Snuggle Up L-shaped Pregnancy Pillow review

And sure, without a pregnancy pillow, you can make do with a thick pillow between your legs and a slim cushion under your bump – but it does make sleeping feel like an Iyengar yoga session. Find the right pregnancy pillow for your body shape, and bedtime becomes something you actually look forward to, particularly in the latter months.

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What's so special about this one?

In a word (and please forgive me for this): snugglability. Peer pillows usually come in a utilitarian white cotton/polyester – which is absolutely fine, and feels clean and cool during hot weather. The Snuggle Up ranges come in seven different shades of soft, velvety 'fur' that the brand calls BabySoft fabric.

Sound like jargon to you? Me too – but when I laid the pillow out in the bed (much to my husband's irritation: "great – we've got the Berlin Wall between us again"), my doubts quickly dissolved as I found myself cuddling the biggest, softest teddy bear in existence.

I love my husband, but when you've been awake for two hours trying not to thump the mattress in frustration at still being awake, the last thing you need is another heat source trying to be supportive by putting his arms anywhere near you. This giant L-shaped teddy bear, it turns out, offers just the right amount of extra warmth: none.

How supportive is it?

To give you an indication, I like a fairly hard pillow and can't stand the feather-filled ones you get in hotels, which swallow up your head as soon as you lay down. I found the Snuggle Up Original perfectly supported my head and neck, while still feeling soft and luxurious. My legs, knees and hips all felt well supported, too.

My only niggle is that I struggled a bit with the bump section: due to my shape (I carry very proudly out the front and hardly at all at the sides), I really need something that goes right underneath it and feels as though my bump is sitting on top of it.

The Snuggle Up didn't quite do this: I felt as though my bump was nestling against it, rather than sitting on top of it, so in the end I had to add extra support to my middle using a wedge cushion as I was still getting aches and pains after three nights' use. However – this is individual to my own shape, so I wouldn't count this as a criticism against the product.

Most L-shaped pillows seem to follow this same design, so perhaps another shape would be better for me. It's all about finding the right pillow for you.

What's it made of?

Nursery-grade foam balls that PregnancyPillows is calling 'sensifil' – an anti-allergenic, anti-asthmatic filling approved by the certification body Allergy Standards. But the main thing for me was that it meant it was supportive but soft, and didn't conduct my fluctuating body heat, so it always felt soothing against my skin however irritated I became.

The Original L-shaped pregnancy pillow is marketed as having a lavender-scented inner fabric, to aid sleep. But despite currently having the nasal abilities of a sniffer dog as a 'bonus' of being pregnant, I couldn't smell it at all.

This is just as well, really, because the fragrance itself is synthetic, so any kind of relaxing association you'd have with it would be purely psychosomatic. You're just as well buying a bottle of pure lavender essential oil and putting one drop on a cotton wool ball near your head, or on the actual pillow itself. (Essential oils are volatile, which means they'll eventually evaporate rather than stain your pillow). Then you'll get the health benefits, too.

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The outer 'BabySoft' fabric seems pretty robust and is easily washable, which is always a bonus with a small boy clambering over it when he gets the chance. After six weeks of use, it's still holding its shape as new, so I'm optimistic about its durability, too.

Any cons?

The website is annoying: it bombards you with discount codes, 'join us' incentives and Facebook-style pop-ups that say things like, 'Danielle just gave the V-shaped pillow a five-star review!'. But hopefully you'll only have to look at it once, when you buy it.

Can the pillow be useful postnatally?

Oh yes. Having had a baby already, I can tell that this will be a great breastfeeding pillow – the cover comes off and goes in the washing machine, the pillow is firm enough to lie a baby on, or to rest your arms on, and sits comfortably around the waist (my husband's tried it, as my bump is still in the way).

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The L-shape one is long, which means there will be excess cushion – perhaps better for lounging on the sofa or bed rather than a chair with high arms. It might also come in handy about once a month, a time that has its similarities to certain aspects of pregnancy when it comes to sleep.

And, seeing as my toddler also loves squeezing the pillow to within an inch of its life, I imagine he'll be quite happy to have it on his floor or bed as a soft-play prop. Who says teddy bears have to have eyes and a nose?

MadeForMums verdict:

This is an old review of the PregnancyPillows Snuggle-up pillow, this pillow is no longer available to buy.

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