The short version
Safe sleep for the first year: on the back, on a firm flat surface, in a bare cot in the parents' room. A jhoola or thottil is fine for soothing while an adult watches but not for unsupervised sleep, because the curved position can push the chin to the chest.
What happened
Three generations of my family slept in a thottil, the cloth cradle slung from a hook in the ceiling, and I was not going to be the one who broke the chain. Nani's came out of a trunk, washed and re-stitched. The cot, bought in a panic at eight months pregnant, stood in the corner looking expensive.
He slept in the thottil, rocked by whoever was nearest, for most of his daytime naps in the first three months. It worked the way it has worked for centuries: the swing settles a newborn like nothing else. What I didn't know, and found out at a check-up, is that a cloth cradle curls a baby's body so that the chin can drop onto the chest, and in a newborn that can narrow the airway. The guidance from Australia's safe-sleep body is clear: a hammock is fine for soothing while an adult is watching, not for unsupervised sleep.
So the thottil became a daytime, eyes-on thing, and nights moved to the cot in our room. Flat, firm mattress, nothing in it but him and a fitted sheet. No bumper, no pillow, no teddy. On his back, every time. The cot was the right purchase after all; it just needed the rules that come with it.
At eighteen months he climbed out of the cot, and that was that. A mattress on the floor of his room, which is what half the families I know end up with. He's still on it. The cot went to a cousin, along with the rules.
The American Academy of Pediatrics' 2022 policy: around 3,500 US infants a year die of sleep-related causes. The recommendations for the whole first year are back to sleep for every sleep, a firm flat surface (any incline over 10° is unsafe), no soft objects or loose bedding in the sleep area, and room-sharing without bed-sharing, which may cut SIDS risk by up to 50%. Swings and car seats are not for sleep.
Moon RY et al., Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2022 Recommendations, Pediatrics 2022;150(1). Source · Parent guideRed Nose Australia advises that hammocks are not suitable for babies to sleep in unsupervised: the curved position can push the chin to the chest and block the airway, and falls have caused deaths. A review in the Medical Journal of Australia described 17 infant deaths in slings by the same mechanism. I could find no Indian guideline on jhoola or thottil sleep.
Red Nose, Hammocks. Source · Byard RW, Gilbert JD, Med J Aust 2011;195:321. SourceThe verdicts
A plain wooden cot with a firm, well-fitting mattress and two fitted sheets
Flat, firm, bare. The rules matter more than the brand; measure the gap between mattress and frame (two fingers, no more).
A firm floor mattress with a waterproof cover
Where he's slept since eighteen months. Nothing to climb out of, nothing to fall from.
Cubworthy, with a catch
The thottil / jhoola
For soothing during the day with an adult watching, it is unbeatable. For unsupervised sleep, the guidance says no. Use it, with that line drawn.
Cot bumpers, pillows and soft toys in the cot
Pretty in photos, not in the sleep safety guidance. Keep the cot bare for the first year.
Product details are as we used them; the version on sale now may differ. Check the exact model and the manufacturer's instructions.