Eli & Elm Side Sleeper Pillow

A cutout that gives the shoulder somewhere to go

The Eli & Elm is not a rectangle. Its ergonomic U-shape puts a cutout along one edge so the shoulder can nest inside the curve while the head and neck sit higher and stay in line with the spine. Sleep Advisor describes it as 'created specifically for side sleepers as the U-shape gives enough room for your shoulder, thus preventing pressure from building up in this area.' On a conventional pillow the shoulder either compresses underneath or splays out awkwardly; here it has a dedicated space.

Mattress Clarity, which rated the pillow 4.5 out of 5, notes that 'the U-shape design can help with providing a lot of support for your upper body' — head, neck and shoulders treated as one system rather than the head alone. That is the whole argument for the pillow, and it is also why it divides people: the shape only pays off if you actually stay on your side.

Loft that suits side sleepers, and why it helps a sore neck

Sleep Foundation scored the pillow 8.9 out of 10 and named it Most Comfortable in its side-sleeper testing, citing a 'medium to high loft that suited the needs of side sleepers.' Loft is the variable most side sleepers get wrong: too flat and the head drops toward the mattress, too tall and the neck bends the other way. Pairing a correct loft with the shoulder cutout addresses the height problem and the pressure problem at once, which is why this pillow is aimed squarely at people who wake up aching.

Adjustable latex-and-fibre fill

The fill is a blend of open-cell latex noodles and a fine, down-like polyester fibre, and it can be added or removed. That matters because the right loft depends on shoulder width and on how far you sink into your mattress, so a fixed pillow cannot suit everyone. The open-cell latex also keeps air moving through the fill instead of packing into a solid block the way memory foam does, so it does not build up heat over a night. Getting the amount right does take a few passes over the first week.

Where the shape works against you

The contour is the reason to buy this pillow and the reason to skip it. Sleepers who roll onto their back or stomach lose the benefit and often find the cutout awkward, and there is no way to know which camp you fall into without trying it. It is also a premium price for a single-position specialist, and dialling in the fill is trial and error rather than a setting you choose once.

Set against the traditional shapes in this roundup, it is the only pillow here that attacks shoulder pressure through geometry rather than fill alone. The Layla Kapok Pillow matches it on adjustability but not on shape; the Saatva Cloud Memory Foam Pillow and Tempur-Cloud ProHi Pillow are the safer picks if you change position through the night.