Baby Hammocks # 2

[sazzafrazz]

[continuing from here]


My midwife, who had never heard of them, told me to phone Kidsafe and see if they reccomend them. I finally got onto them today and they said they dont!!
They said some hospitals use them for the really unsettled babies but they are always supervised when in use and they wouldnt recomend we use one overnight.
I am now a bit unsure.... DH and I had a big talk about it today at lunch and we are still getting one. They have passed testing standards in NZ, UK, Japan, Aus. and have never had a SIDS case in the 15000 they have sold here so I think they should be ok. Obviously I wouldnt leave the baby unsupervised in it in a room during the day when there would be other children or my dogs around but I wouldnt with a bassinette either. I think it would be safer than a bassinette actually cause I always worried the dogs would knock into the base of it and tip it over but the hammock would just swing a little from the spring if bumped into at all. I have just ordered one and hope I have done the right thing....

[Lucy]

I can see hwere you are coming from re the safey issue. The stats that there has never been a case of SIDS in one vastly reasurred me too.

I am only one user in 15000, but have used them for all 3 of my babies, and my gut maternal feel is that they are safer than a bassinet or a cot for small babies. In practical terms we have never encountered any safety issue at all in over 3.5 years of constant use......

[hissychick]

...can it be done?

Hi there, I'm a long time lurker and first time poster who is having lots of fun and games getting DD#2- a very alert, light sleeping bub- to go to sleep and stay asleep during the day. We're talking 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there, followed up with hysteria from overtiredness at the end of the day. You know the drill.

Anyway her preferred method of falling asleep is wrapped and upright against me whilst being patted on her bottom. Which I am quite happy to do...except I have DD#1 who is 2 and a half and needs her mummy's attention and hands to be free too.

So I have pulled out my Amby hammock, which unfortunately hadn't been a success with DD#1. To cut a long story short, this morning I popped DD#2 in and gently bounced her. She grew hysterical until I picked her up and patted her to sleep before popping her back in.

My questions are:
1. Do you think it is possible to make the transition to the hammock at twelve weeks or am I too late? How long should I persist?

2. Should I try both day and nighttime sleeps in the hammock at once or daytime only?

3. During the day when you hear your bubs stirring do you go in and give the hammock a bounce before they wake up, or do you allow bubs to attempt to resettle themselves first?

Thanks in advance for you help.

ETA: Awake after twenty minutes and grizzling....

[~Trish~]

Hi hissychick, I know what it's like! My DS used to only sleep in the day if I held him, otherwise he would wake after 10 minutes or so in his cradle. We bought him a hammock when he was 10 weeks old and it took him next to no time to get used to it. I used to bounce him for a while until he dropped off to sleep. It sounds like it is harder for you as your DD gets hysterical, but I think it is worth persevering with. Our hammock changed our lives!

We only used the hammock for daytime sleeps, but it was great to pop him into it in the middle of the night when he was unsettled. It is up to you whether you want to use it for daytime/nighttime sleeps, it doesn't do them any harm if they are in it all the time and there are no reports of SIDS with any baby in an Amby hammock (that's what I read anyway).

In answer to your third question, I personally used to go in as soon as I heard my DS stir and bounce him back to sleep in the beginning because he wouldn't self-settle and would get too worked up to go back to sleep. Eventually he learned to bounce himself back to sleep!

I wish you all the best with getting your bub used to the hammock!

Trish

[Lucy]

Hissychick........

Long time lurker....lovely to see you pop up!

The upright thing.......sounds very like Miss Olivia in the early months.

As you know, I am a fan of the hammock, so I would say go for it.....try it for a week or see and see?

Do you have a wrap/sling/BabyBjorn/HAB? If so, could you pop Miss Freshie in there, pat her off to sleep (whilst doing jobs/seeing to Miss Frosty etc), then transfer a sleeping baby to the hammock? Would that work d'you think? (It worked a charm for Olivia in the early months..........)

Good luck sweets. xx

[hissychick]

Thanks for your replies Lucy and Trish.

I am pleased to report that after an initial grizzle at the 20 minute mark my little miss proceeded to take a THREE HOUR nap! She is also still asleep after going down for what is usually her 5pm ish post BF catnap.

Looks like we might be skipping a feed and bath tonight but clearly she has needed the sleep!

I think i will definitely keep persisting with the hammock for now...I'm even game to try overnight provided little miss doesn't pull her wrap up over her face. Hopefully she will learn to settle to sleep in the hammock over the next few days. Otherwise I'll stick to the pat to sleep/sling to sleep as you suggested Lucy (and yes we must catch up!).

Cheers
Em

[Lucy]

WoooHoooo! That is great news........bet you were at a loss to know what to do with the time as she napped the day away! (Or maybe not, depending on what Miss Frosty was up to?!)

That is great news....hope the long naps continue and that you start getting some long and blissful night sleeps too.....

[hissychick]

It's me again.....

I'm pleased to report that little miss is sleeping really well at night in the hammock but only after taking ages to settle. I'm pretty sure this is thanks to going back to her usual catnapping nonsense during the day (the Friday 3 hr sleep was sadly a one off). How do I stop this catnapping without tears, on my own and without having to spend ages resettling at the expense of time with my two year old?

Also...how do you stop your little ones from slipping down in the hammock and dragging their wraps up close to their face?

HELP!

[sazzafrazz]

Yay my amby turned up and I love it! Wish they would make adult ones hehe. Lucy did you ever use a cot for your bubs or did they just stay in the amby till they were big enough for a bed with safety rails? The baby room is tiny and already has a single bed in it so I would like to avoid having a cot and hammock in there as well! Did you have trouble with your little ones "escaping" at all? Dont really want to get a cot for very little use.

[Lucy]

Sazz, My babies have gone hammock to cot to bed.

But the cot we had for Olivia is a cot that turns into a toddler bed, so she was in it for over 2 years, so we got the use out of the cot. And now Charlie has that cot, and in time he will go to the toddler bed, and in tuen Lexie will get use out of it.

In terms of escaping, do you mean from the hammock? If so, no, none at all.

[**Helen**]

Hi Lucy,
quick question, how old were your babies when you moved them onto the cot?

Also I love the idea of co-rooming. I did with Eithan until he was 10mths old . I miss having the kids in my room and would love to have them both sleep with us or in the same room, sigh...

Love

[Lucy]

Ok, Olivia was 11 months old. She was still tiny and still sleeping well in the hammock, but for some reason we decided to transition her. She moved to a cot no problem at all.

Charlie was bigger and wrigglier, so he was moved into his cot at 9 months. He was probably the "hardest" to transition" but looking back he was a little sick at the time too (ear infection) but it still was only a day or two of him getting used to it.

Lexie, she was a week short of 12 months......just last week! She transitioned no problems at all.read aboout it on my blog: Lucy's Blog

The rooming in thing worked brilliantly for us too......

[Ozziehoffy]

Lucy, did you ever have probs with the kids kicking around in the hammock?? Just the past week or so Oskar is waking at 4am and lifting both legs and kicking around and I also caught him trying to look up behind him... arching his back and looking up and behind. I am wondering if he wants to go into his cot. He's 6 months old... and I've had him bed with me the past two nights to see.. and this morning he was even rolling onto his side and going back to sleep. I'm going to move the cot to my room if that's the case cos Helen I'm with you... I still want my baby with me.

[Lucy]

Hi Cass,

Lexie had a habit of shuffling up to the back end of the hammock, but it wasn;t really an issue at all.....

She and Olivia would also kick around but only enough to get the motion going themselves, not as a means of escape IYKWIM? (Both v.small petite little babies.......)

Charlie (much bigger and much more active) kicked and turned, so as soon as he started doing that, I transitioned him to a cot......

[**Helen**]

Cass we had Eithan in his cot in our room, I hope you have room for it if you need to make the transition.

Love

[Ozziehoffy]

I measured it all up and the cot will fit in our room Andy has been away for work most the week so Oskar has been sleeping with me and doing very well. With each day *touch wood* he slept a little longer and even self settled again. So, it's looking like he wants more room so he'll be going into his cot. Thanks Lucy and Helen

[citrus]

Hi all
I'm considering using a baby hammock (e.g. Amby baby's Natures nest) for my bub due in April.
I'd love to hear from any mum's who've used a hammock - good points, bad points, would you recommend one?
Did you use it exclusively as the baby's bed or have a cot aswell?
Many thanks
Citrus

[Pony]

We got ours when Yasin was about 2 months old.
I wish we had got it earlier it was one of the best baby buys we made. Neither of our boys used the cot they both slept with us and in the hammock.
It's so easy getting them to sleep in the hammock because you can bounce them with a toe while you read a novel or watch TV and since you're distracted by the novel they seem to go to sleep so quickly.
Even though I'm not planing on having any more babies i ahven't yet been able to bring myself to get rid of the hammock.