PILLOW FIGHTS

I was lying in bed the other night searching for Hypnos (the Greek goddess of sleep).  I avoid sheep; they're too stinky.  When all else fails, I usually turn to contemplating my golf game.   This led to a critique of my posture which is important in the golf swing.  One should keep his backbone aligned.  Before you know it,  I ripped my pillow from under my head. 

Sleeping posture has to do with keeping your spine/backbones (vertebrae) aligned.  While on your side, you need a rather full pillow to prop up your head.  This keeps those upper bones of the cervical vertebrae in line with the thoracic and lumbar.  That makes sense. 

On your stomach, if you can sleep that way, you can get by with only a hand or something thin to keep your nose clear of blockage.  I actually like stomach sleeping but I have to change positions often.

How about when you lie on your back?  It seems to me we shouldn't need a pillow.  We don't need it  for alignment purposes...but you do.  Its impossible to sleep flat on your back.  It is for me.  Something happens to my brain.  I could never sleep on my back without a pillow.

This led me to think about infants and SIDS.   In the late 1960's and early 1970's, our children slept on their stomachs much of the time.   Whichever way they wanted and would fall quickly to sleep was best for us.  Instructions for new parents now are to set the baby on it's back for sleep.  Infants don't sleep on their sides until they are a little older. 

So, what about a pillow?  I'm under the impression most babies do not have a pillow.  Do they feel as yucky as I do when I lay flat on my back?  Maybe!  What is it doing to our children?  Shouldn't we have a pillow ready for a newborn? 

Well, maybe young parents do use pillows these days - I don't know.