Baby Hammocks # 2

[jenjams]

I wish I had found this thread when DD was younger. I used to have a horrible time with getting her to sleep during the day. But as she has gotten older, it has been slightly easier. She now catnaps during the day. I am definately going to buy a hammock for the next child.

[aesthetica]

Hi hammock experts! I am hoping you might have some advice for me. I am a long-time lurker but this is my first post.

My LO has had an amby hammock since birth. Initially, she rarely slept in it, as she was very unsettled and spent long days and nights just sleeping in my arms (frustrating at the time but I look back on it now and think awwwww). We co-slept a lot for the first few months but now she only comes to bed if she is very unhappy and won't sleep, as my partner is a very heavy sleeper and tends to pull blankets up over his head without realising! Once she got to a few months old, DD was mostly pretty happy sleeping in her amby, and in the past month or two has mostly been self-settling in it.

However, she wakes up a LOT. I consider 4 wake-ups a good night and anywhere up to 6 is very normal. However, lately it has been a bit worse, and also she has been crying and crying when I try to put her down (both at night and for day sleeps). So I have gone back to feeding to sleep, rocking, picking up and putting down etc.

I know it is very normal for babies to go through periods of wakefulness, but for some reason I wondered if it has to do with the hammock - if maybe she was ready for more room and if it was time to make the transition. After being up with her 10+ times the other night, I cracked and thought 'enough is enough'.

She has been in the cot since yesterday morning. It has been taking a while to get to sleep, she's been catnapping during the day and woke 6 times last night, but not nearly as bad as I expected.

However . . . I am having huge hammock withdrawals!! I hate the thought of her sleeping in the cot, it looks like a cage to me and she always looked so happy and comfy and snug in the hammock. It breaks my heart to think her days in it are over.

So now I am thinking of moving her back! Am I crazy? Could I just put her in it for day sleeps and keep her in the cot at night (or vice versa), or should I stick to my decision so I dont confuse her?

She is just shy of 8 months, no idea of weight but is fairly skinny. Is pretty long, though.

I just always thought she would be in there for longer than this.

Should I just let it go? Am I being ridiculous to think of moving her back? Or was I ridiculous to move her in the first place, as her bad sleeping most likely has nothing whatsoever to do with the hammock??

For those of you who did make the transition, how did it effect your LO's sleeping, and how long did it take to get back on track? Anyone out there whose LO started sleeping BETTER?

And when did you recover from the transition yourself?

Thanks for listening. It actually seems very silly now I have written it down.

[Ozziehoffy]

Oskar was in his Amby until around 6ish months old. He was starting to become a little more unsettled because he wanted to move around and lay on his side and is now a tummy sleeper. It could be that your little bub wants a bit more freedom to move as she is older.

[jackrose]

Hi Aesthetica,

If only we had the benefit of hindsight when we are going through the difficult times! I know how you feel, with my DD I am going through a very similar thing:

to bed in the hammock happily then co-sleeping with me after the first feed successfully for the first 6 months

getting grumpy in the hammock at about 6 months and beginning a sleeping cycle of waking up to hourly for feeds

now back to 2/3 feeds at night but sometimes quite vocal when she wakes up and quite a protester when I put her down leading me to consider that she doesn't like the hammock

However, I have persevered with the hammock and it appears to me (there is that hindsight benefit!) That her trouble was more about changing sleep patterns that lots of babies apparently go through at this age, and about me letting her develop an attachment for the boob to settle rather than a dislike for her hammock.
We are now over the worst of her night time disruptions (I hope!) at least it is not as bad as it once was. She seems to sleep so soundly and cosily between wakes in the hammock and I, like you, don't really dig the idea of a cot. So based on my experience.... I suggest that if believe in the hammock, keep it up. HTH

Sorry, did I mention she is 8 months now... so same as you pretty much!

[aesthetica]

Thanks for your replies. I must confess that after 2+ hours of trying to get her to sleep in her cot last night, I caved and put her back in her hammock, and she did sleep much better. I got a 4-hour stretch -- it has been a LONG time since I had that much sleep in a row!! Not sure if it was because she prefers the hammock or if she was just so exhausted after barely sleeping for the past few days.

ozziehoffy - I have been thinking that maybe she wants a little more room. When you moved Oskar, how long did it take for his sleep to improve? Or did he start sleeping better straight away?

jackrose - Sounds like we are in a pretty similar position! Glad to hear you are over the worst of it. I've been reading the NCSS and trying to implement it for the past month, not sure how much success I've had, though. I guess the hammock was the last possibility, in the back of my mind was the thought that JUST MAYBE in the cot she would sleep through, and then sleep through every night for the rest of her life!! You've got to laugh at that sort of optimism (or is that naivety?? )

If anyone else has any advice or wants to share their stories about how they knew it was time to transition to the cot, and how they went about it, I would love to hear them.

Thanks!

[Ozziehoffy]

From memory I think he actually started sleeping better pretty much straight away. He didn't go to sleep in his cot to start with, everything was transitioned. This was built around how he settled best etc. So, by the time we got to him going to his cot at night he was actually being put down on our bed at first then transferred asleep into his cot when we went to bed. Then when he started to move a bit too much he was straight into his cot and now can be put down awake and go to sleep on his own. So, I kinda used a little bit of the old mixed with new I guess.