baby hammocks - anyone?

[hettiew]

Hi there,

I'm really taken with the idea of a baby hammock, to use from birth instead of a moses basket. I've seen a few but my favourite is here www.moffii.com/.

The companies who make them - and the few people I've found who've reviewed them - make all sorts of frankly heavenly claims for hammocks: that they prevent flat-head syndrome, are fantastic for colic and, most alluringly, that babies sleep a great deal better and for longer.

But I'm nervous. There's so little information out there about them so it's hard to make an educated decision about whether they're a good thing. I worry that they might not provide enough support for the baby's spine, or that surrounding the baby so closely in a hammock might carry risks of smothering etc.

Has anyone out there tried them? And could they give me any advice? Thanks.

I LOVE my Amby Hammock. The reason it is supposed to help with colic is because baby is slightly elevated (you're suppose to place baby in it with their feet at the bottom of the hammock, this naturally makes the hammock elevate baby's head above their feet) which is helpful if your baby suffers from reflux, which can be a cause of fussiness. For my babies, it definitely prevented flat head syndrome e.g. they didn't get it. I do think that some babies are just better sleepers than others, but one thing that is nice about the hammock is that a baby that likes motion can be bounced back to sleep without being picked up, if they genuinely don't need feeding or holding, but have just gotten woken up and are trying to get back to sleep. The gentle curve of the hammock is supposed to be better for small babies than a flat cot mattress because naturally babies spines are curved. I don't think a baby could be smothered by being in the hammock unless you covered it in blankets, which you shouldn't need to do necessarily, while mine were small I put them in a grobag type thing instead of using a blanket, I think you could certainly have the same concerns in a cot with a blanket getting over baby's face. Anyway, two thumbs up for me, getting ready to use my hammock for the third time in a few weeks!

Thanks sarahbuff! Just had another look at the amby and it seems to be slightly different to the one I had my eye on, in that it has a more structured/flat bottom? Is that right?!

Yeah, I did get that impression after looking at the Moffi one you posted, the Moffi looks very modern and beautiful but I wonder whether the frame is as stable? I assume it must be otherwise they wouldn't be selling it, but the frame on the Amby is very sturdy and flat. Also, the hammock part has a more structured frame (it isn't hard, but is stitched in a sort of square way IYSWIM) and has zips on either side at the bottom, so you can sort of "open" it to get baby in and out if you want (I don't bother, just reach in). I couldn't tell if the Moffi has a mattress or if it is just a cloth hammock (lots of women in other countries do use just cloth to lay a baby in btw), but the Amby has a foam mattress and is structured so it is essentially flat, and just curves up slightly when baby is in it.

I used the amby nature nest for my DS who had reflux. He did seem to sleep better in there than in the cot, although his reflux was still pretty bad. Overall though, I do love the hammock and will use it for this DC. It's great if they start to wake in the night you can just poke a toe out and give it a bounce :)

I love my amby - dd4 best sleeper out of all of them and only only to sleep in the amby

I have an Amby too and I would second what sarahbuff says. We got it because DS was very prem and Id read that the Amby is particularly good for colic/reflux/prems. He has always slept well although I'll never know if thats the hammock! Id put him in the hammock and he'd wriggle with a smile and gently rock/bounce himself. I put him in the cot at about 9/10 months. He did have reflux and colic but rarely ever very discomforted about it. He was always much easier to wind than DD but again I dont know if the Amby helped. It was very easy to soothe him by gently bouncing with one hand while snoozing if he was restless.

One other tip is that the Amby is smaller than our travel cot (although a bit longer) so it went on a few trips very easily.

Good luck!

Wow, looks like the amby has a lot of fans! The
moffi does have a matress in it, SarahBuff, but the sides are less structured than the ambi, which is what makes me nervous.

Good thing about it is it comes with a 'travel adaptor' that allows you to hang it in any door frame, so you can move it about the house with you during the day for the LO to nap in, or take it to other people's houses when you're visiting...

Still can't make up my mind! Anyone used a moffi? And would those of you who had the ambi been comfortable using this one?

Thanks so so much for all the advice, very reassuring!

Hello, I was given Ambi by a colleague for my first baby, due 7/11. We've just managed to assemble it - but one question.. Is the mattress supposed to be slightly longer than the mattress cover? Or did you cut yours?

Or is it supposed to be longer so it kind of curves?

Jenni it's meant to curve a bit. We have an Amby and it's fab!

Thanks BagofHolly! My new sheets for have arrived and I'm looking forward testing it out:)

We had an Amby for dd and two sets of friends were so impressed they bought them for their DCs! We'll definitely be using it again for DS.

Amby is brilliant and has our vote. Me and DH just looked at the Moffii link and we didn't think it looked as stable. the frame definitely looks nicer as the Amby frame is not exactly something you'd see in Habitat- BUT it is very strong.

I don't think it helps babies sleep through the night, i think that depends on the baby and each baby is different. our DS definitely does NOT sleep through the night!! but what the Amby makes sooo much easier is getting him to sleep when he does wake and has had a feed, or getting him to sleep in his daytime naps which were a nightmare before.

also travelling with it is brilliant. i read lots of reviews saying its difficult to use as a travel cot, and then when i first disassembled it and took it to my mum's i couldn't help wondering what on earth people were doing to find it so difficult, as it really takes less than a minute!

oh, and your baba looks really cute all snug in the hammock

Another vote for the Amby! Have DD2 upstairs asleep in it at the moment. They really are fab, can't be that much of a coincidence that both of ours are good sleepers...

BTW travelling is soooo easy that we took DD2 camping with it at 6 weeks!

Oh and when your DC outgrows the actual hammock bit and moves into a cot, you can get the Jump-Jump bit. Our dd went absolutely nuts for it, leaping around for half an hour at a time. It was hilarious.

Octavia, I second that. DD slept well in the hammock until about 6 months but then we got daily use as a jump jump for another 6 months.

We loved the Amby for all the reasons people have already said and will use it again with DD2 in January.

DD loved hers and did I. She was a wake every 4 hours BF baby but I'm hoping #2 might be one that sleeps lots (I've read all the claims too). I have a Natures Sway brought in NZ.

It was great as I hung it from ceiling right next to me in bed so I rarely had to get out of bed to feed & replace baby. I used a merino sleeping bag too & worked really well with hammock, though I'd use cellular blankets occassionaly too (more for day sleeps). Oh & I could reach out & bounce DD without moving too - blissful.

DD has a lovely round head - I def think that it cradled her head (and body) really well & certainly no flat head issues for us.

Initially I was a little concerned as it wasn't perfectly flat, but Birth Care ( a leading MW lead birth centre in Auckland) have them available for all their newborns & recommend them.

Hi findingmymojo thanks so much for posting - really interesting as your hammock sounds a lot more like the moffi miyobaby one that I've now gone ahead and bought.

Yours, like mine www.moffii.com/, doesn't have as structured a bottom as the Ambi. When they put a doll in it in the shop, to illustrate how a baby would sleep, the matress curled round it's head slightly. They promised this was safe, as the baby won't be able to turn over into the matress, but I'm still slightly concerned that if the baby turned its head it could be smothered against the curled side of the mattress?!

I assume they would have thought of this, and wouldn't be allowed to sell it were this the case... Right?!

I was really interested in a baby hammock especially as a friend from NZ had one and raved about it. I was all set to buy a second hand one and get a new matterss, when googling amby mattress linked to this thread on MN www.mumsnet.com/Talk/in_the_news/875082-Amby-hammock-recall-US/AllOnOnePage

I'm sure there were specific reasons around this one case, and that statistically hammocks are extremely safe (based on stats - more so than cots) but now I've read about it I'm not sure I'm willing to chance the fact that I too could get the set up slightly wrong and this could mean that my baby suffocated.

I think you should make your mind up based on all information, but did think that it was odd that no one had pointed out the previous recall in the US. To be fair its a different type of hammock to the one you're looking at, so the issue could be specific to that one.