Mustard Seeds Pillow - All you need to know about it
Mustard Seeds Pillow.
You must have heard about mustard seeds pillow or Rye pillow. While you were out to buy essentials for your little one, you must have come across some version of the mustard seeds pillow. If you have grandparents in your family who are hands-on with parenting skills, they will definitely recommend you the mustard seeds pillow or rye pillow for your little baby. Let’s find out a little more about mustard seeds pillow.
Mustard Seeds pillow/ Rye pillow:
In ancient times grannies or midwives or family-baby nurturers used to make these pillows from muslin cloth or high-quality silk cloth. Earlier the pillows were made of small rags and it turned out to be too heavy for babies. Then the rice was used to make these pillows, turned out that the rice had too much moisture retaining capacity, also the rice grains will start breaking into small pieces after some time of putting pressure and were not really helpful. After a lot of consideration and consultation with ayurvedic experts, the pillow was made from Mustard seeds. Mustard seeds were the right choice for the pillows for babies. They are round small, soft and very easily adjust their shape as per the pressure of objects around them.
Benefits of mustard seeds:
Mustard seeds have plenty of benefits and have been very extensively discussed and researched in Ancient Ayurveda and also Greek medicine. Mustard seeds are antiseptic, warming, carminative, antibacterial and also antiviral. It aids in digestion and eases gastric distention. It encourages blood circulation. In ancient Greek times, mustard plasters were used to heal cold cough and chest congestion. It is also beneficial for joint pains.
Why mustard seeds pillow for your baby?
When babies are born their skull is soft, which helps them to pass through the birth canal. It can take 9-18 months for a baby’s skull to be fully formed and the skull bones to join together perfectly. During this time some babies develop Positional Plagiocephaly. This literally means flattening of head or back. It’s not a brain development issue at all, it’s a shape issue. This can be avoided by using Mustard seeds pillow significantly. Ideally, the baby head should be on a surface which allows the baby’s head to move at all angles and also do not put extra pressure on any area of the head as babies are lying on the surfaces for a prolonged time. The mustard seeds pillow changes shape as per the natural grooves and curves of the baby head and let the skull grow fully naturally without putting any pressure whatsoever and besides also aids in warming and improving blood circulation. You must use mustard seeds pillow for your baby 3-4 months onward till 18-20 months of age.
How to choose a mustard seeds pillow?
There are a lot of variants available in the market. Please choose wisely as this product is going to be one of the most useful bedding essential for your baby,
1. Do not buy pillows with plastic/artificial beads filled inside, they claim to give exact feel and touch of mustard seeds pillow but are definitely not as effective and beneficial as a mustard seeds pillow.
2. Do not buy grooved or head-shaped pillows with mustard seeds filled within as grooves are not at all supportive to encourage natural skull development, they put pressure on a certain area of baby’s head and doesn’t allow baby’s head take natural shape.
3. Make sure the seeds filled in the pillows are organic and are not mixed with any other material at all.
4. Most ideal material for the mustard seeds pillow is either cotton or muslin, please don’t go for any synthetic or furry material.
5. Mustard seeds pillow should always be with washable pillow cover as baby’s head sweat get absorbed in the pillow and needs regular changing.
How to maintain a mustard seeds pillow:
Mustard seeds pillow is going to be a very prized possession of your baby’s nursery. Ideally, you should have two pillows with extra covers.
1. The pillow cover must be washed every alternate day with mild detergent meant for babies’ laundry. In older ancient times, these were washed in shikakai.
2. The pillow needs to be sun-dried at least once in a week. This helps to dry up the mustard seeds if any sweat has soaked into the inner lining of the pillow and also helps to disinfect the seeds regularly. Sun-dried seeds are the best to be used for a baby’s mustard seeds pillow.
3. If the mustard seeds in pillow are mixed with some other shaping material (plastic foam etc), putting them under the sun can release harmful toxins, thus it's important you choose a pillow which is 100% made of organic sun-dried mustard seeds.
This article does not claim to give any medical/clinical advice, this is solely for information purposes.
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