Natural pillows for stomach sleepers
On your front your head is already level with the mattress, so nearly any pillow bends your neck backwards. What you want is the least height you can get away with, in something soft enough to compress under your cheek.
Kapok, taken as low as it goes. Stomach sleepers need the least height of anyone, because your head is already close to the mattress and any pillow tips it backwards on top of the ninety-degree turn your neck is already holding. Kapok is light, soft and the easiest of our fills to take right down, and it compresses under your cheek rather than pushing back. Organic cotton is the alternative if you want something denser. Nobody should sell you a tall pillow for this position.
Two of our six fills really do suit this position. We would rather point you at those than pretend the firm ones work on your front.
The lightest and softest fill we make, and the easiest to take right down. It compresses under your cheek instead of pushing your head back.
Best for stomach sleepers, and anyone who wants the least height
Take a great deal of cotton out and you get a low, silent, even pillow that keeps its shape for years without upkeep.
Best for stomach sleepers who dislike fluffing
A slim pillow under your hips and lower belly takes the arch out of your lower back, which is the other half of sleeping on your front.
Best for stomach sleepers whose lower back aches
Face down means more of your face against the pillow, which gets warm, and wool is the only fill here that moves that moisture off your skin. Take plenty of wool out before you sleep on it.
Best for warm stomach sleepers
Why this position is hard on you
Sleeping on your front means your head is rotated as far as it goes so you can breathe, and that is true regardless of which pillow you buy. A pillow can only avoid adding to it.
1
Face down is not an option, so your neck rotates about ninety degrees and holds it.
2
Any height tips your head backwards as well as sideways, and rotation plus extension is the hardest combination for a neck.
3
Your midsection sinks into the mattress while your ribs and hips stay put, which puts a curve into your lumbar spine.
4
It is usually the position and the pillow height together, and only one of those is easy to change.
What a pillow can do here is stop making it worse. Take the height as low as it goes and add extension to nothing. If you want to go further, a slim pillow under your hips flattens the lower back arch, and that is the other half of the fix.
Why kapok
A firm pillow does the wrong thing in this position. It resists your head, which means it holds your neck in extension while it is already rotated, and firmness is exactly the property you do not want.
Kapok is a hollow fiber, 80 to 90 percent air, so it compresses easily and holds almost no height once you have taken material out. It is the softest and lightest thing we make, which in every other position is a trade-off and here is the point.
The other pillow
Face down, your belly and hips sink into the mattress while your ribcage and thighs stay higher, which puts an arch into your lower back and holds it there. This is where a great deal of morning stiffness in stomach sleepers comes from.
A slim pillow under your hips and lower belly lifts that middle section back to level and the arch flattens out. It is an odd-sounding suggestion and it is the single most useful thing we can tell a committed stomach sleeper.
If you want to move away from it
Plenty of stomach sleepers would rather not be, and find that intending to sleep on their side lasts about twenty minutes. The reliable way through is a physical obstacle rather than willpower.
A body pillow hugged in front makes side sleeping comfortable enough to stay in, and makes rolling all the way onto your front awkward. If you want to move, that works far better than trying to remember.
We would rather tell you which of ours to avoid than sell you the wrong one and take it back in sixty nights.
| Fill | On your front | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Wild-Harvested Kapok | The one to take | Softest and lightest, and it goes lowest of anything here |
| Organic Cotton | Works, taken well down | Denser, but it takes down low and stays even |
| Organic Wool | Workable | Take plenty out first. Useful if your face gets warm |
| Tree-Tapped Latex | Not ideal | It springs back, which pushes your head into extension |
| Buckwheat | No | Firm and locking is the opposite of what this position needs |
| Buckwool Hybrid | Wool side only, taken low | The buckwheat side is wrong for sleeping on your front |
| A pillow under your hips | Strongly worth trying | Flattens the lumbar arch, which is where the stiffness comes from |
Kapok, taken as low as it goes. Soft, light, and it compresses under your cheek rather than pushing your head back.
Wild-Harvested Kapok Pillow ›Put something slim under your hips. It flattens the arch that face-down sleeping puts into your lumbar spine.
Body Pillow ›A body pillow to hug makes side sleeping comfortable enough to stay in, and makes rolling onto your front awkward.
Body Pillow ›Organic cotton with most of the cotton removed. Silent, even and no upkeep at all.
Organic Cotton Pillow ›A very low, soft one. Kapok is our pick because it is the lightest and softest fill we make and takes down further than anything else here. Take material out until the pillow is barely there, then check that your neck is not tipped backwards.
A very thin one usually beats none. With no pillow your head turns and drops slightly, and with a thin soft one it turns and stays level. What you must avoid is height, because on your front any real height bends your neck backwards while it is already rotated.
Because your neck is rotated about ninety degrees for hours so you can breathe, and a pillow with any height adds backward extension on top of that rotation. Lowering the pillow removes the part you can control. The rotation is inherent to the position.
It is the hardest position on a neck, for the rotation reason, and it is also the position a lot of people sleep best in. So the useful thing we can do is help you do it with the least strain, rather than tell you to stop. If you want to change, a body pillow works better than intention.
The lowest of any position, and for some people almost nothing. There is no fixed number, because it depends on how far your shoulders and chest lift your upper body off the mattress. Take material out until your head sits level with your spine, viewed from the side.
It is worth trying, and most stomach sleepers have never heard of it. Face down, your belly sinks while your ribs and thighs stay higher, which arches your lower back for the night. Something slim under your hips levels that out.
We would not recommend it. Buckwheat is firm and it locks into a shape and holds, which on your front means holding your neck in extension all night. If you love buckwheat and sleep on your front, take a very great deal out and expect it to still be the wrong tool.
No, because every pillow here already does the job once you set it. They all open at a zipper and take material out, so a stomach sleeper pillow is one of ours taken most of the way down. Kapok gets lowest, and it is soft with it.
Give yourself something physical rather than a resolution. A body pillow hugged in front makes side sleeping comfortable enough to stay in and makes rolling all the way over awkward. Most people who switch successfully do it that way.
Kapok if you want the softest and lowest, and you are willing to shake it out every few days. Cotton if you want something denser and completely maintenance-free. Both take down far enough to work, and kapok takes down further.
Then check your neck from the side and take a little more. Sixty nights to be sure, handmade in our New Jersey workshop.
See the pillows183 verified reviews
If you've sent more pillows back than you've kept, you're our customer.
“I have owned more pillows than I have owned houses and I have owned 12 houses.” This is by far the only pillow to use if you don’t want to wake up with sore shoulders or neck. I have replaced all the pillows in my house with this pillow.
I have compressed discs in my neck, and I have spent hundreds of dollars over the past 6 months trying to find one that will help me sleep. Every pillow I bought caused me to wake up in even more pain than the night before!! The buckwheat pillow is life-changing!! I have slept through the night and wake up with no pain!!
I was leery to try another expensive pillow without some sort of trial period after being very let down by a different company's natural fiber pillow… I don't hear anything at all with the buckwheat! It does stay fresh and cool as well, but most importantly it actually holds my head/neck up and in place. Which allows me to actually get rest instead of always adjusting.
I've been a buckwheat pillow customer for the last 7 years and I can say that Circadian has the highest standards of quality paired with incredible customer service. Very very impressed and would not hesitate to send anyone their way.
I have spent years searching for a pillow that feels supportive and comfortable all night. I have finally found it. I absolutely love the Buckwool pillow. I removed a bit of the material to get it to exactly how I want it… I rarely wake up with neck pain now.
I find myself switching between the two and loving the feel of both. I haven't woken up with a sweaty head with either and that's an amazing feeling especially in the AZ summer. The buckwheat side is a lot quieter and more comfy/soft than others I've tried in the past.
I have tried at least 10 different pillows in the last 3 years. Nothing has worked out except for this wool pillow. I have chronic neck pain which has been greatly reduced. I am very happy with my new pillow.
I have pretty bad chemical sensitivity (housebound most of the time)… I try to only buy totally safe, non-toxic products. I found this pillow to be very safe and non-toxic, and the packaging was fragrance free which is always a huge plus.
I ordered this pillow to replace my very old (but beloved) down pillow and I'm so glad I did. It is heavenly!… I advise you to heed the recommendation given by the quiz. I ordered cotton initially despite the quiz giving me kapok as a result… the quiz was right.
The quality craftsmanship and materials is evident… when I asked if extra stuffing were available for the second one I'm using as a knee pillow, they not only pointed me to the right place on their site, but also created a new, smaller 1-lb. refill size based on my request.
The three-star ones are in there too. Read all of them
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