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Baby cradle

Methods and apparatus for promoting safe and healthy sleep for infants have been the subject of a significant amount of serious thought and development over the years. Baby mattresses, crib sleeping arrangements and bedding apparatus of all types have evolved over many years leading to a good amount of innovative and inventive techniques. Typical bayby cradles comprise a fixed support that may not be folded such that the cradles are not good for storing and transportation purposes. In addition, the cradles comprise a parallelepiped support which may not be comfortably support the baby. Baby cradles have almost exclusively used transverse rockers to rock a baby from side to side. A few cradles, though primarily envisioned as rocking a baby from side to side, have been adaptable to head to toe rocking by longitudinally aligning the cradle and the rockers. Since it is considered advantageous to provide a rocking motion for the cradle, many of the cradles are supported by rocker elements which can be utilized for rocking the cradle to and fro. A baby lying in a cradle is soothed if the cradle is rocked. Devices have been created which impart either a rocking, jogging, or translational motion to a baby cradle to bring about a soothing effect. The most common form of cradle used for infants from birth is a bassinet style cradle. This comprises a flat base section with a surrounding wall, and a rectangular mattress is located on top of the base portion. Lightweight cradles of a type that can be readily disassembled for storage or travel have become very popular. Some of these cradles are convertible between seats and beds. Typically, such a baby cradle employs interfittable wire and tubular frames and a fabric cover, which has straps to restrain an infant sitting in the cradle from falling. Often, the wire frames have some resiliency so that an infant sitting in the cradle can cause the cradle to bounce gently.

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