The Pregnancy Pillow That Got Me Through the Third Trimester (and Is Still in My Bed Postpartum)
Nobody warns you about the sleep. They warn you about the morning sickness, the back pain, the heartburn — but the sleep is its own special problem in the third trimester. Your stomach is in the way of every position you used to like. Your hips hurt. You’re supposed to sleep on your left side but your left side is also tired of sleeping on your left side. At 26 weeks I broke down and bought the Momcozy U-Shaped Pregnancy Pillow — the giant grey one with 70,000+ reviews on Amazon — and it is, no exaggeration, the best $45 I spent on the entire pregnancy.
Meet the Momcozy pregnancy pillow
It’s a U-shaped, 57-inch full-body pillow. The U is the key — it wraps both sides of your body at once, so when you have to switch from left side to right side at 2am, you just roll over and the support is already there. No more dragging a giant pillow around your body in the dark. The cover is removable jersey cotton (machine washable, which you will want), and the fill is a premium polyester that doesn’t go flat after a few weeks like the cheaper pillows do. It’s a Best of the Bump Awards winner, currently $44.99 (down from $64.99) on the brand site.
Why I’m hooked
The first night I used it, I slept five uninterrupted hours for the first time in a month. The hip pain that had been waking me up — the one that came from putting all my weight on whichever hip was on the bottom — was just gone. The pillow supports my belly in front, my back behind, and runs between my knees so my hips stay aligned. When I needed to switch sides at 3am, I just rolled into the other half of the U and went back to sleep.
I’ve been pregnant three times. This is the first pillow that actually let me sleep through the night in the third trimester.Verified buyer
And it’s still in my bed postpartum
Plot twist: I expected to retire this pillow after the baby came. I have not. I have used it as a nursing pillow during cluster-feed nights (the U wraps around me and the baby together — easier than any dedicated nursing pillow I’ve tried), and I have used it as plain old back support during recovery. It has not lost its shape. The cover has been through the wash four times and looks unchanged. My husband has started using it on nights I’m in with the baby.
I bought this at 22 weeks and used it nightly until 40. Still firm and supportive at the end.Verified buyer
A few things to know
It’s big. 57 inches of pillow on a queen bed means your partner gets pushed to a smaller share of the mattress — measure your bed and warn the person sleeping next to you. The fill is also firmer than a regular pillow; took me two or three nights to get used to it. After that, I never looked back.
Bottom line
If you’re past 24 weeks and you’ve been waking up in pain, please just get the pillow. It costs less than one bad night of takeout when you’re too tired to cook and it has paid for itself ten times over.