Is the rice pillow good for babies?

Pillows are not only the most important sleeping tool in life, but also a tool for people to regulate their bodies and maintain their bones. Most people need to use pillows to maintain the balance of their bones during sleep, and babies need a good environment for sleep. However, the need for pillows for babies during sleep is something that parents need to pay attention to. For example, is a rice pillow good for babies to sleep on? Let’s take a look at the explanation below.

Sleeping with a rice pillow can make the back of the head flatter and look good, but this is unscientific. Children's skulls are softer, and the fontanelles and skull sutures have not yet completely closed. Long-term use of a rice pillow that is too hard can easily cause skull deformation, resulting in the head becoming tilted, flattened, or pointed, affecting the beautiful appearance of the head.

When a baby is born, the average head circumference is about 34 cm. The baby's brain will grow by about 8 cm in the first half of the year and by 3 cm in the second half of the year. For children who cannot roll over yet, if their heads are resting on a pillow filled with millet or mung beans, it will inevitably affect the development of their brains.

It is not recommended to use a harder pillow for newborns. The skull of a newborn is easily deformed, mainly because the calcification of the skull is incomplete and the sutures have not yet closed. When a hard pillow is squeezed, the sutures will overlap or separate. In addition, the baby's poor mobility can make the head shape easily become skewed. There is no need for the baby to sleep with a pillow before he is three months old. At this stage, the baby's neck is shorter, the width of the head is greater than the shoulders, and the occipital part of the head is in a straight line and parallel to the spine. Using a higher pillow will affect the baby's breathing.

The spine of a newborn baby is basically straight, or slightly protrudes backwards, so when sleeping lying flat, the back and the back of the head are on the same plane, and the back muscles are relaxed and comfortable. The baby's head is big, almost as wide as the shoulders. When lying on his side, the head and body are in the same plane, which is more natural. Therefore, there is no need to use a pillow at this time. If you are worried that your baby will spit up milk, you can raise the upper body appropriately. Rice pillows can cause the baby's head skin to become red, which is not good for the baby. It is recommended that because the baby is young, try not to use a pillow that is too hard or too high. Generally, the height can be 3 to 5 cm. If it is too high, it will easily affect the patency of the respiratory tract.