roosting in the hammock

Oona's now taking her naps in a comfy all cotton hammock (read washable) which we purchased from Nova Natural. A while ago we settled on the hammock as the ideal solution for where to put Oona down that gives her some sensation remotely similar to the womb. Hammocks are fairly common all over the world and we are hoping this will help extend her sleeping hours. Originally we wanted a modern design hammock that cost way too much but looks great. It is difficult to find baby products that don't have 13 loud colors, synthetic fabrics, and loads of plastic. The most popular and what seems to be the most successful hammock on the market is the Amby Baby, which still fails the "looks good in the house" test. We almost bought it purely on testimonials of 6 hours of night sleep in a row and happy babies all over. Then we realized that the main difference between the Amby Baby and any other hammock was the spring, which gives babies up and down motion in addition to the tight 360 swirl when they move around, all supposedly womb-like.

Keely's bright idea was to save the $250 and look at Home Depot for a $5 spring. I found it in a garage door replacement spring rated at max. 38 lbs. which gives the perfect bounce for little Oona. Even better, as she gets bigger, we can simply replace the spring as needed. The Nova Natural hammock also has a 5-point harness that we'll strap around her once she is big enough to squirrel her way out. So far so good. She's getting used to it and has been sleeping better the last couple days.

It's all about the spring.

We've also installed a hook in the attic near our bed for night time sleep which means we don't have to have multiple pieces of baby furniture, merely a traveling hammock.

Click on video to see the "womb-like" motion!