# Baby Hammock?



## emeraldhips (Nov 22, 2010)

Has anyone used a baby hammock? What was your experience? Is it worth the money?


----------



## HucksMomma (Dec 25, 2010)

I have been using a Special Delivery Baby Hammock for my 6 month old son for about 2 months! SO WORTH THE MONEY! My son was a catnapper and didn't sleep well at night until we started using a hammock. I wish I would have known about hammocks when he was a newborn! He just doesn't like to sleep flat and likes motion. It is a million times easier to get him to sleep and for him to stay asleep. It literally saved my sanity. The spring action is great for self-soothing. When he wiggles, it starts moving and he goes back to sleep. If I do need to help him out, just a push or a bounce with a few fingers and he's good to go.

There are two options for baby hammocks that are still SIDS safe after they can roll over. I have a "Special Delivery Baby Hammock". They are handmade in Hawaii by a bunch of Mom's. Nice for the price $85. www.specialdeliverybabyhammock.com

The other one, which is much nicer and less "handmade" looking but more expensive is the Kanoe. $290.The way its designed is nice and it would probably be easier to get a bigger baby in and out of than the Special Delivery one. www.kanoe.us

It took me a few tries to figure out a smooth way to get Huck in and out of the Special Delivery hammock (I sit down while holding him upright, pull the hammock and spread it over my knees so that it is still and then put him in head first and pull the rest of it under his body.) You have to tie and untie the Special Delivery hammock at the foot end to get baby in and out. The Kanoe is more open so you probably can just place the baby in. If I had the money, I would have gotten the Kanoe, but the Special Delivery one works and looks nice, just a little trickier to use.

About a month into using his hammock, the spring on Huck's broke. He's fine, but it was scary. Anyway, the spring that comes with the hammock isn't the greatest. I called the Special Delivery and told them it broke and they said that it has never happened before. I hope so! It may have been a faulty spring... Anyway, instead of replacing it with the same spring I bought a replacement spring from the Kanoe Baby Hammock company and it is much nicer, stainless steel, much stronger and quieter with smooth action. I would strongly suggest that the Special Delivery stock spring be replaced with the one from Kanoe for baby's safety.

Also, there is a great video on the Happy Hangup hammock website of a baby going to sleep using a Happy Hangup Hammock. Their design isn't SIDS safe because of the cushion in the bottom and they are out of Australia and expensive to ship, but it is great to see how quickly a baby is bounced off to sleep.


----------



## HucksMomma (Dec 25, 2010)




----------



## faithsstuff (Nov 30, 2008)

We used the AMby with ds. It saved us! You don't realize how crazy your are when you're sleep deprived and have a new baby. We got the hammock and it was amazing. I wish we had a toddler sized one, so far it's been the only time in his life that he actually slept and allowed us to as well. good luck. One of the good thing about hammocks is that you can always sell a used one for a fair price.


----------



## texmati (Oct 19, 2004)

We used a 'ghodiyu'-- a traditonal indian baby hammock. it was a lifesaver. It swing side to side not front and back, and has four supports instead of two. I honestly trust it a lot more than the versions that are on springs and only hold the fabric in two places.


----------



## JuliMummy (Apr 9, 2010)

We had an Amby hammock as well and loved it. It's fantastic. It's portable - we took it with us on holidays, to my in-laws, everywhere we went. And it's so comfy and cozy, I always thought I would like to sleep in one  A while back there was a recall because two babies had died in an Amby hammock. I contacted the manufacturer and they said that in both cases the babies had been unwell and there was user error, ie. the hammock had been assembled incorrectly or the baby placed in it with the head at the wrong end. Anyway, if used and assembled correctly (which is not that hard if you follow the instructions) it is very safe. When I looked into getting a hammock I also looked at the kanoe one in a shop, but thought it was too huge and cumbersome, and another Australian one which I can't remember the name of - it was just a sling suspended from a spring with a cushion in it. That one looked quite unsafe to me, as it would have been so easy for a wriggly baby to slide off the cushion and end up squashed against the side.

For us the only problem with the baby hammock was that it wasn't the miracle cure for my daughter's terrible sleeping that I had hoped it would be  But I think it still made a big difference, because I could get her to fall asleep in it, when before I would have to rock her in my arms and then risk her waking up when I tried to put her down.

But even if it doesn't solve your sleep problems it is just a lovely place for a baby to sleep in. I loved it. It's definitely in my top three baby things we bought.


----------



## sillysmile (Nov 5, 2009)

We had a hushamok (very similar to the Amby), and it unfortunately didn't work well for us. The motion would just wake DD up.. if she squirmed a little, the movement would basically get amplified and wake her. She also had bad reflux, and wasn't comfortable lying flat, so we tried various techniques to increase the angle of the hammock. Seems like others have had better experience in general, and our DD was just a bad sleeper wherever she was! A small handful of times we were successful in rocking her to sleep in it. Staying asleep was the hard part. You might want to look into the return policy though and see if you can test it out without committing. For most baby products this means waiting until pretty much your due date to buy the thing, which I know can be stressful.


----------



## HucksMomma (Dec 25, 2010)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *sillysmile*
> 
> We had a hushamok (very similar to the Amby), and it unfortunately didn't work well for us. The motion would just wake DD up.. if she squirmed a little, the movement would basically get amplified and wake her. She also had bad reflux, and wasn't comfortable lying flat, so we tried various techniques to increase the angle of the hammock. Seems like others have had better experience in general, and our DD was just a bad sleeper wherever she was! A small handful of times we were successful in rocking her to sleep in it. Staying asleep was the hard part. You might want to look into the return policy though and see if you can test it out without committing. For most baby products this means waiting until pretty much your due date to buy the thing, which I know can be stressful.


The Kanoe hammock has a rental option...you can rent it by the month and try it out and then if you buy it the rental money goes toward your purchase.


----------



## HucksMomma (Dec 25, 2010)

The Kanoe hammock has a four-point attachment, if you are worried about only two. Having a hammock on a spring is, for my son, the best part. I don't think it would work as well for putting him to sleep if it only swings and doesn't bounce...

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *texmati*
> 
> We used a 'ghodiyu'-- a traditonal indian baby hammock. it was a lifesaver. It swing side to side not front and back, and has four supports instead of two. I honestly trust it a lot more than the versions that are on springs and only hold the fabric in two places.


----------

