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So it all started with a picture posted on Facebook by my friend Betsy. Of her baby in a hammock. What a fantastic idea, I thought. I asked her where she got hers, and she found it super cheap on Ebay. I started stalking Ebay, but I have really bad luck on there. And the prices for name brands like Happy Hangup and the Kanoe Baby Hammock were, well, a little out of my price range.

Then I wondered if I couldn’t just make one. I found this post of pictures of another homemade baby hammock and decided I definitely could do it, but without ever seeing an actual hammock in person, I was reluctant to just throw something together without knowing what I was doing. I eventually found a set of instructions here by Karyn.

Baby Hammock Baby Hammock

The hammock itself was not hard to put together. I found all the hardware I needed (rated to at least 100 lbs) at Lowe’s. I used a Cedar board and carved out the notches on either end with a boring bit on my drill press and then my circular saw.

Baby Hammock

I still need to sand the board down, but I’m actually going to wait on that until the baby arrives, and then I’ll probably make Randy do it. I was completely unsure how long the board should be. I have asked several people about their hammocks, and it seems the hanger part REALLY varies. Now that I have it assembled, I understand.

My board is 3 feet long (I started with 4, but that was too much). I like how that width supports the hammock in a wider position, but dislike how close that makes the baby to the wood beam. So I am either going to make a new hammock, but start with 5 yards of fabric instead of 4, or I’m going to cut the board down to 2 feet and re-notch the end. But I need an actual baby in there first to see what, if any, other modifications I’d make.

Then I’ll definitely be making a new hammock so that I have two (one for the laundry, one for use), and I’ll probably dye the plain unbleached muslin to make it more fun.

If you prefer to buy one, Peaches and Nips at Etsy sells what appear to be very nice hammocks, for much cheaper than the better-known brands like Happy Hangup, etc. (It’s usually cheaper to buy direct from the source. Happy Hangup and the like have to pay all the middlemen, too.)

Please pardon the bad pictures in this post. I was having contractions, didn’t feel like carrying the heavy hammock upstairs, and it is a pretty dark day here anyway, and I would have had to use the flash regardless, so I decided to just leave it in the basement and photograph it where it is.