Thoughts on Using Pillows for an Almost 2 Year Old

I gave my son a pillow at around 13 months. he started out with a toddler pillow, but we graduated him to a regular pillow. it's a firm flat pillow that's not fluffy or squishy, and i can tell you, he actually uses it :-)

He started to show an interest in them... he would lay his head on throw pillows while watching his baby einstein video, and would cuddle with me with his head on my pillow. And he would ball up a receiving blanet and put his head on it in his crib. clearly he wanted something to snuggle with.

since his pillow is flattened, i dont have any concerns about him suffocating...

My son started using a pillow a little before turning two. He really loves it and it seems like his crib is a more inviting place for him to sleep. I think it's safe to use one at this age.

... just on a personal note... i would HIGHLY SUGGEST NOT USING A PILLOW IN THE CRIB... EVER!!! My son jumped right out of his crib when I put a pillow in it for him and almost broke his arm! He's only sixteen months old, and after talking to a few different women, i've found that my child isn't the only one to ever have done this... many many other womens children have! Nothing should be in the crib. Nothing at all. Bumper pad at the very most. No pillows, no toys, no nothing they can climb on and get leverage off of... trust me.. you don't want to end up rushing your friend to the ER with her child in the middle of the night. I wouldn't do it if i were her.

I started using a pillow for my son when he was about 22 months and got pneumonia for the third time. I wanted to prop him up a little while he was sleeping so I tried putting a pillow in the crib and it worked. He ended up loving having a pillow and won't sleep without it now. I was worried at first about it being a suffocation hazard, but I worry about everything. By two, they are able to turn their head and figure out how not to get their face stuck in a pillow. He's probably as likely to get stuck in the pillow as I am.

I gave my son one of our old pillows (that way it wasn't thick but still soft) when he was 18 months. He has done fine with it.

My twins are almost 23 months old and they have small pillows from comfortsilkie.com. They are just cuddle pillows, which they've had for a long time. They rarely sleep on them (since they move around so much), but they wake up holding them. All 3 of my kids have always had several items they take to bed with them, starting at around age 1. We've had no problems. As for a regular pillow, I never saw a need for mine to have them in their cribs. My older daughter didn't use a regular pillow until she moved to a twin bed at around age 3.

I bought smaller "toddler" pillows from the One Step Ahead catalogue. My kids are 3 and still love sleeping with them.