A guide from Hushly . commercial content

5 reasons your child still wakes up tired

Reviewed by Hannah Whitcombe, paediatric physiotherapist . 6 min read

Hushly Kids pillow next to the child's old stained pillow on the bed
Most of it has nothing to do with how early they went to bed.

Lights out at half seven. Eleven hours in the bed. And they still come down in the morning heavy-eyed, short-tempered and rubbing their neck.

Before you blame the bedtime routine or a growth spurt, here are the five things we actually see behind a broken night, in the order we see them. Four of them have nothing to do with their pillow. One does, and it is the last one.

Skip to the fix

#1

They are sleeping on a pillow that has gone flat

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Most children's pillows are a soft square that loses a third of its height within a couple of months. Once the height goes, the neck goes with it, and nobody notices because the pillow still looks the same from the doorway.

The test takes four seconds. Fold it in half. If it stays folded instead of pushing your hand back, it stopped holding their head a while ago.

Nothing to buy here. Just go and fold the one on their bed.

#2

The last hour before bed was too bright and too loud

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A screen, a bright bathroom light, a game that got exciting at ten to seven. A child's body needs the light to drop before it will let go, and an hour of stimulation at the wrong moment pushes the whole night back.

Dimming the house for the last thirty minutes does more for this than any pillow ever will.

Not a pillow problem. An evening problem.

#3

They are breathing through their mouth all night

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Plenty of children sleep with their mouth open and nobody worries about it. It is noisier, it is lighter sleep, and it wears them out by the morning. A blocked nose does it. So does a head tipped back by a pillow that sits too high.

Look in on them once they are properly asleep. If the mouth is open and the chin is pointing at the ceiling, that is the position doing it.

Worth a word with your GP if it happens every night.

#4

They grew, and the pillow did not

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A child's shoulders widen every year, and the gap between the ear and the mattress widens with them. The pillow that was right at four is too low at eight, and the head starts dropping towards the bed.

Nobody rethinks a pillow while a child is still using it. That is the whole problem: it gets bought once and then it stays.

Half a pillow problem. It becomes one when the height stops matching the age.

#5

The height is wrong for their age

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This is the one you can settle tonight. Too low and the head drops, the neck bends towards the mattress and holds itself there for eleven hours. Too high and it bends the other way, the chin comes down and the mouth falls open. Either way you are asking a small neck to work a full night shift.

The right height is not a preference, it is a measurement: the distance between your child's ear and the mattress when they lie on their side. It changes as they grow, which is why one pillow for every age was never going to work.

This one is a pillow problem, and it has a size attached to it.

Better mornings start with the right height

Four of the five causes above are habits. They take weeks to change. The fifth is the thing under their head, and that one you can change tonight.

Here is what we built, and what is behind it.

Three heights, and one thing we do not do.

  • 3 heights

    One for 1 to 3 years, one for 3 to 8, one for 8 to 14. The height is the whole point, so we made three of them instead of one.

  • A hand pressing the Hushly Kids pillow, showing the knit cover and the navy piping.

    Lab tested

    Tested by an independent laboratory against the European child safety standards: materials, fire resistance and chemical safety. CE marked.

  • Two sizes of the pillow side by side on a bed

    No one size fits all

    We will not sell a three-year-old the same pillow as a twelve-year-old. The neck is not the same, so the pillow is not either.

Choose their height. Sleep on it for 30 nights.

Hushly Kids pillow on a cloud background, with icons for small neck support, softness, breathability and support
Hushly Kids pillow on a cloud background, with icons for small neck support, softness, breathability and supportOlivia, 7, in profile: day 1 and day 60 on Hushly KidsA child asleep on the Hushly Kids pillow, with callouts for targeted neck support, softness and breathabilityDr Camille Roussel, dental surgeon, holding the Hushly Kids pillow next to her quote about children's airwaysJaw and neck line in profile, day 1 and day 60Not all pillows are made for children: a standard pillow next to the Hushly Kids pillow, made for a small neckThe same Hushly Kids pillow in three sizes, 1-3, 3-8 and 8-14 years, each showing the Hushly Kids brand markDiagram of the pillow: head rest, side rests, neck support and a spine protected when lying on the backHushly Kids review wall: mums, dads and grandparents with the pillow, 4.8/5 from 3,000+ familiesThe pillow used on the back and on the front, with airflow arrows showing it works in every positionParent photos around the Hushly Kids pillow, rated 4.8/5 and chosen by 3,365 familiesA boy holding the pillow in his bedroom, with badges: durable, resilient, odour free, gentle on skin, hypoallergenicHushly Kids pillow, removable cover washable at 30 degrees

Reviewer photo: a woman with fair hair in a living room with houseplantsReviewer photo: a blonde woman with her hair tied back, in front of window blindsReviewer photo: a woman with her hair in a ponytail, indoors at workReviewer photo: a woman with fair hair in a grey jumper, in a living roomReviewer photo: a blonde woman in a white t-shirt sitting in a vehicle4.8/5.0 . 3,365 families

The Hushly Kids Pillow

Three heights, from 1 to 14 years. One shape that fills the gap between your child's ear and the mattress, and holds it there all night.

  1. The day it landsHolds its height, no flattening by month two
  2. The day it landsThree heights, one for 1 to 3, 3 to 8 and 8 to 14 years
  3. The day it landsCover unzips and goes in the machine at 30
  4. The day it landsLab tested, not signed off by a marketing team

How many?

How old is your child?

#1

💡 A lot of parents end up with a second one: the same support at the grandparents', on holiday, wherever they sleep.

Free tracked delivery · checked one by one

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What parents say after the first month

  • Reviewer photo: a smiling woman with long fair hair, one hand in her hair

    Emma C.

    Ordered the 8 to 14 height for my ten-year-old, could probably have gone up already, he's tall for his age. Still works fine for now.

  • Reviewer photo: a woman wearing glasses, standing in her kitchen

    Rachel M.

    Nine-year-old, the 8 to 14 height. Feels solid, doesn't seem to flatten the way his last one did after a few months.

  • Reviewer photo: a woman with fair hair in a grey jumper, in a living room

    Sarah W.

    Two of these now, for the two youngest. Wish I'd known about the exchange policy before I guessed wrong on the first one.

  • Sophie V.

    Three-year-old, the 1 to 3 height. Cover's in the wash weekly at this age. It comes off in one pull, so it actually gets done.

One night is enough to tell. You have thirty.

  • 30 nights to try it, in their own bed, not in a shop
  • Free delivery and free size exchanges
  • Two year guarantee on loss of height
Get the pillowSee the full spec
30 NIGHTS TO TRY