Extended data:
The newborn baby's spine is straight. When lying flat, the back and the back of the head are on the same plane, and the muscles of the neck and back naturally relax. When lying on your side, your head and body are also in the same plane. If the pillow is raised, it is easy to bend his neck, and some will cause breathing difficulties and affect normal growth and development. Therefore, newborns don't need pillows. However, in order to prevent spitting, the upper body of the newborn can be raised appropriately when necessary.
When the baby grows up to 3 months, he begins to learn to look up and the cervical part of the spine begins to bend forward. The 6-month-old baby began to learn to sit, the thoracic vertebrae began to bend back, and the shoulders also developed and widened. If the pillow is not used at this time, the head position will be lower, and there will be more blood in the brain than when the pillow is used, which may affect the baby's sleep. So 3-month-old babies should start using pillows.
The height of the baby pillow should be moderate, the length should be slightly larger than the baby's shoulder width, width and head length, and the height should be 3 ~ 4 cm, which can be gradually adjusted according to the baby's continuous development. It is best to choose soft white or light cotton cloth for pillowcases, and the pillow core should be soft, light, breathable, hygroscopic and moderate in hardness, and can be filled with materials such as rush, buckwheat husk and cattail.
Folk use tea, mung bean skin, silkworm excrement, dictyophora, chrysanthemum, papaya and so on to fill the pillow core. Generally, the pillow core soaked in buckwheat husk or tea leaves and dried in tea leaves is better, which is not only soft and hard, but also hygroscopic and breathable, and can be cleaned. However, it is not suitable to use foam plastic or chemical products such as acrylic fiber and silk cotton as fillers.
The baby's metabolism is vigorous and his head sweats a lot. When they sleep, they easily soak the pillow, and sweat and dandruff are mixed together, which makes some pathogenic microorganisms and allergens such as mites and dust easily attach to the pillow surface, which not only emits odor, but also easily induces bronchial asthma or causes skin infectious diseases. Therefore, the baby's pillowcase and pillow core should be washed and dried frequently.
The baby's pillow should also be soft and hard. Too much force can easily lead to flat head, face deviation and other deformities, and even a circle of hair on the pillow will be worn off, leading to baldness of the pillow. Parents often mistakenly think that their babies have rickets: pillows that are too soft and too big will suffocate young babies, especially newborns. So for the baby's health, use the pillow with caution.
References:
China HowNet: The baby pillow is very learned.