A Toddler Pillow to Make EVERYONE Happy

Today is part two in my mini-craftinista* series and it starts with a little story…

Have you heard of sleep regression? Apparently it’s a wonderful time in a child’s life where after months of going right to sleep and sleeping through the night, suddenly they don’t like to sleep anymore.

For Jack, this happened a few weeks ago – after sleeping like a champ we had to coax him into bed with a tiring combination of reading, rocking, milk in a sippie cup, snuggling with mommy, snugging with daddy and some more rocking. He even ended up in bed with us for a couple nights, only to be kicked out when he kept KICKING ME in the back all night long. I mean, I’ll take that crap from an 8 pound rescue dog… but NOT a 30 pound little man!

It was exhausting.

Which is funny because JACK was exhausted and just would NOT go to sleep.

So in a fit of brilliance (or just overtired madness) I told Jack that I had a SPECIAL pillow only for Big Boys to use. This SPECIAL pillow would go into his crib, but ONLY if he was a Big Boy who would lay down on it and go to sleep.

Can you believe that this worked?

Suddenly Jack stopped fighting sleep and would go right into his crib to lie on his special Big Boy pillow.

I’m a genius. A parenting genius.

Send your checks today to get your very own SPECIAL Big Boy pillow. Also available in Big Girl…

Just kidding. The secret is that I grabbed the closest pillow I could find, which was an old accent pillow that I had made for our couch ages ago. After living on the couch for a while, it somehow ended up in Jack’s room on his rocking chair. It was so well-worn that it’s quite flat… which makes it perfect for Jack since he can’t smother himself on it.

After Jack slept on it contently for a couple weeks, I figured I should make a pillow case for it so that I can keep it clean. So I grabbed an old pillowcase that we’ve probably used for 10 years or so and made it fit:

Toddler-pillow-before-updatedCheck this out… it’s a magical pillow. Which is actually just a pillow I made a bunch of years ago from an old pillow case from Crate & Barrel.

First, I stuck the throw pillow in our old pillowcase and pinned around it with straight pins. I pulled it in and out a couple times to make sure that it wasn't too snug.First, I stuck the throw pillow in our old pillowcase and pinned around it with straight pins. I pulled it in and out a couple times to make sure that it wasn’t too snug.

I then removed the throw from the case and stitched around all three sides, removing the pins as I went so that I wouldn't stab myself and yell out bad words.I then removed the throw from the case and stitched around all three sides, removing the pins as I went so that I wouldn’t stab myself and yell out bad words.

Once I finished sewing, I cut off the extra fabric. You can use normal scissors or be all fancy like me with my pinking shears. Is it weird that I have no idea how pinking shears came to live in my house?

The finished magical SPECIAL Big Boy pillow. Mr. Bunny Rabbit approves.

Super cute, right?! And basically free.

And the best part is that I can sleep again!

* If TJ Maxx can call someone a Maxxinista… I can certainly call myself a craftinista!

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6 thoughts on “A Toddler Pillow to Make EVERYONE Happy”

  1. We have a magical pillow too! It’s a travel pillow and I just made a cute little flannel pillowcase to go around it from some extra fabric I had laying around. My little one loves to go to bed… as long as he has his paci (the only time he gets it now). I’m going to be sad when he turns two and I take that puppy away… hopefully the magic pillow will help keep him going to sleep easily! I’m glad you guys are all back to getting some sleep!

    1. Jack still using a paci for sleeping too… it’s one of those Wubanub paci’s with a giraffe attached. Usually he likes to just hold the giraffe, so when he turns 2 I’m considering just snipping the paci part off and letting him keep the giraffe for soothing. Of course, if that doesn’t work I’m screwed…

  2. This post is as good as any to tell you this story in a comment. So. A lot of times when I think about people, they get a little jingle in my brain. Yours (despite the fact that the Julie song exists) is Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs. Only instead of saying “Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby” my brain hears “Julie, Julie, Julie, Julie.” So. There’s that.

    1. LOL, now I have FOUR songs! =)

      Hey Julie – Fountains of Wayne
      The Best Day of my Life – American Authors
      Julie Do you Love me – Bobby Sherman

      The last one was sung by my dad in the most obnoxious way possible when I was a kid…

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