Having worked in Complementary Health-Care as a CranioSacral Therapist and Doula for almost two decades, I had treated many babies over the years and had seen first-hand how potentially devastating the cumulative lack of sleep from colic, reflux and unresolved birth trauma could be for the entire family. I had always recommended Dr Bill Sears’ books to the parents in my practice, and was interested to see his strong advocacy and endorsement of Nature's Nest Baby Hammock as an excellent way of resolving some of these issues.

I spent a great deal of time researching the historical use of baby hammocks in different cultures around the world, and also the different kinds of hammocks in use today. The Nature's Nest Baby Motion Bed impressed me tremendously: with over 45 000 hammocks in use all over the world; and with twenty years worth of unsolicited testimonials received from everyday people whose lives with their babies had literally turned around by using Nature's Nest I was sure that this was something so many South African families would benefit from too.

Our first shipment arrived two weeks before our daughter was due; and I have to admit that even then, part of me was a little unsure – was I about to guinea-pig my own child in something that would turn out to be a fad? Athena went into her hammock the night after she was born, and loved it from that very first time. I pulled the hammock up close to the side of our bed so that I could easily reach in and pick her up to nurse in the night, and found it incredibly easy to settle her again with just a few gentle sways or bounces.

By three months, Athena was sleeping for anywhere between five and seven hours at a stretch at night; and was in an easy, regular rhythm of napping for between 90 minutes and two hours, twice a day.

Far from being a fad, Athena’s hammock is literally the only baby bed she’s ever known. We’ve travelled extensively with her, and always simply popped the hammock in the car and put it up again at our destination. An hour later, our baby would be fast asleep in her own bed.

Athena was a very mobile baby – something that seems quite common with hammock babies as their core muscles develop so well – and was sitting up on her own by four months and crawling by just over six. I was a bit nervous about how this would work out with her hammock: would she tip herself over? Try to climb out? She never did. The Nature's Nest is so well designed that babies can’t comfortably turn onto their tummies in it, and don’t have a solid enough surface to stand up on.

By nine months, Athena was pointing to go to her hammock when she was tired and needed to sleep. We put the extender spring on at fourteen months and continued to be amazed: most of our friends with babies of similar ages were up two or three times a night with their little ones. Unless Athena was cutting a tooth or not feeling well, we simply never heard from her at night. By that time her naps had consolidated to one long sleep over mid-day, and she would easily sleep for three hours or more then.

At twenty months, we finally knew that Athena just didn’t fit into her hammock comfortably anymore and we had to begin the transition into a “big girl” bed – I think she was sadder than we were! She transitioned easily and is sleeping beautifully in her own bed now, but still asks for her “ammock” every day.

I’m so grateful that we found this wonderful product before Athena was born; and so excited to be able to make that gentle, peaceful beginning available to other families in South Africa.

The Nature's Nest Bed was introduced to South Africa by Sharon Plaskitt at the beginning of 2008.