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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Talk to me about the Amby Nature's Nest - tell me anything/everything!

26 replies

MrsMcSpooky · 13/10/2007 12:34

Ladies we are considering getting one of these for our first baby. All the stuff sounds interesting on the website and a few ladies I know seem to like theirs. We like the fact, in addition to the baby benefits, that it is smaller than a cot, lasts longer than a moses basket/crib, is portable and can also be used as a jump swing. Any thoughts at all would be really helpful.

Also, would you consider a 2nd hand one or am I being silly thinking that because something could happen to the frame/spring and it is mostly material that a new one is the best way to go. Thanks ladies

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Original poster

MrsMcSpooky · 13/10/2007 12:34

oh sorry, and what is your take on the snuggler - do we need one? thanks.

OP posts:

sabinar · 13/10/2007 13:45

hi Mrs McSpooky, I don't have any previous experience to add but I'm also thinking pretty seriously of getting one of these for my first as well. Would be interested to hear what others think.

I'm going to chat with my midwife about it on Monday and see what she thinks too. Will let you know if she has anything interesting to say

lilibet · 13/10/2007 13:51

Another one who wants opinions on this, a question I would like to ask is did you have any problems transferring your LO to a traditional cot or bed when they were bigger because they had got used to the shape and motion?

dal21 · 13/10/2007 16:43

I have one.

The snuggler is for newborns under 7lbs, so unless you have a premie, it isnt needed. My LO was early and a 5lber so we ordered it after he was born and it arrived the next day.

No experience about transferring to a cot, as bub is only 5 weeks old; but he sleeps in the moses during the day with no problems. So maybe use both so that their experience is with something other than the amby.

Re. nighttime sleeping - I have experimented between sleeping in moses at night and the amby and he can be just as settled/ cranky in both. I do concede that the longer sleeps have been in the amby and I am hoping the older he gets, the more it will come into its own. I am happy enough with it - but it isnt quite the miracle worker I expected it to be. Maybe I am being harsh as a 5 week old is going to be unsettled, regardless of what they sleep in intially.

Another point to note - is that once you open it and get the instructions out - it states in one part that swaddling baby in the amby is not recommended due to the design/ air flow etc. It doesnt put that anywhere on the website and I am not entirely sure I would have bought it had I known that as I did want to swaddle for much longer than I did.

They are very sturdily built, so would defo recommend getting a 2nd hand one in good condition and just buying a new matress.

Overall - I think my baby is still too small to be able to give a comprehensive view on it; maybe someone who has had one for longer will come along and help more.

Original poster

MrsMcSpooky · 13/10/2007 16:54

dal21 - thanks that is really interesting to read congratulations on your little one by the way!

I was really interested in what you said about swaddling, I was hoping to do that too and am wondering why its not recommended in the nature's nest? any ideas?

Did you buy the mobile by any chance? people have told me that babies love them and that you need one.

Also, I know you can buy fitted sheets especially for the nature's nest but what kind of top sheets and blankets are you using? I'm worried that standard ones will be too bulky in it?

OP posts:

goingfor3 · 13/10/2007 16:57

Grobags are the best covers you can buy for baby, I'm sure you could use it in a baby nest.

honeyapple · 13/10/2007 20:54

Mrs- hiya... of course i am yet to use my amby ... but it was 2nd hand and I am very pleased with the condition of it... have washed all the fabric bits. I have bought some more fitted sheets and the snuggler bit cos the hammock looks massive, and a little baby would surely slip about in it...?. I didnt read anything about not swaddling baby in it ... cant see any reason not to swaddle baby and put it in hammock, just the same as a cot or moses basket IMO but we will see!

weepotion · 13/10/2007 21:15

hi there! i love our amby nest!!!!!!!!!!!
so - be prepared for the everything i know about them.

we bought it second hand and had no worries about it - as it is material you can just bung it in the washing machine. the spare sheets are quite expensive for it so i made my own. i think you could just use a small sheet tightly folded.

DD (6months) was nearly 8lbs at birth so we didnt use the snuggler. We used to put her towards the end of it so she wasnt lost in it. She takes up about 1/2 of it now.
We have kept her mainly in gorbags but have also used light celluar blankets in it. we just wrapped her tightly in them. i dont know anything about not swaddling wee ones in it - never heard that before.
You can tie one end up tighter to increase the angle - good for colicky babies.
DD has been in hers from day 1 and seems really content. She wakes in the morning and is happy enough to bounce around in it for 1/2 hour.

I will be putting her into her own room in the next 4/5 weeks. I intend to put the nest in there and not put her into her main cot - she will probably go into that when she is about 9/ 10 months. I do put her into the big cot for daytime naps so she is used to both.
I didnt buy the jumpjump spring - it wpild be hard to move it from room to room but a friend has and her ds loves it.
I honestly would recommend one. They are quite bulky but we have used it as a travel cot - great to pack up and shove in the car. It is really easy to put together and i think it is a nice looking baby item.

I like the fact that even though she isnt in bed beside me - she is on the same level.

My community midwife and HV had heard of them but never seen one til ours. They were v impressed and had no worries about using one.

if you do buy one new - you can still get a high resale value.

good luck!!!!!!!!!!

MerlinsBeard · 13/10/2007 21:20

do they not get annoyed at not being able to roll over? i know that ds1 would NOT slep in teh day on his back and DS2 would get annoyed if he couldn't roll one way or the other due to toys/covers/.a wall being in his way

WinnieThePooh · 13/10/2007 21:27

WE bought ours off ebay and just got a new mattress. My DD2 was born at 3am on Thursday and I came home yesterday. She has settled really well into it and sleeps brilliantly in it.

MY MIL has got a moses basket if I want it, but I think I will just stick with putting the LO in the Amby for naps upstairs and in he vibrating chair when I am downstairs.

I would thoroughly recommend it. My community miwife was round this morning and had never heard of the Amby nest before. When we showeed her and how DD2 lies in it she was really impressed.

weepotion · 13/10/2007 21:33

mumofmonsters. - it doesnt seem to annoy her as yet!

puppydavies · 13/10/2007 22:20

we have an amby-alike (moffii) and wouldn't swap it for the world. after having a truly dreadful sleeper i know the value of every extra hour when they're tiny. there's no telling how much is luck and how much down to the hammock, but our 4month old is a champion sleeper, has been known to go 8 hours at a stretch. she can roll over onto her side in the moffii (not sure if the mattress is more flexible than the amby looks as tho it may be) which is how she prefers to sleep. have no idea how transition to cot will go, but she co-sleeps for the second part of the night and will sleep up to 3 or 4 hours then, so i wouldn't say she can only sleep in the hammock. i can say categorically it's been worth every penny we paid for it.

imjin100 · 14/10/2007 10:22

hello to the amby experts. I've been looking at the website and they do look fantastic although quite different! Do you think you can have this instead of a moses basket or do you think you need both? Do you think it is worth getting you lo to sleep in this and an alternative so that the transfer to a cot is easier. At what age do they need to transfer to a cot (so as a first timer, due in march, i don't know what ages they change!)
We will be going away quite alot and both sets of parents have cots etc - we were quite keen not to have to always travel ourselves with travel cots as they have them but with this just wondering if that will be a problem as some nights they will be in it and others the lo will be in normal cot. ANy thoughts from the pros gratefully received!

ib · 14/10/2007 10:46

I have one which has basically never been used as ds just would not settle into it. It was given to me by my sister, who basically never used it as her ds wouldn't settle into it. Both were refluxy babies, and whatever the manufacturer says, I don't think it works for them.

I think I will try again if we ever have another one, but I certainly don't think they are the miracle they are claimed to be. I've yet to come across someone who says their baby was a bad sleeper until they got the Amby and then became a brilliant sleeper.

weepotion · 14/10/2007 12:26

ib - i have a friend who has one - mentionned in my other post as the one with teh jumpjump. her dd was a really unsettled baby until she got one. it did turn things around for them. might not do it for everyone though.

Original poster

MrsMcSpooky · 15/10/2007 14:00

Thanks ladies I really appreciate all your feedback. I have bid for one on ebay ? we?ll see! I will be my own mattress if I am successful though.

Weepotion ? lots of positive feed back thanks!!

Winniethepooh ? congratulations!

Ib ? say you wanted to sell let me know!

I don?t plan to use a Moses basket, just the nest for night and day sleeps too when I feel confident to leave the baby in a different room, before then I plan to use a bouncer or the carry cot from the pram for the baby to sleep in during the day.

OP posts:

Scoobi6 · 15/10/2007 14:34

We used one of these for ddfrom birth and loved it, she settled and slept very well in it. Used grobags rather than blankets. The spring is just right to give a lovely gentle bouncing and when she stirred in the night I could just reach out and knock it, and she'd bounce back to sleep.

I wanted to use it longer, but once dd got to about 6 mo she wanted to fling her arms out wide, roll over, etc and couldn't in the snug hammock. So we switched to a cot and she had no trouble with the change. She had coslept in our bed a bit as well though, so sleeping on a flat surface wasn't completely new to her.

Didn't bother with the jumpjump, I just bought a cheap door bouncer for downstairs. The amby is too big to move around the house each day. But its fab for travelling, never had any trouble getting dd to sleep in different places because her bed was always identical.

puppydavies · 15/10/2007 18:35

just to point out the moffii is portable - it comes with a door bouncer style hanger and a hook you can attach permanently to a ceiling beam. we use it downstairs on a permanent attachment for naps and upstairs on the frame. we've also taken it away and used it on the doorway hanger - it packs down really small/light so we could take it on the train (along with all the other luggage a baby and preschooler require).

Chooster · 15/10/2007 19:08

Hi!! I know we've spoken about this already MrsMcSpooky, but just to add my experience.

DS2 (13 weeks) slept in a moses basket for the first 2 weeks but could've and, in hindsight, should've been in the amby from day 1. His sleep was much better in the amby. It may have been co-incidence but I think the amby is great. He regularly sleeps 8 hours in a stretch, although I know he does wake but just nods off again easily. We use grobags / sleep bags every night as then I dont need to worry about blankets etc. In terms of travel we've taken ours away quite a bit and it folds down / goes back up in about a minute - very easy, even I can do it .

Not heard of he swaddling problem, not sure why you couldn't but from what I've read and heard from HV, swaddling is not recommended for sleep any more anyway.

Original poster

MrsMcSpooky · 16/10/2007 10:09

Haven?t looked at the moffi, will do that

Thanks Chooster

I wasn?t successful on eBay last night but it went for more than I was prepared to pay ? I?d pay £75 including P&P for a second hand one if anyone knows of one. I figure that I?d still have to get my own mattress for £25 and as you can get a new one for less than £140 including P&P, that?s about right for a 2nd hand one.

OP posts:

sabinar · 16/10/2007 11:01

eh. bugger. I just looked at the Moffi Oberon and now I want that - its gorgeous.

Original poster

MrsMcSpooky · 16/10/2007 12:41

Is it the one that is £250?! Saw it in a magazine

OP posts:

puppydavies · 16/10/2007 12:48

you can buy just the hammock and door hanger without the frame for about £100. we don't use the proper fixings that came with it but a hook in a knocked through doorway that had been thoroughly tested by having dd1s swing on it for a year or so. although i have to admit i got a deal on mine, would have found it harder to justify full retail.

puppydavies · 16/10/2007 12:52

although with hindsight i would have paid full retail knowing how well she sleeps in it. is harder to say in advance cos you know some babies just won't take to things.

bluebell82 · 17/10/2007 17:44

Sorry to hijack but have just had a look at these and oh my god how fab do they look and sound.. I am definitely going to buy one as not yet bought moses basket/crib.. have a cotbed ready in nursery but didn't want to put baby straight into that and this nature nest looks great for when the baby is sleeping during the day and also turns into swing.. love it have to have it!!

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