amby hammock

[baffledbybaby]

Hi,
i,m a first-time poster although I have used the mumsnet archive to try and get some answers to my many baby questions as i am indeed most of the time feeling pretty clueless.
I could post many questions but at the moment my most pressing question is about the amby hammock. Myself and DP purchased one for DD (8 weeks)who was always difficult to settle to sleep in her moses basket. She didn't take brilliantly to the hammock at first but now can be put into it asleep around 11pm and will sleep until about 3 - 3-30am. I/m still a bit disappointed as although she was much more difficult and nightmarish to settle in her moses basket, she would actually sleep for a couple of hours longer before needing fed.
Also the hour or so before she wakes up fully in the hammock she is very unsettled. After waking at 3.30am I can put here back in the hammock an hour or so later -after feeding her-either asleep or i can bounce her to sleep but she wakes after about two - three hours again with a very unsettled hour before fully waking.
During the day she sleeps in bouncy chair or car-seat as she won't stay in the amby longer than half an hour.

Sorry I meant to conclude that by politely asking if anyone had any suggestions about how I can make the amby more attractive to her.

Hi BBB and welcome to mumsnet. I wonder if your DD would be any different in the moses basket / cot. Sounds like very normal behaviour for an 8 week old. In fact I think you're lucky if she's not feeding between 11 and 3 to be honest. You'll find that her sleep patterns change all the time so just when you think you've got a routine going on then she'll decide she wants to change it. It's what they teach them at baby school and it's called, keeping mummy and daddy on their toes I think providing she's not distressed then you're probably doing all you need to do. If she's just a bit grumbly then that's normal. My DD used to fidget for about an hour before needing to feed too and she was in a cot from day one.

GN,

thanks for reply and welcoming me to mumsnet.

You are right what i am describing is not unreasonable, it's just that I read such great things about the amby I had great expectations for it. I should just be happy that I am actually able to settle her in it at night unlike the moses basket

meh - I think there are lots of things that work so amazingly for some babies (Ambys, swaddling, complete darkness, white noise etc etc) that they get a reputation for being The Ultimate Sleep Aid... but of course they don't work for every child.

And something that works like a dream at 8 weeks could well fail miserably four weeks later.

Maybe try her in the moses basket and/or the cot again and if she's the same in that (ie happy 11-3) maybe think about selling the Amby while it's still fairly new ...

Mrs B,

thanks for your reply. i do feel a bit as if I have been taken in by something a bit gimmicky, but I suppose if i had found it as brilliant as others have I would be saying that as well.

Put it this way, if it's the only baby gimmick you're taken in by, you're doing well - just don't tell me you've bought a wipes warmer as well...

NB have you tried her in the full-size cot? Some babies are maddened by the confining aspect of moses baskets / Ambys etc and wake themselves up every time their hands/feet clonk the sides.

I don't think the Amby is a gimmick. I have one that I used for both my boys. One slept like a dream, and the other was always much more difficult to settle. It had nothing to do with the hammock. To this day, their sleep habits are very different to each other. I don't regret getting it at all. I think that at 8 weeks old, you would be lucky to have a baby that slept all night. My first son who was an excellent sleeper started to sleep through from 9 weeks old and that was highly unusual. My second was many many months later than this.

The Amby is a really nice way of settling babies, but it will not be foolproof. There is no magic solution really.

That was what I meant Ilana - the Amby's not a gimmick in itself, it's a very nice crib, but the fact it's touted as a Magic Sleep Solution is a bit of a gimmick.