Amby Nature's Nest Baby Hammock

we bought an amby nest before the birth of our son. The intention was that he would sleep in it following recommendation from friends. We did use it during the day, & everyone agreed that an adult version would be great. But we ended up buying a moses basket for the nighttimes. I never really felt comfortable with the product. I was never 100% convinced that the baby would not roll, even when he was really small. Also, increasingly, as the baby increased, we discussed how his head appeared to be lower than his body .... no matter how we adjusted the ties & velcro bits. We stopped using it entirely around 4 months when we started putting the baby down for naps in his nursery cot.

It has to be said the product looks great & got a lot of admiring comments from friends and family.

However it also has to be said that we bought the product new in the UK & I found dealing with the <small> company that has the UK rights frustrating due to payment problems & poor customer service.

Overall I wouldn't buy it again, but I would probably use it again for naps if we had another baby.

We discovered the natures nest at 6 weeks when after 2 weeks of baby waking himself every 20mins when he threw his arms out and hit the sides of his Moses basket, i started the search for a new bed. We had a cotbed which was in the nursery (too big for our room), and at 6 weeks i wasn’t ready to move our little chap out of our room.

The Best Bits:

1) Literally hugs the baby. Really natural cradling position, no pressure. Gives your arms a rest if you have a colicy baby.

2) Gently raises head, really great for refluxy babies and when little ones have a cold.

3) Any jerks or moro movements transformed into gentle bounce or rock to lull them back to sleep. Longer sleep for baby longer sleep for mummy.

4) Will last long enough to take them into their cotbed.

5) Feels really safe, easily fits by bedside (check dimensions of metal frame)

Only downsides

1) Initially a fiddle to get them in and out, just like anything takes practice. I think to begin with the awkwardness to position is sensed by baby so takes them a while to get used to it. It took about 5 days to get confident putting them in and taking them out, our little one had it cracked within the week.

2) Expensive to buy new, we bought ours from a lovely family via ebay. The parts in contact with the baby all go in the washing machine so i felt happy to risk it and ours was fab. Cost us just £65.

3) Wont last us the year, we are stopping using this now at 6 months our little chap is quite big 95th C length and Weight, but he is wanting to wriggle more and have more space. We have been using the cot in nursery for last 2 months for naps so easy transition.

Summary:

We love ours. If you have a fussy, refluxy, colicy baby this is excellent. By no means a miracle cure but every little helps, as they say. Wish we had it from day 1 with our little chap and will definitely use it from birth for the next one. Buy from ebay for better value.

I was given one of these when my baby was only a couple of weeks old. It is excellent as when the baby is put in it they feel like they are being cuddled. I can easily bounce my son back to sleep if he stirs. The only criticism I have is that as he is now much bigger when he wakes he has slid down and his legs are squashed, which doesn't help his slight positional talipies. At four months I may soon purchase a cot for him to sleep in which if I had purchased the nature nest after only four months use it would not have been good value for money.

Bought this after my second child was born as he was fussy and didn't sleep well during the day. He has never been a good day napper, but slept through the night from about 12 weeks onwards with no problems. I love the position that the cot holds baby in, with no pressure on their back or head (no flat heads here), and the fact that you can bounce baby gently back to sleep if they wake during the night. My third baby also slept in it and totally loved it, each child used it until they were about 1 and then went straight to a bed with their brothers. Big upsides for me: No hard bars for baby to climb around and knock themselves on/get feet stuck in/climb out of and conk their head on the floor. Natural positioning of back and soft on their head avoiding flat head when newborn and it automatically snuggles up to baby a bit like being held. Less bulky than a cot to fit next to the bed. Built-in bouncing and rocking. I love it, love it, love it!

We haven't used this half as much as we thought we would. Bought it while pregnant as a result of glowing reviews, but actually DD slept perfectly in Moses basket and initially screamed whenever we tried her in the hammock.

She is a bit better with it now and i tend to use it for daytime naps, although even then i think she is happier in her cot. We moved her from Moses basket to cot without using the hammock as I didn't really want to get her into something that moved when she slept as then she'd go to something stable again.

It is also quite bulky and i disagree with the people that say it would be a convennient travel cot - the hammock itself is light but the frame is metal and quite large, If you have a small bedroom, you may have problems fitting it beside a double bed.

I would say don't buy it until you see what kind of baby you have. May help bad sleepers get to sleep, but you may not need it at all.