About three years ago, as I was struggling to figure out how to successfully nurse my first daughter, I bought both a Boppy Luxe pillow and Pottery Barn's My Brest Friend.  It turned out that the Boppy worked out better for me so I sold the My Brest Friend pillow shortly thereafter. 

Recently, I purchased a second Boppy in anticipation of the birth of our second daughter in 4 weeks so I could have one downstairs and one upstairs.  This Boppy was purchased used off Craigslist for just $15 (less than 1/2 the cost of a new pillow without any slipcover), and it just happened to be the pale green Pottery Barn version of the Boppy.  Note that the photo above is inaccurate, so you need to go to the Pottery Barn Kids website to see the correct photo.

About the Pillow
Let's talk about the basics first.  The Boppy pillow is a "C" shaped pillow that wraps around your waist and is most commonly used to support your infant as you breastfeed.  It's intended to help relieve tension in your shoulders/back/neck as you nurse.  Some parents also use it to prop up an infant learning to sit or encourage an infant to get tummy time by laying him/her on top of it.

The Boppy measures 25" x 20.5" x 6" h.  The basic Boppy available is the Bare Naked Boppy, which doesn't come with a cover.  The other options available to buy are the Boppy plus upgraded fabric covers that are removeable and washable. 

No matter what cover you get, it's the same pillow underneath.  The latest Boppy model has the "new Miracle Middle® stretch panel, [so] the pillow now stretches to fit every waist size."  This new model Boppy comfortably fits around me now, even at 8 months' pregnant, so it's likely a step up from the old Boppy without the Miracle Middle panel.  Yet I didn't have any complaints about the old Boppy, even in the first few days after childbirth when I was still quite large (35 pounds more than my pre-pregnancy weight!), so I'm not sure most moms will notice this enhancement unless you're much larger than average.

The Pottery Barn "Boppy pillow insert" is $29 (which is the same price as the Bare Naked Boppy at Babies R Us) and the Pottery Barn chamois slipcover is $25.  Other non-Pottery Barn Boppy slipcovers range in price from about $5 (the added cost above the $29 fee for the special combined package of a Boppy and a coarse cotton fabric cover) to $24.99 for the Organic Slipcover.  My Boppy Luxe cover sells for about $19.99.  I've also seen the Boppy plus the basic coarse cotton cover for about $19.99 at discount retailers like Marshall's and TJMaxx.  Suffice to say, paying more is likely to get you a higher quality slipcover but the pillow insert remains the same.

Like my Boppy Luxe, the Pottery Barn version is a nicer, plusher cover than the cheaper coarse cotton one.  My Boppy Luxe (a fleece cover with clouds) is soft and fuzzy, whereas the Pottery Barn chamois version has a sleeker more velvety feel as it has a shorter nap.  I prefer the Pottery Barn cover because it is so velvety.

Our Experience
First, as I mentioned earlier, the Boppy worked the best for me in providing sufficient support for nursing.  I liked it much better than the My Brest Friend nursing pillow but I think it depends on your personal preferences and possibly your body type.

At first, I thought I could get away with just using a regular pillow.  However, I quickly found that unlike a regular pillow, the Boppy is firm enough that the infant's body is well-supported.  It also positioned her so I didn't have to slouch or hold her up to be in the proper position.  I could allow my arms to rest on the Boppy (which sits in your lap) rather than holding her unsupported for the entire 30-40 minute nursing session. 

When it comes down to actual use of the Boppy, I found it didn't matter that my Boppy had a fancy cover.  The fact is, I often used a cloth diaper as a burp cloth directly on top of the Boppy so any spit-up/drool/bodily fluid would land on that, rather than the Boppy.  It was much quicker to grab a new cloth diaper than to unzip, wash, and dry the one Boppy slipcover that I had.  Before I started using the cloth diaper, I faced multiple incidents where I would have a uncovered Boppy at the next feeding session because the cover wasn't dry yet and then the Boppy pillow itself would get stained.  Once you wash the Boppy pillow, it needs much more time to dry than just a slipcover or cloth diaper.  Thus, in my use of the Boppy for nursing, the softness of the cover became irrelevant, as my baby's skin never touched it. 

For those moms who plan to nurse their babies for an extended time (i.e., more than 6 months), it's possible that your older infant/toddler will be able to enjoy the softer slipcover.  Once spit-up/drool/bodily fluids are no longer an issue, you can use the Boppy itself and just wash the cover weekly.  

While my second baby isn't here yet, I imagine I will use the same cloth diaper "technique" with this Pottery Barn pillow.  So the only one to enjoy the soft velvety cover while I'm nursing will be me.

However, I will add that since I didn't use a cloth diaper over the Boppy during tummy time, it's possible that my daughter actually managed to touch the fabric.   I don't recall if she ever really noticed the fleecy cover of the Boppy Luxe, though, as she hated tummy time and would cry the entire time.

Still, given how many hours I spent nursing, I'm glad I didn't opt for a slipcover with one of the loud garish patterns.  That's why I think Pottery Barn manages to be so successful despite only making  cosmetic changes to tried-and-true baby products like the Boppy, My Brest Friend, and Tiny Love Symphony-in-Motion mobile.   Pottery Barn chooses more muted, aesthetically pleasing colors and their target demographic is willing to pay more.  For instance, the standard My Brest Friend on the market three years ago came in a plain denim cover or a blue and white striped cover.  The Pottery Barn version of My Brest Friend that I had was a solid cream cotton cover that just looked more upscale and "classy" (for lack of a better word).

Final Thoughts
Some moms swear by the Boppy, while others prefer My Brest Friend.  Once you find the one that works best for you, just get the basic slipcover (unless you can score a deal on a used upgraded cover like me).  There's always going to be a market for the upgraded Boppy slipcover because the fancy slipcovers appeal to first-time moms who want the softest and most fashionable fabric next to their infant's skin.  But take it from a mom who used a Boppy for more than a year.  I would recommend the basic slipcover for most moms, as it's most practical and cost-effective.

Update:
It's been a week since my second daughter was born and I wanted to update this review because I thought nursing moms should know that the Boppy pillow may not work for you depending on the type of glider you have.  With my first daughter, I had a glider with unpadded arm rests and the Boppy and the My Brest Friend both fit fine without any issues.  This past week, I realized that my Boppy doesn't "fit" when I'm seated in the new-to-me Dutailier glider I picked up since my first daughter's birth. 

While I LOVE how comfortable this new glider is, the Dutailier's padded armrests raise the Boppy pillow too high for me to use for nursing.  Thus, I only use the Boppy when I'm downstairs on the couch.  When upstairs in the nursery, I rely on a regular pillow that can fit on my lap between the Dutailier's armrests.  It's not as firm and supportive as the Boppy, but it's better than using nothing and resting all of the baby's weight on the 2 armrests.


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