What age for a pillow?

[koalabear]

Our son is 18 months old - everynight we put him to sleep with his feet at the bottom of the cotbed, and every night he wiggles his way up to the top of the bed and ends up sleeping with his head on some of his furry friends (he has a very soft cow and dog and kangaroo in bed with him).

MIL suggested perhaps trying a baby pillow. Is this safe? What age should they start with a pillow?

I should add that he is a very noisy sleeper (sounds like a steam train - although it is not snoring - doctor says he's fine and has not problems with tonsils or adenoids)

DD's had one since she went into a bed, at about 18 months.

We got one from toys r us - its like a big foam slab with holes in it.

I think they can have one from age 1 - but that seems really young to me. Ds and dd didn't have pillows till they were 2½ and in proper beds.

wow - you DD in a bed at 18 months - i'd be terrified of putting DS in bed now - he wouldn't stay in it i am sure!!!

Ds3 has had one for a few months now - he's 18 months. It's a very flat one though.

Gobble - why did you decided to give him a pillow? How could you tell he was ready/wanted/needed one?

DD has just had own of her own at 15 months after going into her own cot bed although she's been sharing mine since she was tiny!

I think the general consensus is after a year they can have pillows/duvets.

It wasn't by choice believe me!!! We were given a toddler size bed, and decided to put it together to check all the bits were there... didn't take it down before bedtime, and she refused to sleep in her cot

She's been fine in it ever since though - fallen out twice, and generally settles to sleep better than she did in the cot.

We have a stairgate on her bedroom door though, so she can't wander about in the night

dd had a pillow from 1 year. It was round about the time she had a stinking cold and having her head elevated help to clear the snot a bit. It also gave me somewhere to put the hankie with karvol on it so it was close to her nose too.

KB - My Goodness my dd has had a pillow since she was 8 months old! She just wouldn't sleep without it as she had co-slept with me from birth.

Ds was also put into a big bed at 18mths.

Also, putting them to sleep with their feet at the bottom is only a precaution you take when they are too little to pull the covers off their face (recommended until 6mths I think!). After that they can wriggle about all over the bed anyway so its of no real benefit.

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kb - I think we started off using it one night when he snuffly to raise his head a bit. If he was younger we'd have raised the cot end rather than his head but he was about 11 months i think. Also, I think it's just more comfy! He was fine sleeping without one but I just thought it would be more cosy! Daft reason really!

Tbh, half the time he's not lay on it anyway as he ends up in all sorts of daft positions in the cot despite being in his grobag! He has a cot duvet as well though and he often snuggles up on that! Bless!