As a thrifty mama, I have a hard time investing in items that will only serve a single or short-term purpose. This applies to many items typically helpful during pregnancy.
I did find, with a little creativity, that I was able to transition several pregnancy-specific items into new, postpartum purposes.
One example of this would be my well-loved pregnancy pillow. Here are some of the best ways I found to extend the use of my “pregnancy” pillow!
Pregnancy Pillow link: https://amzn.to/4iYDtQM
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Sleeping During Pregnancy
Of course, the most classic use for a pregnancy pillow is during sleep. Sleep during pregnancy is notoriously evasive. Of course, I do concede that some factors interrupting your sleep are unavoidable (such as those frequent trips to the restroom!).
However, sometimes sleep is impacted by the struggle to find a comfortable position for your growing belly, achey hips, sore back, etc.
Queue the pregnancy pillow. You can wrap and contort this pillow to support your different sleep positions throughout your pregnancy. I do think it is worth the investment for this reason alone.
Breastfeeding Support
As a first time mama, I found positioning my newborn for breastfeeding to be a challenge.
It is difficult to get the correct height with pillows, or to get the correct distance from your person. It is also tiring to try to support baby’s body with your arms alone.
I found that sitting up and rotating my pregnancy pillow so that it was hugging my tummy gave me the support and flexibility I needed to support my newborn during breastfeeding. This also made it easy to transition into a nap support when baby inevitably fell asleep after eating.
Arm Support When Holding Baby
After hours of carrying your Velcro-baby around during those early, sleep-deprived days, it is normal for your new-mama arms to get tired. My baby also enjoyed being rocked when tired or fussy, which also became wearying after a while.
I used the same position described above just to let baby sit or rest while giving my arms some support and taking some pressure off my postpartum tummy.
Comfortable Lounging Postpartum
When baby got big enough to play around independently, my partner and I set up our living room with areas where we were able to lie on the floor. Using the pregnancy pillow to prop up our heads and arms made for quite comfortable lounging!
Cuddling for Supervised Toddler Play
As baby (quickly!) grew into a toddler, she enjoyed sitting in the pregnancy pillow to support her back and arms like a cute little couch.
As a toddler, she also napped longer when cuddled up by the familiar pregnancy pillow. I do only used this when able to supervise a living room nap, as it is best to be cautious with any items that pose a suffocation risk.
READ MORE: 10 Must-Have Pregnancy Items
Comment below if you would like to share any other ideas on how to use a pregnancy pillow!
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