Long pillows for side sleepers and pregnancy. No trials test the pillow itself, but going to sleep on your side in late pregnancy is linked with fewer stillbirths.
Body pillows come as a straight bolster, a C, J or U shape that wraps front and back, or a small wedge for the bump. Side sleepers use them to rest the upper arm and knee, which stops the top hip and shoulder rolling forward. In pregnancy they support the bump and back and make side sleeping easier to keep up.
The trade-off is size: U-shaped pillows take up a lot of bed, and a partner may feel crowded.
There are no trials of body pillows for sleep or pain. The strongest related evidence is about position, not pillows: a meta-analysis of individual data from case-control studies found that going to sleep on your back from 28 weeks of pregnancy was linked with about 2.6 times the odds of late stillbirth compared with the left side, while the right side was as safe as the left. Whether a pillow helps you stay on your side hasn't been tested.
Data from case-control studies of pregnancies from 28 weeks. Going to sleep on the back was linked with 2.6 times the odds of late stillbirth compared with the left side; the right side was as safe as the left.