Buckwheat pillows?

[leebee]

Do you have or have you used a buckwheat hull pillow? DD is having a terrible time sleeping, wakes with headaches every morning. She is a back sleeper and can't find a pillow that gives her decent support where needed; her chiropractor thinks this might be the source of her headaches. If you've used a buckwheat pillow, what did you think? Did it give you good support while sleeping, keep your neck aligned, etc.?

 

[DodgerGirl]

I can remember when buckwheat pillows were all the rage in the 90's starting with the Sobakawa Pillow and when it came out the commercial said that buckwheat husks were the oriental sleeping secret to sleeping better. My mom almost got the Sobakawa Pillow to try it out but our store was out of them. One pillow brand your daughter can try and their pillows are comfortable is Pacific Coast and they make the most excellent pillows and they will actually make you have a good night's sleep and I have had a Pacific Coast pillow and I love mine
Hope this advice helps you Leebee

 

[Christine]

I have not but I was having issues with my pillow. Every day I was waking up with a terrible neck ache going up into my head. I even had the Casper pillow which is not a cheap pillow and it was fine for awhile, until it wasn't. I ended up buying a Tempurpedic Pillow when it was on sale at Costco for $21 (I think they run about $40 outside of Costco). I was very skeptical and I generally don't like foam anything but I was desparate. I haven't had a painful neck since the first night I used it. I am traditionally a side sleeper; however, I also have some hip bursitis going making it impossible to sleep on my side, so I'm now a back sleeper and the pillow does great for that too.

 

[_19disnA]

Never used a buckwheat pillow and actually never heard of them. I think the size of the pillow makes more of a difference to keeping your head/neck in the proper orientation when sleeping vs. what the pillow is filled with. Many companies make good quality extra-firm pillows that don't squish down to nothing when you lay your head on them. Or try sleeping with 2 pillows and see if that helps. If isn't some sort of allergy issue, that is what I would look for.

 

[unrequited23]

I tried out a sobakawa pillow my grandparents impulsively bought in the 90's. It was so LOUD when I would change position. But I'm a side sleeper who moves around a lot at night. Right now, I'm a huge fan of a serta memory foam cooling side sleeper pillow. It feels like my head is weightless and supported. There should be dedicated back sleeper memory foam pillows.

 

[sam_gordon]

Never used a buckwheat pillow and actually never heard of them. I think the size of the pillow makes more of a difference to keeping your head/neck in the proper orientation when sleeping vs. what the pillow is filled with. Many companies make good quality extra-firm pillows that don't squish down to nothing when you lay your head on them. Or try sleeping with 2 pillows and see if that helps. If isn't some sort of allergy issue, that is what I would look for.

um, wouldn't what the pillow was filled with determine how firm it is?

 

[tasha99]

I had a sobakawa pillow in the 80s and LOVED it. Unfortunately, it eventually gave me a rash, so I threw it out. I've had some neck issues in the past few years, and bought a variety of pillows to address that. The solution for me was to use a very firm travel neck pillow in conjunction with a pillow filled with millet (so like a buckweat pillow, but with a different grain husks). I sleep on my back (and side) with the travel pillow under my neck, and the millet pillow wedged under the top of my head just enough to keep my head in alignment with my spine. Almost all regular pillows I've found are way too high, and the bend in my neck was making both my arms go numb at night. No more numb arms, and so far, no rash from the millet--it's my favorite pillow (along with my neck pillow).

I got mine from PineTales. No issues with the quality, but I do wish they'd had more of an inner/outer bag construction. I had to wash the pillow fabric once because a pillowcase got left off for a while, and it involved finding a bin to keep the millet in.

Btw, when you get a pillow like that, it will be more full than you need. You're supposed to remove enough buckwheat or millet to make it comfortable for you.

If the buckwheat pillow doesn't work, my physical therapist used a cervical pillow like this:

I liked it a lot in therapy, but I bought a couple and they didn't work for sleeping because I side sleep as well. I thought the back position was a lot more comfortable than side sleeping on it. It took me many pillows to figure out what worked for me, and I still needed physical therapy to get rid of the neck pain. Unsure if headaches would be similar, but it could be. In any case, if the doctor really thinks a pillow could help, physical therapists do a lot more than exercise (mine helped with pillows and adjusting my home office chair, in addition to massage and exercise).

 

[Suz333]

I tried out a sobakawa pillow my grandparents impulsively bought in the 90's. It was so LOUD when I would change position. But I'm a side sleeper who moves around a lot at night. Right now, I'm a huge fan of a serta memory foam cooling side sleeper pillow. It feels like my head is weightless and supported. There should be dedicated back sleeper memory foam pillows.

This was my experience with a buckwheat pillow, too. Every slight movement caused a cascade of sound .. kind of like an Australian rain stick. But maybe it wouldn’t be as loud for a back sleeper, who wouldn’t have their ear pressed to the pillow.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Buckwheat pillows​

I thought you meant a Buckwheat pillow.

 

[starry_solo]

Family used them - the sobakawa ones - back in the day. Didn't make a difference to us. We are back to the regular ones.

 

[amcnj]

I thought you meant a Buckwheat pillow.

View attachment 816764

That pillow looks “otay” to me!

 

[Praying Colonel]

I've used one for about 25 years. Really helped me with neck pain.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Lol.

I have never heard of some of these pillow types, but here’s what works for me. I have two king size foam type pillows, but I also have smaller throw type pillows that I use for my neck and head, as well. I can prop my ipad or book on them, too.

I slept in a hotel for seven days last week and I missed having my little pillows. I’d bought one in an airport store but it had beads and wasn’t firm enough. Will have to keep looking for one for travel.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I tried a buckwheat pillow years ago, along with several other kinds, which ultimately didn’t work for me long-term. The one I found that I love is a water pillow (brand name Mediflow). Very comfortable and provides good neck support. It’s heavy and doesn’t move around; you can adjust the firmness based on how much water you fill it with. I’ve slept with it for about 10 years and would recommend it. But clearly, it’s a personal preference and YMMV.

 

[greeneyedchick]

I used a buckwheat pillow for several years and liked it. I'm a side sleeper, which requires more support than a back sleeper. Has she tried sleeping on her side only? I had terrible neck pain and headaches until I stopped sleeping on my back. For the buckwheat pillow, I had the travel-sized one. A full-sized one would have been to big and heavy for me. I recommend the travel-szed one. I liked the fact that you could add or subtract buckwheat to adjust the height and support. The one down side is that it was hard on my ear.

 

[bcla]

Never used a buckwheat pillow and actually never heard of them. I think the size of the pillow makes more of a difference to keeping your head/neck in the proper orientation when sleeping vs. what the pillow is filled with. Many companies make good quality extra-firm pillows that don't squish down to nothing when you lay your head on them. Or try sleeping with 2 pillows and see if that helps. If isn't some sort of allergy issue, that is what I would look for.

It's weird. They're almost like 60s/70s bean bag chairs but filled with buckwheat husks.

I've also tried a memory foam pillow, but I don't really like anything that thick. My preference is for old pillows that lost their puffiness. But after a while they're absolutely flat and past the point where I like them.