PharMeDoc Pregnancy Pillow Review

• Review
• Specs
• Comments

Getting the proper amount of sleep required for a healthy mind and body is especially important when you are taking care of two. But this sleep may become more and more fleeting the further your pregnancy progresses. A growing baby creates many changes to your body, and one of the most common struggles you may have is getting an uninterrupted sleep due to discomfort.

Support for your sore back and hips, as well as proper spinal alignment, can be achieved, but often you need to prop your body up with multiple pillows to get comfortable. Many pregnancy pillows are created in shapes to help replace the many pillows you may be taking advantage of each night. The Sleep Judge Team has purchased a variety of top rated pillows to better determine which may provide you with the best support.
The PharMeDoc Pregnancy Pillow is a favored pillow amongst reviews, so we decided to have a go with it ourselves. Our Team results are found below, as are our detailed opinions surrounding its comfort and the features it offers.

PharMeDoc Pregnancy Pillow Specs

 

Filling: Poly Fiber

Density: Medium

Shape: C- Shaped

Warranty: Lifetime

Breakdown of the PharMeDoc Pregnancy Pillow

The PharMeDoc Brand specializes in orthopedic bed pillow support, and also overall wellness and fitness aides. Their mission is to educate and provide information surrounding proper spinal positioning and your health. It offers product choices that can help you achieve better goals for body alignment.
Created with overall comfort in mind, the PharMeDoc Pregnancy pillow c-shape is supportive for all stages of pregnancy. Furthermore, it was created with back, hip, and neck pain in mind, and also serves as an excellent support for anyone else looking for better cervical alignment through the night. Like most full body pillow designs, it also is suggested for injury and surgery recovery.
Fibromyalgia and sciatica sufferers may also find this pillow a good choice as it easily replaces multiple pillows often used to reduce joint pain and ease pressure points.

• Cool jersey knit cover
• Alleviates back and hip pain
• Good loft for head and neck support
• May be a bit short for taller people
• Zipper issues may occur
• Seam quality and strength issues may occur

Unpacking

The pillow comes tightly rolled and vacuum sealed almost flat. It was hard to imagine a full body pillow fit inside, but once the seal was broken it immediately began to expand. There was no off-gassing, which was nice, and it fluffed up easily, although the creases in the cotton jersey cover did take a while to fully unwrinkle. Although I could have removed and washed it, I was curious to see how long it would take to fully smooth out. After about 6 hours of laying flat, it had fully decompressed and was lofty and comfortable looking.

Features & Benefits

There are many different supportive pregnancy pillows currently available in the sleep industry market, so it’s important you review the features and the benefits they can lend you, before making a final decision. Your sleep preferences are unique to you even when you aren’t pregnant, and it’s important to take into account your specific needs and wants in a supportive pillow.
Since everybody’s shape and size differ from one another, especially during the stages of pregnancy, taking the time to look over and review the details of an impending pillow purchase shouldn’t be taken lightly.

C-Shape

The unique c-shape of the PharMeDoc Pregnancy Pillow can be used in multiple ways but is specifically created for left side sleeping support. The reasoning behind this is that side sleeping is the most healthy, and comfortable position for you and the baby during all stages of pregnancy. The left side, in particular, helps increase the amount of blood and nutrients to reach the placenta.
The straight side of the pillow is designed to provide you with back support, while the longer, slightly wider pillow easily tucks up between your legs to help align the hips and ease pressure points. Overall it measures 62 inches long, with easily adjustable legs, and 30 inches wide when allowed to curl up naturally when laying flat. The shorter, more narrow end is designed to provide support to your head and neck. The gap between the two legs provides enough room for your belly to rest easily upon the legs as well depending on how you adjust it.

Support Shapes

Like many other full body pregnancy shaped pillows, this c-shape design is easy to manipulate into other forms for differing supports depending on your needs. Stomach sleepers can take advantage of the long side to use as a body pillow that supports their shoulders, head, neck, and stomach.

The pillow can also be folded to lounge back within, which is especially helpful for the later stages of pregnancy which often may cause heartburn. By rolling it upon itself you also have a great cushion to sit upon (helpful for hemorrhoid sufferers), or to lean against for added comfort while sitting.

Polyester Fiber Filling

The pillow is filled with a naturally hypoallergenic polyester fiber filling for a medium, to medium plush feel. This is a slightly softer pillow than many other pregnancy pillows with a filling that nicely distributes and keeps your weight well supported. Polyfill is one of the most popular pillow fillings due to how strong it is to allow for support as well as breathability. It also doesn’t seem to clump up or shift to one side of the pillow or the other, and it keeps a nice, even surface.

Although slightly thinner looking due to the wider, flatter looking shape, it didn’t bottom out in any way when being laid upon. The fill nicely help up and cushioned weight, which made this a great choice as a body pillow for stomach sleepers. When I tried it out myself I found it a perfect height for my head and neck, and it kept my lower back from being strained.

100% Zippered, Cotton Jersey Cover

Unlike a smooth, cotton or cotton blend material, PharMeDoc uses a soft, 100% cotton jersey knit for increased breathability as well as a soft feel against your skin. Jersey knit is a t-shirt like material that is created specifically for stretch and comfort, helps wick away body moisture, and helps heat retention from occurring.

A double stitched zipper runs along the length of the long side of the pillow for easy removal. Completely machine washable and dryable, the cover should be laundered regularly. Although there have been some complaints about the durability of the zipper, no issues were seen with sticking or breaking while our team used it.

Loft

The 5-inch loft is not too high and is well supported by the fill to cradle your head without making it flatten out. This is a good height for a variety of sleep positions, and also can work well layered with another standard pillow if additional height is needed.
When I checked out this pillow as a body pillow for neck and back support, as a stomach sleeper, I was very happy to be able to sleep through the night without waking with a crick in my neck or any other stress. I often do find myself with a strained neck because of how I sleep, so I was happy to find this wasn’t the case with this particular product.

Care

Although the pillow cover is washable, the pillow itself is not. The inner cotton casing that holds the polyfill, as well as the polyfill itself, can become damaged if it goes through a washing machine. The fill itself may also clump up if it goes through a wash. You may, however, spot clean the pillow if needed, or even wash gently small areas at a time. Just be sure to lay flat afterward to dry thoroughly.
We washed the cover multiple times with no issues in durability or material comfort becoming a problem. There have been some complaints about the zipper seams or the zipper itself, ripping or no longer working, especially after washing- but we noticed nothing that compromised the pillow in any way.

Consumer Reviews

Stomach, side, and back sleepers alike enjoy this pillow and the overall body support it provides to women in all stages of pregnancy. It is also a great choice for anyone who has been advised to add support to their sleep position when recovering from injury or surgery. The soft cover is comforting, and the neutral cover makes it a good choice for the guys as well when support is needed.
The issues that have arisen surrounding the pillow have less to do with comfort choices and focus more on overall quality. There have been some complaints about durability, and issues with the zipper seams – mainly after washing and drying.

Lifetime Manufacturer Warranty

PharMeDoc offers a lifetime manufacturer’s warranty on their pregnancy pillows which protects against defects and other quality or material issues that may arise. Plus, their customer service is considered top notch with a representative always available to answer questions or help you with any problems that may arise.

Trial Experiences

For our various trials, we used a detailed survey to gauge the needs of our sleepers, as well as comfort level. The stages of each pregnancy, as well as specific problems and wants, were addressed within each survey.

Trial 1: Third Trimester

Our first trial sleeper has been struggling to find comfortable night time positions since her second trimester. At eight months, and 5’10, she was having difficulty supporting her body frame comfortably as she felt the weight of her belly was causing long ligament pains. She also had issues with her hips due to struggling to keep her hips aligned through the night.
She felt the pillow was a bit long for her overall height and weight to use as suggested, and flipped it around to sleep with the long side to her front for better belly support. The ‘legs’ of the c were better used this way as well as she could use the bottom one easily between her knees to help her keep her hips better aligned. She did find this to be comforting but wished the pillow had a higher loft overall for her body type.
After sleeping with multiple full body pillows, she did feel this pillow was much cooler to sleep with as she is a self-proclaimed hot sleeper. Since she often notices heat sinks, she already was expecting this pillow to also sleep warm due to how it wrapped around parts of her body. She was happy to report this wasn’t the case with this pillow.

Trial 2: Second Trimester

At 16 weeks pregnant, our second trial sleeper was only just becoming uncomfortable at night and hadn’t been losing too much sleep as of yet. As a stomach sleeper, she had been using pillows to sort of drape herself over but was finding that arranging what was comfortable each night was starting to become a pain. Plus the pillows shifted too easily. Her goals were to find a pillow that supported her whole body that she could relax into to help her transition from what was normally comfortable to a more supportive position that could help her sleep with an expanding belly.
She was excited for this pillow for the same reasons I like it (as explained below). The slightly lower loft was ideal for her stomach sleeping tendencies and kept her neck in alignment through the night. Her preferred use was to sleep with the long side along her back with the legs curled up to the front where she could lean forward, and still have her belly supported.

She also liked how flexible and easy to shape the pillow was, and that it didn’t seem stiff in any way. The jersey knit cover was also a huge perk to her as smooth casings have never been her first choice for pillows. The pillow placed between her legs was also the perfect height and helped keep pressure points from forming without causing discomfort to her hips.
Using it to lounge within was also a perk, although she felt it need a bit more loft for this to be entirely effective if using it to sit more upright. However, she looked forward to using it to lean back into while used in a folded position later in her pregnancy, as she anticipated heartburn issues like she had had with her first child.

Personal Opinion

I have a lot of lower back and hip issues, and although not pregnant, was curious to see how well this pillow held up to body support claims for injury or other issues with body pain relief. I am a stomach sleeper, and shorter, and the look of this pillow appealed to me due to the lower loft and softness of the cover. My goal was to see if the stiffness I can feel in my hip might be alleviated with this pillow, and I’m happy to say that I did have relief through the use of the pillow being placed between my legs.
I do try to influence my sleep preference to a more side supported position as it is healthier and better for cervical alignment. Stomach sleepers never have their neck completely aligned, and even the slightest pillow loft can cause lower back pressure. Body type pillows can help create better alignment by supporting shoulders, hips, back, and legs in a more natural position. In my opinion, this pillow was built with this idea in mind, and then the shape was applied to better support a pregnant body.
This pillow felt to me like a more traditional body pillow, and therefore perhaps more versatile to a larger group of people. The pillow folds easily for upper or lower body elevation, lounging, or to use in a sitting position. I really liked using the long side to the front as it was incredibly comfortable to lay upon with my head, neck, and shoulder upon the pillow, with my hip and legs resting upon one of the pillow’s legs curled to the back. The seams weren’t sewn too tightly either to keep from creating less flexibility in the overall shaping of the pillow.

You might want to read: Best Pregnancy Pillows

Conclusion

Although maybe not quite as shapeable as other pregnancy pillows, this particular choice is a very good one due to how easy it is to use and move around. The slightly lower loft may not be as supportive to later term pregnancies depending on personal preferences, but it does serve as an excellent full body pillow choice for anyone, pregnant or not, looking for good support to help alleviate alignment issues.
Each of our trials found ways to help alleviate and aide in their own personal needs and were impressed with the soft jersey knit cover. Most impressive was the comfort of hip placement it provided, as it wasn’t too high of a loft and provided excellent joint pressure relief and alignment.

If the loft is too low for some people it does work well with a separate standard pillow underneath the head and neck area. Plus the long zipper makes cover removal and washing easy, as well as cover replacement.

When on the search for a good pregnancy pillow, or even a full body pillow, the PharMeDoc Pregnancy Pillow is certainly one worth considering- especially if you are looking to help alleviate lower back and hip pain, pregnant or not. The subtle support of this pillow can be used in a variety of ways and is particularly helpful for full body positioning through the night. Getting a good rest is particularly important for pregnant mothers, both for mental and physical health, as well as for their child. This pillow may be just what you are looking for to help with this.