Miyo Baby Hammock

I bought the Miyo for my LO, who despite having severe reflux has always slept brilliantly in her hammock. From newborn she slept 5 hour stints and by 9 weeks old she was sleeping from 7pm - 5am! I got the stand for napping downstairs and installed ceiling hooks in our room for night-time sleeping. Both ways of suspending the hammock worked well and I even dismantled the stand and took it to my mums instead of using a travel cot. (Miyo do make a travel adaptor but my OH refused to buy this saying it looked too flimsy). The only negative aspects of this product have been the awkardness of access (hammock can swing wildly when trying to put baby in and baby can get feet/arms/head caught in the fabric on her way out). A minor irritation is that DD is often hard to see (particularly in a darkened room) but she doesn't care about that. However, my biggest issue with the Miyo is that DD has outgrown it (at nearly 4 months old). My LO is a tall baby, much more like a 6 month old but even so, I was a little disappointed that the Miyo didn't last longer.

We tried putting DD in her cot bed but she suffered terrible bouts of reflux and woke frequently through the night. In the end we decided to buy her a new hammock - Happy Hangup, from Australia. This hammock is brilliant and is even more effective for her reflux since you can position the cushion accordingly. The bounce action is also far superior to the Miyo and DD can stretch out her little arms and legs(making transition from hammock to cot bed more easy on her when reflux has abated). I am still using the Miyo frame but have also installed another hook in her room (she can enjoy her Happy Hangup until she is 3), there are none of the problems with access and you can see baby easily at a glance. Finally, the Happy Hangup is made of a patterned material which is supposedly great for ocular convergence (am sure this would be true with a newborn but am not sure with 4 month old), my LO loves looking at the patterns though and will lie quietly at bedtime until she falls asleep (weird)! My only bugbear is with Royal Mail who charged us ridiculous import fees which bumped up the price of the otherwise reasonable Hangup! If buying again I would see if I could purchase through Ebay.

In conclusion, I am a great fan of baby hammocks, especially for babies with regurgitation issues. I am convinced that my DD has been able to thrive despite her painful reflux because she is able to sleep well and keep more food down than if she had been lying flat on her back. If buying again I would obviously choose the Happy Hangup - it looks a little less stylish and a bit more 'earth mother' (something I quite like) but it will last a bigger baby for longer and functions more effectively - quite simply a great piece of kit that I will be using with my next baby!

Chose this because it promised better sleep, it doesn't take up a lot of room (when hanging from the ceiling) and it looks attractive.
Had an issue with the spring being too stiff, but this was eventually resolved by a new spring from the seller.
At 4 weeks, it's too soon to expect my DS to sleep through the night, but he only wakes up twice, which good enough for me.
Main drawback is that with all the swaying and dipping, it's
difficult putting a sleeping baby in it.

I thought this looked better than the Amby and I love the fact that you can hang it from the ceiling or in a door frame. This means that (a) you don't need the stand so it's half the price and (b) you can bundle it up in seconds and take it elsewhere. My son hated his Moses basket and was starting to try to push his way out of it but he loves the hammock and rocks himself to sleep quite happily. It claims to have 4 out of 5 babies sleeping through the night by 4 months old; we've had it a fortnight so we'll see!

The only drawback is that there's a knack to getting the baby in and out; it tends to swing away from you as you're inserting your child!