Nursing Pillow
What tires you during a feed is not the baby: it is holding them at arm’s length for twenty minutes, seated, with nothing to lean on. This pillow rests your forearm and brings your baby to the right height.
Why a dedicated pillow
A feed lasts between ten and forty minutes, several times a day, often at night. With nothing underneath, your shoulder and wrist hold the whole of it — and that is what tires, long before any general tiredness. A pillow placed properly takes that load away: you rest the arm, and it stops working.
Set around your waist while seated, opening facing forward, the arms come under your forearms. You hold your baby at chest height without your arm holding itself up. Your shoulders drop back down, and that is where the difference is felt.
How to position it
- Sit down first, well back in the seat, back supported.
- Set the pillow around your waist, opening facing forward, brought up snug against you.
- Lay your baby on it, then adjust the height of the pillow — not the height of your arm.
- Let your shoulders drop. If they rise, the pillow is too low : raise it, do not compensate with your arm.
That is the rule that sums it up : bring the baby to the breast, not the breast to the baby. That is what the pillow is for.
Pregnancy pillow or nursing pillow ?
Both work for feeding, but they are not aiming at the same thing. Here is how to decide.
| U-Shaped Pregnancy Pillow | Nursing Pillow | |
|---|---|---|
| Main use | Sleeping on your side | Feeding while seated |
| Feeding | Possible, but bulkier | Built for it |
| Sleeping | Built for it | Not suited |
| Bulk | Takes up half a full-size bed | Compact, moves from room to room |
| Period | From the 2nd trimester through feeding | From the birth onwards |
If you are looking for one item for both periods, take the U-shaped pregnancy pillow: it does both, with a little more bulk to handle. If you are already set up for sleeping, or if you know feeding will be your main use, this model is easier to handle — it moves from the sofa to the armchair without thinking about it, which matters when you use it eight times a day.
Common questions
Does it work for twins?
This model is made for one child at a time. Feeding two at once calls for a pillow designed for it, noticeably wider and firmer, and we do not offer one at present.
Does it work for bottle feeding?
Yes, with no difference. The pillow gives your forearm somewhere to rest, and how you feed changes nothing about your own position.
Does the cover wash?
Yes. It comes off completely by the zip and goes in the machine on a cold cycle. On a feeding pillow that is not a comfort but a necessity: it will get marked.
From when can I use it?
From the day you come home. It stays useful for as long as it makes the feeding position easier, usually several months.
What if it does not suit me?
You have 30 days to change your mind. See our returns policy.
Free shipping, dispatched in 1 to 2 business days. You can also read our customer reviews on the pregnancy pillow, or browse our guides — in particular the one on filling, which applies to feeding too.
The nursing pillow in detail
Firmness, and the cover.
Maeve Sutton · Editorial lead at The Pregnancy Pillow
Maeve goes through buyer feedback before a model ever gets a page: she reads the reviews one by one, opens every photo customers send in, and holds what the description promises against what they actually received. That is the work that showed three of the four colour names described a different fabric. She writes the guides on this site.