Although pregnancy is a wonderful experience, it's not always the most comfortable. Finding a comfortable position to sleep can be difficult, especially in the final months, even if you don't have any additional problems. And if you do suffer from a problem such as Symphis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD) then it's almost impossible to sleep without suffering from severe pain. This is where the Mothercare Sleep Body Pillow comes into it's own.

The size of the box the Sleep Pillow is vacuum packed in totally belies the actual size of the pillow. I was a little shocked when my partner brought it home, it was hard to believe that such a large product could be so easily carried back from the shop. On opening the box it was easy enough to open up the plastic packaging (using a pair of scissors) and the pillow 're-inflated' almost immediately. The pillow itself is very large, being about the size of a bolster, firm and yet soft and comes with a machine washable white cotton cover. I'm not going to get out a tape measure but when laying down beside it, it easily reaches from my chest to my ankles (I'm 5'1").

When using the pillow to sleep, I normally position it so that it's between my legs, then comes up under my bump and finally I 'cuddle' it with my arms. The pillow easily moulds to my body shape and feels incredibly comfortable. I suffer from SPD and this means that without support trying to sleep is an incredibly painful experience and I will wake every hour or so. Even using bog-standard pillows to support my pelvis doesn't help much. But now I have the body pillow I can sleep for several hours without waking, and when I do wake the pain is no-where nearly as bad. The only problems are that it can be quite difficult to turn over as the pillow is so bulky and needs to be moved to the other side of the body and that I need to climb over it to get into or out of bed. The pillow's cover washes up well when using a 30 degree wash cycle and spare covers can be purchased from various sources, all you need to do is look for bolster covers.

The Mothercare Sleep Body Pillow has been a godsend, it may have been a quite large outlay at £29.99, especially as cheaper versions can be purchased on-line for as little as £9.99. But it is of a much higher quality and a good night's sleep is something I just couldn't put a price on. Without this pillow I would get maybe 3 hours broken sleep a night, and be in constant pain while trying to get that sleep. But with the pillow my body is so well supported that I'm able to sleep for most of the night and the pain is far less noticeable. And after the baby is born we're planning to use the pillow as a bolster as it is far more comfortable than most pillows on the market.

So if you're pregnant and find it hard to get comfortable at night then I can't recommend this enough, just make sure your partner doesn't try and 'nick' it off you in the night.