Breastfeeding pillow

The most favourite thing I have made for our baby so far would have to be this breastfeeding pillow:

For months prior to our son being born I hunted for the ultimate breastfeeding pillow, but was unable to find one that was exactly what I wanted.

Some I didn't like the shape of, some I didn't like the feel of and, of course, some I didn't like the price of (although I would have paid the money if I had found one I liked!).

I figured if I made one, then I could tailor it to suit my exact needs. See, the problem I had with most of the breastfeeding pillows available in the stores is that they were flat, so they didn't tilt the baby in towards you and that made me feel just a little uneasy. The other problem I had was that some seemed to wrap around the body too much for my liking.

Based on the above requirements, I made a 'trial' pillow using a calico remnant that cost me .98 cents. The pillow contoured nicely to sit against my body, but not wrap around it, and the back of the pillow measured 15cms high while the front was 12cms high.

It was a bit hard to test the pillow without a baby, but I was pretty confident that the design was good so I made a pillowcase to tie in with the rest of the nursery.

While I suspected that the pillow would work well, I didn't expect it to be used for anything other than breastfeeding in the nursery. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I have used it for many other purposes than just feeding. These purposes include:

• Wedging it under my elbow while sitting on the couch watching TV. The pillow stops my arm from going numb from the weight of the baby while giving him cuddles;
• Laying the baby on the pillow to have his clothes changed. I sit the pillow on my knee and because it is not flat, there is no fear that the baby will fall off; and
• Feeding at my computer desk. I sit the pillow on my knee and slide myself right into my computer desk. The baby fits on there perfectly and on days when he is feeding well, I can actually have the use of both hands without the fear that he'll fall off.
  

I have a friend who is having a baby, so I was thinking maybe I would make her a pillow too and see whether she finds it as useful. All up (including the pillowcase) I estimate I would have spent under $10 to make it and most of that cost would have been for the hobbyfill I used to stuff it with.

As most other breastfeeding pillows we looked at were between $50 and $80, making it definitely saved us a fair amount of money!