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- Affordable price
- Stops you from rolling onto your back
- Easy to clean
- Cumbersome build not suitable for bigger bumps
- Needs plumping often
- Rivals offer more flexibility
The market for pregnancy pillows is a bit of a wild west. While many reviewers and forums swear by investing in something premium, there are affordable options out there for those who can’t justify dropping over £100 on a pillow.
If that’s you, then you may wish to go for a trusted bedding brand, such as Silentnight. While the brand’s Body Support Pillow is not a pregnancy pillow per se – at least not in the sense that it’s been specifically designed as one – it certainly can function as one.
It’s longer than the average pillow, and one of the larger ones I’ve tested. The straight but bendable shape means it can be used in multiple ways. For my fellow pregnant readers, that’ll probably be either hugging it while on your side, or as a support for your back, with the pillow slotting between your knees in both positions. As you’ll soon discover, I found Silentnight’s pillow much better suited to one over the other.
It doesn’t offer any swish features like other high-end brands, but for users on a budget, the tempting price tag may outweigh the cons.
What do you get for the money?
The Silentnight Body Support Pillow is the cheapest pregnancy pillow I’ve tested, clocking in at just £27 excluding postage and packing. It only comes in a crisp white colour, and the one size, which is 148 x 49.5cm. With that, you get a matching microfibre pillow case, and a bag to either store it in, or carry it around if you’re feeling brave.
You can buy it either directly from Silentnight, or from third-party stores such as Amazon, ASDA and Argos. Silentnight doesn’t appear to offer any replacement cases or other colours, but reviewers on Amazon have reported using other universal covers for around £15.
Unlike the Simba Body Pillow, there aren’t any “cool-touch” features advertised, or any accessories designed to help adjust the firmness or shape. This is essentially a big long pillow with a hollowfibre filling which you can manipulate as you please. Simple. Silentnight describes the firmness as medium/soft, and I would argue that it leans more towards the former.
Both the pillow and pillow case are machine washable, and should be cleaned at a maximum temperature of 40°. The cover can also be popped in the dryer at a lower temperature.
Silentnight does offer a returns policy on bedding, but only within 14 days, and the item must be unused. If it’s unopened, then this extends to within 28 days of delivery (for example, if this is a slightly unwelcome gift from a family or friend). If the item is faulty, then the returns policy is also 28 days, providing you have photo evidence. Unlike some rival bed-in-a-box brands, Silentight is not offering a trial period here. If you’ve used your pillow, then I’m afraid you’re stuck with it – hygiene first, people.
What does it do well?
The NHS recommends that during pregnancy, you should be sleeping on your side from 28 weeks onwards. I’m fast approaching that deadline, so I’ve been using pregnancy pillows to see how well they aid in stopping me from rolling over onto my back – something I didn’t used to do, but have been guilty of as my belly begins to become gradually more ginormous (I dread to think of the size at nine months).
Using the Silentnight Body Support Pillow as a wall against your back, I found it’s pretty successful in stopping you from tossing over. As it’s so long, the lower half of the pillow can also slot in between your legs for a bit of extra support. If you’re also blessed/cursed with being very short (like me), you can even rest your head on it. In this position, the pillow is comfy, squishable and soft for my back, legs and noggin.
There’s a lot of pillow to love here, so if you’ve got a king-sized mattress or bigger, this should sit nicely. I’ve had some reasonably good nights sleep with this… but not always. More on that later.
You can’t go wrong with the basic white colour, which is guaranteed to go with most bed covers on the market. Stripping the pillow of its case is incredibly easy, as is chucking it in your washing machine. There are no annoying zippers to be aware of, with the pillow tucking away like an envelope. Getting it back on requires a little more wrestling, but I’ve never been a friend of pillowcases – never mind while I’m six months pregnant.
What could be improved?
There is such a thing as too big of a pregnancy pillow, and for me, the Silentnight Body Support Pillow is exactly that.
This takes up a lot of room in your bed, and despite that medium comfort level, it’s got a lot of stuffing. Trying to get it under the covers when I’m settling down for the night is a real challenge and, because it’s so cumbersome, I haven’t really managed to discreetly move it to the other side without waking up my husband. It’s also way too big to use comfortably on my sofa, so unless you have one with a sloped back, you may struggle if you wish to double this up as a nursing pillow when postpartum.
While you can fold it into various positions, it isn’t as flexible as something like the bbhugme pillow, which has a softer filling that allows it to bend without losing its shape. Even just folding it in half (which you’ll do to fit it in the storage bag) makes it go a little lumpy, so be prepared to do some plumping to get it back into the shape you desire.
I also found hugging it to my front more uncomfortable as I’ve been beginning to ‘pop’. Because this pillow is tall as well as long, it doesn’t really support my belly with ease, but rather presses into it – and subsequently, my bladder. It could be a coincidence that my midnight toilet trips have increased in frequency with testing this one out but I’ll leave that for you to decide, dear reader.
While I do accept that not every pillow – especially a budget option such as Silentnight’s – can claim to offer specifically designed cooling materials, the case of the Body Support Pillow wasn’t ideal for the hotter and sweatier nights.
Should you buy the Silentnight Body Support Pillow as a pregnancy pillow?
I’m in quite a dilemma with this question, because the Silentnight Body Support Pillow is significantly cheaper than many other leading products in this space. For many, it’s one of the few suitably affordable options.
Does that mean it’s all bad? Of course not. It’s been great for back support, and has genuinely barricaded me into sleeping on my side. Its long length means it fits my whole body (and that sentiment will apply to many taller readers as well), while the simple colourway means it won’t look jarring on most beds. It is also squishy to hold, and I found it pretty comfortable in the earlier stages of pregnancy.
That all said, it’s a chonk of a pillow. If you have a double or single bed, I think you’ll struggle. Be prepared to disturb your partner when attempting to move this pillow if you need to change position in the night (something that may happen more than usual when your bundle of joy decides to practice karate in your womb at 3am). This size also means it’s a struggle to use comfortably against your belly or hips for more support, especially as your body really begins to expand.
In short, if you want a budget pregnancy pillow and value giving your back and legs some extra padding, then it’s still worth considering the Silentnight Body Support Pillow, which can also be used for injuries and other aches and pains beyond pregnancy… but there is just no denying that more expensive options offer better versatility.
