Best pregnancy pillow UK: shapes compared, and who each one suits

By about 24 weeks there are four pillows in the bed. One under the bump, one between your knees, one wedged behind your back so you don't roll, and the one that's meant for your head, which has gone somewhere. Your partner is asleep on a strip down the far edge.

A pregnancy pillow is those pillows in one shape. The question is which shape, because the wrong one is either a wall down the middle of the bed or a wedge that does half the job.

We make one, the Moon, and I'll tell you honestly who it's for and who'd be better with something else. Most of this is about the types, not ours.

• The NHS advises going to sleep on your side, either side, from 28 weeks, and suggests pillows supporting the bump and one between the knees. That's the job any pregnancy pillow has to do.
• There's no set week to start. Most people start once getting comfortable on their side has become a nightly fight, and for a lot of them that's before 28 weeks.
• Our Moon pillow is one size and one curve, with a 70% bamboo and 30% cotton cover that unzips and washes at 30 degrees. If you're shorter, fold the lower end under.
• After the birth it becomes a feeding pillow and a backrest. Never leave a baby to sleep on or against it.
• 30 day returns, unused and in the original packaging, so decide on the shape before you open the box.

Pregnancy pillow shapes compared

There are five shapes that keep coming up, plus the option of not buying one at all. Here's what each of them actually does when you're on your side at 3am.

My honest read: the U is the most supportive and the least practical, the wedge is the most practical and the least supportive, and the curved shapes are the compromise most people end up with. Which is why we make a curve.

The one thing all five have over a heap of ordinary pillows is that they turn with you. That's the whole product. If that isn't a problem you have, you don't need one.

Best pregnancy pillow for hip pain

Hip pain in pregnancy is mostly a night problem, and it's mostly mechanical. Lying on your side, your top leg drops forward and down, which twists your pelvis and leaves the top hip hanging. Eight hours of that and it aches by morning.

So the part of the pillow that matters for hips is the bit between your knees, and it needs to be firm enough to hold your knees level all night. That rules out the wedge, which has nothing between the knees, and for most people the soft bolster, which squashes flat. A U, a C or a curve all do it, as long as the filling holds its shape.

Ours is firm enough to hold your knees and your bump, and the filling is designed to stay firm with everyday use rather than going flat in a month. One reviewer wrote: "The filling has a good balance of softness and support. It feels like good value for money."

If the pain is over your pubic bone or across the lower back, and turning over in bed or getting out of the car makes it worse, that's pelvic girdle pain rather than hip ache. A pillow between the knees still helps, but the treatment is physio, and it starts with telling your midwife. The pelvic girdle pain in pregnancy post covers it properly.

Best pregnancy pillow for a shared bed

In the reviews of ours, one of the things people mention most is that it's smaller than a U, and they mean it as a compliment. A U is the length of a person and the width of two, and in a standard double somebody ends up on the edge.

A single curve lies along your side of the bed. Tuck the middle under the bump, hug the top end, slot the lower end between your knees, and the other side of the bed is still a bed. If you're on the shorter side, fold the lower end under rather than stretching out along it; you get the same support in less space.

One reviewer wrote: "It supports my bump and hips without taking over the whole bed. The size is practical and easy to reposition. A very worthwhile purchase."

Where it loses to a U: it holds your front or your back, not both. If it's your back that aches, you turn it round and lean into it, and then there's nothing under the bump. Most people pick one and stick with it.

If you genuinely need both at once every night and you've got the bed for it, a U is the honest answer, and it isn't the one we make.

Two other things to know before you order. It arrives vacuum packed, and a few reviews mention it looks lumpy for the first day until it fluffs back up; that settles. And the three versions in the collection differ only in the cover, so pick by colour, not by shape.

When to start using a pregnancy pillow

Whenever it gets hard to get comfortable on your side. There's no set week; that's the answer on our product page and it's the true one.

The NHS side sleeping advice starts at 28 weeks, on its tiredness and sleep problems in pregnancy page, so that's the latest sensible point to have something that keeps you there. Plenty of people start earlier, once the bump or the hips are keeping them awake, and if you've always slept on your front the switch to your side is easier made at 20 weeks than at 28.

If you're comfortable, you don't need one yet. Buy it the week you stop being comfortable, not the week the scan says.

How to actually arrange it, for hips, for heartburn, for front sleepers and after a c-section, is its own post next week.

Cover, filling and washing

Once you've picked a shape, three things separate a pillow you'll use for a year from one that ends up in the spare room.

The cover comes off. You will need to wash it. Check it unzips, check the temperature, and check what happens to the inner. Ours is 70% bamboo and 30% cotton, unzips, washes at 30 degrees and doesn't go in the tumble dryer, because that's what shrinks a cover so it never fits again. The inner isn't machine washable; air it regularly instead.

The fabric breathes. The NHS common health problems in pregnancy page says you'll feel warmer than usual and sweat more, and a pillow that runs the length of your body is a lot of fabric against you all night. Bamboo and cotton is what we chose for that reason.

The filling holds. Firm enough to keep your knees level, soft enough that you're not lying against a log. A filling that flattens after a few months is a pillow that has stopped doing the job it was bought for, so it's worth asking about before you buy any of them.

Ours sits somewhere in between on firmness, with a bouncy filling that lets the air through, and it's tested to the UK furniture fire safety standard, BS 5852, which is on the product page if you want the detail.

Where the money is worth spending

I'd keep your own pillow for your head. The pregnancy pillow is for everything below the shoulders, and a built in head section is a lot of pillow to pay for if you never use it.

Do pay for a cover that comes off and washes, and a filling that's meant to last. The pillow that pays for itself is the one that gets a second life.

After the birth, curved round you it brings your arms up to the right height for feeds so you're not hunched over the baby, and behind you it's a backrest for sitting up in bed in the early weeks. Never leave your baby to sleep on or against it.

If you're having a c-section, it earns its keep again: on its side, it goes between your knees and along the front of the incision at the same time, so if you roll in your sleep you roll onto the pillow rather than the wound. The how to sleep after a c-section post has the positions.

One reviewer wrote: "We have been using it for a few weeks now. The cover feels soft and the curved shape works well for side sleeping. I also use it for support when reading in bed. I am really pleased I chose this one."

Questions we get asked

Is a maternity pillow the same as a pregnancy pillow?

Yes. Maternity pillow, pregnancy pillow, pregnancy body pillow, bump pillow: different names for the same long pillow that keeps you on your side.

Do you really need a pregnancy pillow?

No. The NHS suggests a pillow supporting the bump and one between your knees, and two ordinary pillows do that. What you're paying for is a shape that stays put when you turn over and takes less of the bed than a pile of loose ones. If you sleep fine once you're comfortable, save your money for now.

Which side should you lie on with a pregnancy pillow?

Either. The NHS says go to sleep on your side, left or right, from 28 weeks, and if you wake up on your back, turn over. The position advice by week, and what's waking you at each stage, is in the sleep in pregnancy post.

Can you use a pregnancy pillow in the first trimester?

Yes, if you want to. There's no bump to support yet, but if your hips already ache or you're struggling to get comfortable, the knee section works the same at 10 weeks as it does at 30. Early on it's a comfort purchase, not a need.

Can you wash a pregnancy pillow?

The cover, yes; the inner, usually not. On ours, unzip the cover and wash it at 30 degrees, no tumble dryer, and air the inner rather than washing it. Check this before you buy any pillow, because a cover that doesn't come off is a pillow you can't clean.

What is a moon pregnancy pillow?

A pregnancy pillow shaped as a single curve, like a crescent or a half moon, rather than a full U. Tuck the middle under your bump, hug the top end and slot the lower end between your knees, or turn it round and lean back into it. It's the shape we make, because it does the side sleeping job along one side of the bed.

The pregnancy pillows collection has the Moon in its three covers side by side, and if you're not sure how far off 28 weeks you are, the due date calculator will tell you.