The idea of a small wedge shaped pillow that you slot under your tummy in order to get a good nights sleep may seem like a really alien idea. Men may look at these and view them as a complete waste of time. However as any mum to be knows, their purpose is to support both mummy and baby bump and allow for a better sleep position.

Once you get to the later stages of pregnancy you really do begin to find getting into a comfy position nigh on impossible, so a look at buying a pregnancy pillow can be a really good idea. When in need of something to ease in to a better sleeping position I came across the Mothercare Sleep Wedge Cushion. It turned out to be a great little item and is something I really would recommend.

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The wedge shaped pregnancy pillow is very similar to the one in the picture here. In terms of its shape its a nice little semi soft wedge that you can use both before and after the pregnancy. It costs £9.99, which does sound a fair bit for a little wedge pillow, but when you consider how much more comfy you can be once you get one, I feel the cost seems to disappear from your mind.

The pillow is made from a 100% foam textured material, which is shaped to be an angled wedge, that you can slip under your bump during nap and bedtime. Ignore the cries of the OH, as he claims you are taking up the whole of the bed with your silly lady cushion! After all his bump is probably due to too much beer and as such it doesn't kick and wriggle (unless he has just drunk his last can!) when he is trying to nod off.

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The covering of the Mothercare pregnancy pillow wedge that I had was a simple 50/ 50 cotton and polyester mix. The colour of the wedge pillow I had was a plain white and had a machine washable cover. This was easy to clean and dry and then put back on to the pillow in time for bedtime. I wasn't all that concerned with what it looked like, I was more hopeful about what it could do.

The wedge does have quite a firm feel about it and as such I felt that the best results came from use during the later heavier feeling and more draining stages of pregnancy. It was easy enough to slip the wedge with its slim tipped end under the bump and then roll slightly towards the comfiest angle. The relief of having a nicely supportive feeling pillow placed in the right place made nap and sleep times much better.

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Another use for a pregnancy pillow such as this wedge shaped one, is that you can use it as a back support. Once the heavy weight of a growing baby means a bit of back ache even when sitting, I found that if I slipped the wedge behind the small of my back it offered really good support and comfort. Of course you can only really use this to any great effect in the right shaped chair, so it may mean trying all the chairs and sofas at home to get the comfiest combo of chair and pillow.

You can also continue to use the pillow after the baby has arrived too, as for the first few weeks you still often cannot get comfortable at night and sleeping with the wedge can still help. You can also use it to support your back when holding your baby at times like when you are feeding the baby, or just for general cuddles and this works fairly well.

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In terms of rating this product I feel it ought to get a rate of around 4 stars. The price was ok, the product was of a good quality and it proved to be very useful. It didn't stop the night time waking, but I don't think anything could.

There are other forms of sleep pillow on the market such as the full length body pillows, which I also tried and can say that these are good too.

Either way a good quality support pillow will help support your bump, improving your sleep position. It may even give you a few hours more sleep, unless you wake in the night with a craving for: ice cubes, jelly, ice cream, mars bars, doughnuts, pickles etc, in which case, go see your GP as you might be pregnant!