Premature babies sleeping in hammocks in Columbia

Hammocks are being used by doctors in Colombia to aid premature babies.

The babies are being placed in hammocks measuring 50 centimetres in length, which are then placed inside the incubators, reports the BBC.

This way the infants remain on their backs and can breathe easier, as well as making the babies "sleep longer which helps their growing and development," Dr Freddy Rodriguez told the Corporation.

New mother Yannis Morales added that the scheme, which is being implemented at a hospital in Cartagena, was benefiting her child.

"I'm the mother of a baby that is here and I think the therapy is very good because the baby responds very well," she said.

A Commons report recently said that little progress had been made in reducing the number of maternal deaths in the last 20 years, and that the millennium development goal of cutting maternal deaths by 2015 by 75 per cent was unlikely to be met.

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