What Can You Do With a Pregnancy Pillow After Pregnancy
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Congratulations! You’ve survived the long, hard nine months of pregnancy! It almost feels like the sleepless pregnancy nights were preparing you for the newborn days. Sometimes the only rest you got was squeezing and molding an adult-human-sized pillow. What do you do now? Do you just throw away your best friend?
You have options on what to do with your pregnancy pillow after pregnancy. You can donate it to a local shelter or community network. You can also repurpose it for your baby to use. Or, you can try and recoup a bit of your investment by reselling your pregnancy pillow after fully sanitizing it.
When you have a new baby, the last thing you have time to worry about is decluttering your house from all the pregnancy must-haves. We’ve taken the time to compile a list of easy, quick ways to repurpose or part ways with your pillow.
Can You Donate Pregnancy Pillows?
Many animal shelters, some thrift stores, and charities will accept donations of gently used pregnancy pillows. Donating is a great way to pass on the comfort and relief you received from using your pregnancy pillow.
How Do You Prep a Pillow for Donation?
Thoroughly sanitizing the pillow before donating is the safest and most thoughtful way to prepare your donation. If your pillow is down, polyester or feather, you can wash it on a delicate load with a small amount of detergent. The detergent can build up inside if you use too much of it.
A memory foam pillow requires washing by hand to avoid any break-up of the materials. A quick vacuum and spot clean is the most effective and safe way to clean these pillows. Avoid putting these pillows in any washer. The agitation caused by the quick movement can cause irreparable damage to the memory foam.
The pillow must be completely dried after washing. If it remains damp for long, mildew can build up, and you won’t be able to remove it. Setting your dryer to auto-dry can only dry the outside of the pillow, while the inside will trap moisture.
Throwing a couple of tennis balls into the dryer with your pillow will prevent the stuffing from clumping and will maintain the pillow’s shape. You could also use clean shoes or other dryer-friendly items.
How Do I Know if My Location Is Accepting Pillows?
The easiest way to find out whether your donation location is accepting pregnancy pillows is to give them a call or shoot them an email. They’ll give you all the details on their donation guidelines. This way, you have to make a trip just to see your precious pillow end up at the landfill.
If you’re a member of any local mom groups (virtual or otherwise), you can always pose the question on their forum. There’s no group more knowledgeable on the goings-on of the town than the moms’ groups. Although, I do recommend checking in with the suggested donation site to ensure that no practices have changed.
If your pregnancy pillow has seen better days, read on to learn about how to recycle your pillow!
Can You Resell Used Pregnancy Pillows?
Yes, you can resell used pregnancy pillows. A quick trip to Facebook Marketplace or Poshmark will show you a wealth of available gently used pregnancy pillows for sale. They can also be found at local garage or yard sales.
One place you won’t find pregnancy pillows is consignment shops. Due to the difficulty cleaning items like pregnancy pillows, these retailers choose not to carry them at their locations.
If you decide to resell your pillow, follow proper sanitation guidelines. This will ensure the best possible experience for all parties involved.
What Can You Do With a Pregnancy Pillow After Pregnancy?
To donate or sell your pregnancy pillows, you have to speak with other humans outside of your house. Or, potentially leave your home entirely. (Scary!) AND I GET IT. Having to get a tiny little human ready to go out into the dirty world is terrifying.
The good news is that your pregnancy pillow does have value without leaving your house!
There are many ways to repurpose your pregnancy pillow:
- A nursing pillow
- A pillow to prop your baby up
- A bumper for when the baby starts to sit up or stand up
- Knee protectors for bathtime, playtime, or gardening time
- Pet bed
- Keep the draft (or noise) out
- Give your back some support
- Give it to your spouse
Nursing Pillow
Many new moms put a nursing pillow as a must-have item on their baby registry, but if you’ve got a pregnancy pillow… you’ve already got one!
My favorite thing to do was to keep a nursing pillow in the main rooms my baby occupied. My old pregnancy pillow never left my room, so it was always available for those middle-of-the-night feedings. I left my other nursing pillow in the living room, so I didn’t have to carry a pillow and a baby around the house.
A Pillow To Prop Your Baby Up
Tummy time is essential to helping babies build strong muscles and reduce the likelihood your child may need a helmet to fix a flat spot on their head. Unfortunately, babies don’t seem to care about these benefits and will fight tummy time. Babies may be more amenable to being on their tummy if they’re propped up with a bit of help from a soft item – just like a pregnancy pillow!
Safety Bumper
Growing babies aren’t great at a lot of things… but they are great at finding danger. While you can’t baby-proof your whole life, you can provide a soft landing for those inevitable early falls. Wrapping a pregnancy pillow around a newly-sitting baby can help cushion the impact when they fall over.
Knee Protectors
Prepare to spend a lot of time leaning over the bathtub. Babies and toddlers LOVE the bath. It’s full of stimulating sensory experiences that make every second spent in the tub fun.
What isn’t so fun? The stress baths put on YOUR knees. Throw your old pregnancy pillow on the floor in front of the tub and enjoy the comfort. You can also use this life-hack for playtime, cleaning, or gardening as well!
Pet Bed
Those pregnancy pillows aren’t just beloved by human mamas (and the dads that steal them). Your four-legged family can benefit as well! While they’re becoming familiar with this new family member, they’ll love nestling in for a nap on something that smells like you.
Keep the Draft or Noise Out
Maintaining a safe environment becomes one of the most important tasks of your day, especially when trying to maintain a sleep schedule.
Throw your old pregnancy pillow in front of the door to reduce any outside noise. This will stop it from reaching a slumbering baby. It also works to keep the wind out. Bonus – by keeping this outside the baby’s door, it may deter older siblings from checking on “their baby” over and over!
Give Your Back Some Support
Studies have shown that the production of breast milk burns about 500 extra calories every day. That’s not even including the calories burned by carrying around a 10-pound (4.5-kilogram) weight all day (aka your baby.) You could use a rest during those marathon cluster-feeding sessions. Wrap your pregnancy pillow up and use it as extra support.
Give It to Your Spouse
Having a new baby around means being touched CONSTANTLY. If you’re looking for a little touch-free time, gift your old pregnancy pillow to your spouse! That might give them something to cuddle up with that is not you! This is if they haven’t stolen it already!
Keep Using the Pregnancy Pillow
Just because you’re no longer pregnant doesn’t mean you have to give up something good! If you’ve grown accustomed to sleeping with this pillow, it helps improve the little sleep you get with a newborn. Keep using it!
How To Recycle an Old Pregnancy Pillow
If your pregnancy pillow has seen better days and it’s time to retire it officially, you can recycle the feather or down contents into your compost pile.
If your pillow isn’t filled with feathers or down, don’t worry! You can always reuse the filling to plump up other pillows, dog beds, or cushions to extend their lifetime!