surprise on the first day.
Common questions
Can I just throw my pregnancy pillow in the washing machine?
The cover, yes — on a cold cycle. The filled pillow itself, no. Loose fibre filling clumps when it gets soaked, and the clumps do not come apart again: you end up with a pillow that has hard patches and hollow patches. That is why a removable cover matters so much on this kind of item.
How do I fluff up my pregnancy pillow?
Take the cover off, hold the pillow by one arm and shake it along its length, then work the filling back towards the thin spots with your hands. Airing it flat for a few hours helps. Loose fibre responds to this; that is its main advantage over microbeads, which settle permanently.
How long does it take for a pregnancy pillow to expand?
A few hours out of the packaging. It ships vacuum-packed so it fits in a box you can carry. Lay it flat on the day it arrives if you plan to sleep with it that night — 18 of our 129 written reviews mention this wait.
Also read firm or soft and which filling to choose.