Best Bed Pillows for Back Sleepers: Medium Loft Picks

Coop's Original is a zippered pillow filled with a medium firm blend of cross cut memory foam and microfiber, with a bag of extra fill in the box. It arrives full, at a loft meant for side sleepers. A back sleeper unzips it, removes a few handfuls, and tries it again, repeating until the head rests level and the chin does not tip forward. That is a slower first week than any other pillow here, and it is also the only way to get a loft set to your own neck rather than to a factory average.

The cover is Coop's Lulltra fabric, a polyester and bamboo derived viscose blend, and the pillow and outer cover are machine washable. Coop certifies the foam to CertiPUR-US and the pillow to GREENGUARD Gold, and backs it with a 100 night trial and a 5 year warranty. The shredded fill feels like a dense, slightly springy mass rather than a cloud, and it holds its shape all night.

Skip it if you want a pillow that is right out of the bag, or if you dislike the faint foam smell a new pillow gives off for a few days. Keep the fill you remove; the pillow compresses over the years and you will want to put some back.

The catch. It takes a week of unzipping and adjusting to get right, and the loose fill makes a mess if you rush it.

Pacific Coast calls itself the leading supplier of down pillows to American hotels, and this is its three chamber pillow for back and side sleepers. An inner chamber of goose feathers gives the support and keeps the pillow from flattening under a head; the chambers on either side hold softer down, so what you lie on is soft while what holds you up is firm. For a back sleeper it is a medium support pillow that still feels like down.

The fill is certified to the Responsible Down Standard and OEKO-TEX Standard 100, inside a tightly woven cotton shell that Pacific Coast says is down proof without a coating. The seams are double stitched with piping, and the pillow is machine washable. Two queen pillows for about $120 makes it the cheapest pillow here per head.

Skip it if you are allergic to feathers, or if you want a fixed shape. Feather and down pillows need a shake in the morning, since the fill drifts toward the edges overnight.

The catch. Feathers can work through the shell over time, and the loft cannot be changed.

The TEMPUR-Cloud is one piece of Tempur-Pedic's slow responding foam in what the maker calls an extra soft feel, designed, in its words, for back and stomach sleepers. Tempur-Pedic lists it at about 24 by 15.75 by 5 inches and describes the profile as low. Under a head it compresses further, which lands a back sleeper in the medium loft range without any guessing.

Foam holds one shape all night, which is the appeal and the limit. There is nothing to fluff and nothing that drifts to the edges, and the material moulds to the back of the skull and the curve of the neck. The cover is a removable, washable polyester knit. Tempur-Pedic gives it a 5 year limited warranty and notes that, as a personal item, it cannot be returned once used.

Skip it if you sleep hot, since dense foam holds warmth, or if you like to fold a pillow under your head while reading. The 2 pack sold by Amazon brings the per pillow price to about $70.

The catch. Foam runs warm, and the slow response can feel like lying on something rather than in it.

Boll & Branch builds its Down Chamber Pillow in three chambers. In the Medium and Firm versions, a feather and down inner pillow sits inside an outer layer of soft down from U.S. farms; the Soft version is all down. The Medium is the one for back sleepers, with enough feather in the core to hold the head up and enough down outside to feel like a proper down pillow. The Sleep Foundation names the Down Chamber its best hotel style pillow for back sleepers, and notes that the Medium and Firm suit most back sleepers better than the Soft.

The shell is tightly woven certified organic cotton, naturally down proof, from a family farm in India. The down is certified to the IDFL Down Standard, which traces it to the parent farm, and every component is tested to OEKO-TEX Standard 100. The pillow is filled and finished in the United States. Boll & Branch says to wash it alone in cold water once a season and tumble dry low, with wool dryer balls to restore the loft.

Skip it if $179 for one Standard pillow sounds like two pillows and a set of sheets, because it is. Boll & Branch sells it on Amazon itself.

The catch. The most expensive pillow here by a wide margin, for one pillow.