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Now that we have officially said goodbye to our SNOO and have successfully transitioned Teddy into his crib, I feel as though it’s finally the right time to give you guys my review on the infamous SNOO Bassinet by Happiest Baby.
**not that this matters** but I wanted to make sure it was known up front that this is a completely unbiased, non sponsored review on The SNOO bassinet by Happiest Baby**
What is the SNOO?
It’s a smart bassinet that’s coined as the smartest and safest baby bed ever made. Created by Dr. Harvey Karp (Author of Happiest Baby on the Block and creator of the 5 S’s), the SNOO is a responsive baby bassinet made to help baby’s sleep by combining a gentle rocking motion with a soothing white noise sound effect and snug/safe swaddling. The SNOO is supposed to help babies sleep by imitating the calming sensations of the womb. It’s designed to add one to two hours of sleep per night, and often calms fussing in under a minute by responding gradually with more motion and sound.
You can control the SNOO and it’s setting with your phone but is designed to monitor/read your infant and adjust it’s setting automatically for your new born.
You can read more about the SNOO here.
Why We Chose The SNOO
Because we were terrified, about-to-be first time parents. Neither of us had any experience with children, we were the first out of friends/close family and freaking out over everyone telling us how we would “never sleep again”. I was determined to not let that be the case, so on top of deciding we would sleep train Teddy from the start, after a few recommendations from strangers and many google searches, we also decided to give the SNOO a shot.
Did We Rent or Buy?
We decided to rent the SNOO but looking back, we probably should have just bought it. At the time, (on top of not knowing if it would work for us or not) we could not justify spending $1400 on a bassinet that he would only use for 6 months, when we were spending so much $$$ on everything else in preparation for him. My mom ended up renting it for us which was a huge blessing.
It costs $129 (+random extras/taxes) to rent and comes with a brand new mattress + 3 sleep sacks (small/med/large). So essentially the only part that was being “reused” was the actual bed. We had zero problems, was super clean/easy to put together and the only things we ended up buying that was extra were a few extra sheets and leg lifters to go on one side. Teddy had bad indigestion at the beginning so we bought the leg lifters to elevate one side 2″ higher that the other to help him with that.
My recommendation to others is, if you are 100% set on it, know that you’re going to want more children and have the means to drop $$$ on it, then buy it! If that’s not the case though, we had a great experience with renting.
SNOO CRIB SHEETS
Our Experience
Keep in mind that on top of the SNOO, we also sleep trained Teddy, starting pretty much from day one, but all in all, I can honestly say that we loved it and that he was sleeping through night by 2.5 months.
Though Teddy wasn’t a fan of the SNOO the first few weeks (I think he was just too small for the rocking at the beginning) around 3-4 weeks he was good to go! Despite the slow start, it was still amazing to have those first few weeks because even though we weren’t technically turning it on or using the rocking motion, we were still putting him in the sleep sack/having him sleep in the SNOO which gave us so much peace at night knowing that he was safe and couldn’t roll over. That in itself showed us it was worth it already.
Once we started using the rocking motion, we rarely let it go past baseline or level 1. It just seemed like too much rocking at the higher levels. Also, every baby is different and I encourage to just read your babies cues/try different things out to see what they like but early on, we decided to open the arm slots on the sides of the sleep sack, to let him have his arms out while he slept, as opposed to having them strapped down. Once we did that, it was a game changer. He always had his arms up by his face at our ultrasounds appts and after noticing in the first few weeks that he liked to use his hands to self soothe, we decided to just left him have them and it worked for us.
I also want to note that we didn’t turn it on every single time he went down. It was important to us that he didn’t become dependent on it so we only turned it on at night and for his naps if he absolutely needed it. Basically, if he was ever sound asleep the moment we zipped him in, we wouldn’t turn it on.
I will say though, it was a life saver when trying to get him down for his day time naps or any time we were having trouble. It’s crazy how the moment we would turn it on, he was calm down and fall asleep instantly.
Transitioning Out
I believe they say to start transitioning them out of the SNOO anywhere from 4-6 months but it’s really when you notice your baby out growing it/when they are rolling back and forth on there own super frequently. Teddy only stayed in his until 7 months because his crib was backordered and delayed in shipping due to covid and the holidays.
We honestly didn’t have a horrible time transitioning him out of it though and I thinks that’s only because we made the decision to not turn it on/rely on it all the time from the beginning. The weeks leading up to the transition, we really didn’t use the rocking motion and then eventually didn’t even put in his is sack. It’s only been a few days but so far he really is doing good! I missed it today when he was being super fussy/having a hard time going down but it really hasn’t been that bad.
Why Doesn’t Everyone Get One?
I think that every family has different reasonings. Some probably haven’t heard of it, I’m sure cost is a huge factor for others and I don’t think it’s super well known that renting is an option. Also, not every pediatrician recommends it (for example ours) because it can make some babies dependent on them for sleep, as opposed to learning to self soothe and sleep on their own.
Another reasoning might be because they have help/are planning to hire night nurses or nannies instead. I remember reading blog posts from some of my personal favorite girls to follow and how they were very adamant about not getting the SNOO. How their babes would be going straight into the crib and would only be sleep trained… which made me feel like I was “wrong” or already a “bad mom” for wanting to get the SNOO until I had to remind myself that my life is very different compared to theirs. I wasn’t going to have a night nurse or a live in nanny staying up all night with my new born, feeding him, keeping him on schedule and making sure he was breathing. It was just going to be Colton and I, so for us, it was the best decision.
My Advice
AKA: MAKING THE SNOO WORK FOR YOU
Go into it with an open mind, with hopes that it will help your baby sleep but not with the idea that it’s a miracle product and will solve all your problems. Every baby is different. I know people who 10000% swear by it. Most of them parents who went the first few weeks/months without one and were having a horrible time getting their baby to sleep and then once got it, their life changed. While I’ve heard others say that it just didn’t work for their baby. Everyone is different.
Just understand that’s it’s just supposed to be a tool to help your baby sleep and is not the end all, be all solution. Just like us, you may have to try out/combine a few different things in order for it to work. After a lot of trial and error, sleep training + the SNOO + letting him sleep with his arms out ended up being the winning combination for us. Like I said, everyone is different though! If you do decide to get the SNOO, there is a SNOO Mamas group on Facebook with thousands of moms in it discussing the SNOO, sharing their tips/experiences and would highly recommend joining!
Final thoughts – I am very happy with our experience and will use it again for our next little one in the future.
That’s all I have for you though! I hope you found it helpful! If you have any more specific questions, leave them in the comments section below so that I can answer them!
xo,
Lauren
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