I Looked for (and Found!) the Perfect Toddler Pillow

I’m a stickler for safe sleep. My babies sleep on their own in a bare crib until they turn one. Even then, I keep them in sleep sacks and delay introducing blankets until they transition into a toddler bed. As the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends, I also wait until my kids turn 2 to introduce a pillow. Even once kids turn 2, a pillow sometimes seems pointless because most toddlers are such active sleepers, and their heads don’t stay on the pillow for long. At that age, I’d often find my daughter sideways, upside down, and even on the floor in the morning. 

So when it was time to buy her a pillow after she turned 2, I wanted something small and thin that I wouldn’t worry about her burying her face in. I also didn’t want to pay for a pillow that she would outgrow in a matter of months. It turns out that the perfect solution was the same pillow my husband and I use: Coop Home Goods pillows. 

Before you get sticker shock (the Coop Toddler Pillow is $35), hear me out. I recognize that that’s a lot of money for a little pillow, but there’s one feature of this pillow that makes it well worth the money: It grows with your child. You won’t have to replace the pillow with a bigger one for years because the size of the pillow is adjustable. Instead of spending $15 or $20 every couple of years for a bigger pillow, you can just spend $35 once, and you probably won’t need to replace the pillow until your child is a tween. 

We first bought a Coop pillow for my daughter when she was 2, and she uses the same one now at 4 1/2 years old. It still has plenty of room to grow with her, too. 

The Coop toddler pillow is filled with a hypoallergenic blend of medium-firm memory foam and microfiber fill, and it comes with an inner and outer cover. We also add another pillowcase on top. This provides an extra layer of protection that prevents toddlers from emptying the pillow’s contents. 

It comes stuffed to the brim with shredded memory foam, so you can easily adjust the size of the pillow. If you’re nervous about giving your toddler a pillow for the first time, you can start with very little stuffing like I did. As my daughter got bigger and was ready for a bigger pillow, I added more stuffing. 

One thing that I love about Coop pillows in general is that they usually come with more stuffing than the average person needs. Between the two queen pillows and one toddler pillow we have, we’ve been able to make a whole extra pillow using a spare pillowcase. Every time my daughter grows a bit more and is ready for a bigger pillow, I just pull some stuffing out of our extra pillow. 

Despite the name “toddler” pillow, the brand says that it’s designed for ages 2 to 8. I likely won’t need to buy another pillow for my daughter until she’s ready for an adult-sized pillow, which will save us money in the long run. 

If you’re worried about spills and messes, the pillow is machine washable, and it actually comes out of the dryer nice and fluffy. Any time my daughter’s pillow seems to be going a bit flat, I just throw it in the dryer. Parents concerned about chemicals will appreciate that Coop has both GREENGUARD Gold and CertiPUR-US® certifications. 

Because you can adjust the stuffing to your liking, you really can’t go wrong with a Coop Home Goods pillow. And if you’re in the market for a new pillow for yourself, you might as well add a queen or a family bundle to your order. I started using a Coop pillow a few years ago, and I’ll never go back.