Thanks for the responses ladies.
I was feeding DS to sleep during the day until a couple of weeks ago when he became more wakeful during the day. Now he still seems quite alert after feeds which is making things harder. I have also tried wearing him in my sling until he passes out, then transferred him to the cradle, which also worked for awhile but is becoming less successful as he becomes more aware. (Plus the noise from the other kids doesn't help!)

Miss Dee - which carrier do you have? I am just using one of those material wrap hugabub style things (which I love), but am unable to configure it so bubs is on the back. Would like to try this.

Thanks for suggestion of Hammock HotI - I will look into this one.