What is the appropriate height of pillow for a one-year-old baby?

Newborn babies do not need pillows. This is a habit passed down from the older generation. In fact, babies do not need pillows when they are young because the occipital region has not yet fully developed. So how high should the pillow be when they are one year old? Below we will specifically introduce how high the pillow should be for a one-year-old baby.

If the baby's pillow is too high or too low, it will affect breathing and blood circulation in the neck, affecting the quality of sleep and mental state during the day. So how high should the baby's pillow be? This depends on the baby's age and physiological characteristics.

For babies in the confinement period, the spine is basically straight and the head is relatively large, almost as wide as the shoulders. When lying flat, the back of the head and the back are in the same plane, so there is no need to use a pillow. You can also fold an adult's eyelid washing towel into four folds and use it as a pillow. For babies who regurgitate milk, the problem cannot be solved by simply using a higher pillow. Instead, they should lie on their right side with their upper body raised. When the baby can lift his head at 3 months old, a cervical curve will appear in the cervical spine that protrudes in front.

After the baby learns to sit at 6 months old, the thoracic segment of the spine develops a thoracic curve that protrudes backwards; when the baby learns to walk at 1 year old, the lumbar segment of the spine develops a lumbar curve that protrudes forward, so after 3 months, the spine is no longer straight. At the same time, as the body develops, the shoulders gradually widen. At this time, in order to ensure a proper sleeping position, you should start using a pillow. The height of a baby's pillow is about 4 cm, while that of a child's is 6-9 cm. The baby's pillow should also be of appropriate softness and hardness. A pillow that is too hard can easily cause deformities such as a flat head and a lopsided face, and can also wear off a circle of hair on the back of the head, causing baldness on the back of the head. Parents often mistakenly believe that their baby has rickets; a pillow that is too soft and large can put young babies, especially newborns, at risk of suffocation. Pillow cores are generally made of buckwheat husks or tea leaves that have been soaked and dried. They are not only soft and hard, but also have strong moisture absorption and breathability, and are washable. Other similar items such as barnyard grass seeds are also acceptable. From the normal human anatomy, we can see that the human spine is "S" shaped, with the cervical and lumbar vertebrae curved forward and the thoracic vertebrae curved backward, forming a natural physiological curve that plays a vital role in bearing the weight of the human body. When the human body lies flat, the thoracic spine is in contact with the bed surface. As the cervical spine bends forward, the occipital bone and the back form an angle of about 30 degrees, leaving a 3 to 5 cm gap between the cervical spine and the bed surface. Therefore, a pillow should be used to level this area to help relax the neck muscles and reduce the occurrence of neck diseases. 

Does “sleep soundly and without worries” mean that the higher the pillow, the better? Actually not. Because when people lie on their backs with a high pillow, their heads will bend forward excessively, similar to the posture when standing with their heads down. If this continues for a long time, it is easy to develop a "hunchback". We often see in clinical practice that many patients with cervical spondylosis suffer from the disease due to long-term poor sleeping posture. The result of habitually "resting on your laurels" is that the normal physiological curvature of the cervical spine becomes straightened or even kyphotic, presenting an opisthotonoscopy deformity. The balance between the vertebrae disappears, and the ligaments and tendons connecting the vertebrae undergo various degenerative changes under long-term tension, causing bone hyperplasia (bone spurs), chronic soft tissue inflammation in the neck, calcification of the nuchal ligament, etc. 

Therefore, long-term sleeping with a high pillow, whether lying on your back or on your side, will cause corresponding damage to the cervical spine and its joints, press on nerves and blood vessels, and cause related clinical symptoms, such as dizziness, numbness and discomfort in the neck, shoulders, back, hands, etc., and even limb paralysis. 

"Low sleep posture causes illness." Is it better to use a low pillow or no pillow? No, actually doing so is also harmful to your health. If you don't use a pillow when sleeping, you will lean back too much when lying on your back, causing the muscles and skin in the front of the neck to tighten, compressing the trachea, and often needing to breathe through the mouth. After waking up, you will feel dry mouth and extreme fatigue. If you do not use a pillow to rest while lying on your side, the upper neck muscles will be overstretched for a long time, causing fatigue, cramps, pain and limited movement, which can easily cause the so-called "stiff neck" phenomenon. Not using a pillow will increase the amount of blood in the head, causing overfilling of the cerebral veins, which is not conducive to blood returning to the heart. Instead, it can easily cause brain hypoxia and reduced metabolism. After waking up, symptoms such as swollen eyelids, dizziness, headache, and lightheadedness often occur. 

So, what is the appropriate height of the pillow for a one-year-old baby? This should be chosen according to the individual's height and the physiological curvature of the spine. Especially for children, various parts of their bodies are still in the growth stage, so we must take this matter seriously. I hope every child can grow up healthy and happy. I hope this knowledge can help you.