The 6 Best Pillows for Stomach Sleepers

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Fill:Recycled plastic down-alternative fill| Loft:Varies| Firmness:Soft, medium, or firm

The Buffy Cloud is adown-alternative pillow, stuffed with PET fill made from recycled plastic bottles and encased in aTencelcover. It comes in three firmness levels (soft, medium, or firm), which are progressively stuffed with more filling to create a denser, firmer pillow; the soft has 26 ounces of fill, the medium has 35 ounces, and the firm has 46 ounces. I tried the soft version of the Buffy Cloud, and that’s the one I recommend for stomach sleepers. It’s very soft, the loft is low; when I laid on my stomach with this pillow, it compressed easily and I was able to nestle my head into it without my neck flexing backward or feeling like the pillow was choking me (something I commonly run into with a too-thick pillow when testing for stomach sleeping).

Of course, the Buffy Cloud isn’t the only pillow out there that’s soft, low-loft, and compressive, so what makes this one my top pick? For me, the deciding factors are itscoolingTencel cover (Tencel is moisture-wicking andbreathable), the recycled filling, and the relatively affordable price.

Fill:“Ultra soft” microfiber| Loft:Adjustable, arrives low| Firmness:Adjustable, arrives soft

Because finding the right loft and firmness is especially important for stomach sleepers, an adjustable pillow like the Lagoon Chinchilla can be a good way to tinker until you figure out exactly what you need. It’s filled with an “ultra soft” microfiber, which looks and feels like the inside of a kid’s stuffed animal. It arrives with a fairly low loft and soft feel in the first place, so it’s already a good option for stomach sleepers. When I tested it, I was able to comfortably rest without flexing my neck. But you can lower and soften it even more by removing some filling if you want to. It’s easy to do — you just unzip the case and pull some of the fiber out, and I’d recommend giving the pillow a good shake after you zip it back up, to fluff and distribute the fill.

The Chinchilla has a bamboo-and-polyester blend cover, which gives it a bit of cooling power (similar to the Buffy Cloud’s Tencel cover). When I tested it, the pillow came rolled up in a fabric bag madeof the same material as the cover, which I was able to use to hold extra fill after removing some. The fill is fairly wispy — similar to Halloween cobweb decorations — and I appreciate that the brand provides a dedicated place to store it if you remove some.

Fill:Polyester microfiber fill| Loft:Medium| Firmness:Medium-firm

If you typically switch between sleeping on your stomach and sleeping in another position, the Casper Original comes recommended by Strategist writer Brenley Goertzen, herself a stomach-and-side combination sleeper, because it offers a good balance of softness and support. It’s filled with polyester microfiber fill, with a pillow-in-a-pillow design: The inner, “core” pillow is firmer and more densely filled, while the outer “case” pillow has a light layer of microfiber fill on each side to add plushness. This makes the Casper Original soft and cushy enough for stomach sleeping, but supportive enough to turn over to your side (a position that tends to need lots of neck support). Goertzen slept on this pillow for years and loves it so much that she’s convinced several family members to buy their own.

Fill:Mulberry silk| Loft:Low| Firmness:Soft

Stomach sleepers generally lay face first on their pillow, even if they turn their head to one side, and it obviously feels much better to rest your face on a cool surface than a hot one. This Cozy Earth pillow is filled with mulberry silk — a breathable and temperature-regulating natural material — and covered with bamboo viscose, which also regulates temperature whilewicking away moisture. Strategist senior editor Simone Kitchens sleeps with the Cozy Earth Silk pillow and says it feels very breathable, particularly because the fill isn’t overly dense. It’s great for stomach sleepers because it’s very soft and compressive; when I tested it, I was able to sleep comfortably on my stomach as well as my back, so it could also work for some combination sleepers.

Fill:European white duck down to down and feather fibers| Loft:Varies by firmness| Firmness:Soft, medium, or firm

For a soft and compressive pillow, you can’t do much better than a classic, fluffydown pillow. I like Parachute’s because it comes in three firmness options, so you can choose the level that best suits your sleeping position and comfort preferences. For stomach sleepers, I’d recommend either the soft or medium; though down is always pretty squishy, the firm model may be too lofty and dense to keep your neck from flexing upward. Goertzen and I have both tested the medium version of this pillow — it’s fairly soft and moldable, which works well for stomach sleepers. I also found it wasn’t overly lofty, as the pillow compacted beneath my head and neck. But even though it can compress, it holds its shape: Goertzen particularly likes how it reliably bounces back, so it doesn’t need to be fluffed all the time.

Fill:Foam core with microfiber fill sewn into the cover| Loft:Varies| Firmness:Varies

If you want to take some of the guesswork out of pillow shopping, Pluto builds a unique pillow for each customer based on their answers to a short quiz about their sleep habits and preferences. All the pillows feature a foam core surrounded by microfiber fill (sewn into pockets in the cover) for a hybrid pillow-within-a-pillow design. But the firmness, thickness, and density of the foam; the fabric cover; and the amount of microfiber fill will vary from person to person based on their answers about their usual sleeping position, what they like and dislike about their current pillow, whether they run hot, and so on.

At least four Strategist staffers have tested their own customized version of the Pluto, including Goertzen, who is so enamored with hers that she has switched to sleeping on it full time and even brought it with her on trips. “My Pluto has a lower loft than my previous pillow, and my head seems to stay more level rather than being on a slant,” she says, noting that the pillow also has “some of that plush ‘melting in’ factor.” Hers is approximately 3.5 inches tall but squishes down significantly when she’s sleeping on it. Compared with the side-and-back-sleeper Pluto pillows that myself and senior editor Jen Trolio have tested, Goertzen’s has a thinner foam core. And while Goertzen says she usually dislikes memory-foam pillows because they tend to feel too firm, the foam in her Pluto is soft enough for her to comfortably sleep on her stomach. She added that while it may be entirely psychological, she liked taking the quiz to customize the pillow because it made her feel it was truly designed forher.

One tip to keep in mind when taking the quiz, especially if you’re a combination stomach sleeper, is to be clear that you want a lower loft. Strategist writer Bella Druckman is a stomach-and-side sleeper, but when she tried her Pluto pillow, she found the loft was slightly too high for comfortable stomach sleeping (it was better suited for side sleeping). A comment box at the end of the quiz is especially helpful for including specific notes on how you sleep and what you are looking for.