apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Amby makes a similar hammock:
http://www.ambybaby.com/

It has a stand, so you don't have to drill into the ceiling and can move it from room to room (or bring with you to grandma's).

I was poised to get one for my second child if she was as bad a sleeper as my first...but lucked out the second time around!

Please do not use a blanket when you put your baby to sleep. Also, no bumper pads or stuffed animals. Most SIDS deaths are actually suffocations.

Hi~ We use a regular mexican hammock and it is great to put a restless baby to sleep.

We have the Nature's Sway hammock that looks identical to the photo above. Our kid loves it. We hung it over the foot of our bed, so we can grab her just by sitting up, and we can rock her with our feet. We hung wood balls from the cross beam which makes it a little less sack-like.

We used the Amby Baby Bed (ambybaby.com) for the first seven months with our firstborn. It was amazing! He slept so peacefully and soundly. It was also great when we traveled. No matter where we went, we packed it in his bag and he got to sleep in his own bed. I couldn't be more pleased with it. Well worth the money.

I have a friend who used the Amby for 2 of her children, and swore by it. When her son was recovering from chemo and major surgeries and was basically catatonic, and later, just plain mute from the pain, only the Amby would soothe him.

The Hushamok has a more beautiful stand than the Amby, if design is your thing, but beware, they feature a lambskin pad/mattress which you should NOT USE. (not if you believe Dr. Sprott on the causes of SIDS, anyway.) It should be noted that New Zealand, which had the greatest use of lambskins in baby beds, also had the world's highest rate of SIDS.

Anyway, here is the beautiful stand:

http://www.hushamok.com/detail_okoa.cfm

For generations Indian (the South Asian kind) people have been using hammocks to put their babies to sleep. Works beautifully. They do not use mattresses or blankets in the hammocks. The hammock is usually made from an old saree belonging to the mother, hung up from the ceiling or even a tree. A piece of wood is used as a separator to open up the top of the hammock. It's funny that age-old traditions such as slings and hammocks are coming back now!

The Amby and hushamok use springs, and so might produce a better (ie, more soothing) movement than just a regular hammock would, so you might want to check that out.

I have an Amby Baby hammock, too. Worked wonders with my first child. The babies, however, are having none of it. I purchased an extra spring for my hammock, which can be used until around the age of 3.

Kind of odd that readers would be so against crip pads and blankets but favorable to hammocks. How are the fabric walls and bottom of this hammock so much different than a crib pad?

Madhu has it exactly right. It is very common in India and due to the warm climate, there is usually no additional blanket or fabric on the child. I've heard that infants feel very comforted in these because it simulates the suspension-like feeling in the womb. Also the gentle rocking is supposed to be soothing. When the baby hammock rocks, the slight gush of air against the baby's ear is also supposed to mimic the whoosh of fluids in the placenta that infants experience in the womb. Interesting!

But as Madhu says, it works like a charm. The problem with my niece was to wean her away from the hammock to a regular crib.

They do this in southeast Asian countries too. My dad made me one and it really did work.

Shawn - it's the difference between a single layer of cloth, and a quilted blanket or bumpers (2 layers of cloth with added padding). One is more permeable than the other. And if you check out the Amby, you'll see that they actually use mesh in order to facilitate air circulation.