When living in the city, maximizing what space you have and minimizing purchasing frivolous things is the difference between living in a cluttered mess and having an organized abode. Throw a new baby into the mix and their accompanying lists of “must-haves,” your home can easily change into a cluttered nightmare! To avoid this as much as possible, it is ideal to purchase things with multiple uses.
The boppy pillow is a device that takes up minimal space, but allows for maximal use throughout your child’s first year of life.
Uses for a Boppy Pillow:
Shoulder Support for Caregiver During Bottle or Breast- feeding: The boppy pillow, and other nursing pillows, was designed to make newborn feeding an easier process for the caregiver. The device fits around the trunk of the caregiver just above the naval to allow for support of the baby, without causing stress to the shoulder joint.
Introduction to Tummy Time: It has been well documented that by 3 months of age, infants should be spending about 1 hour of total time on their stomachs each day. For an infant who initially is resistant to tummy time, propping them over a boppy pillow allows them to build up neck strength while gradually increasing tolerance to tummy time.
Independent Sitting Assistance: The boppy pillow can be used several different ways to aid in independent sitting. Once a child has adequate head control to begin sitting exercises, the boppy pillow can be placed around the child’s trunk to give the child some support at the base, while still allowing the core muscles to develop.
Protective Environment when Learning Protective Responses in Sitting: This can be progressed to having the only the ends of the boppy pillow touching the child at the hips, providing increased degrees of freedom at the trunk while creating a protective environment in case of falls. Falls are in important part of the learning process for something called protective responses. A child who has mastered protective responses will outstretch an arm sideways, forwards, or backwards when exhibiting a loss of balance, in order to slow down their body and protect their head.
