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The Snoo bassinet: $1,595. A good night's sleep for a new parent: Priceless, according to many sleep-deprived mothers and fathers. Since 2017, Snoo, the world's first smart baby bed, has been one of the most coveted (and expensive!) items on many expectant parents' baby registries. Here's what you need to know about this super-trendy smart bassinet.
Top products in this article:
The Snoo smart bassinet: Snoo, $1,595
Rent the Snoo, instead: Snoo rental, $159 per month
Inexpensive Snoo alternative: Graco Sense2Snooze, $290
Invented by Dr. Harvey Karp, pediatrician and best-selling author of "Happiest Baby on the Block," the sleek bassinet reacts to babies crying with white noise and gentle rocking, bringing them back to sleep without waking up the whole household. According to the company, Snoo sleepers get an average of one to three more hours of sleep than babies sleeping in other cribs or bassinets. And, when baby sleeps, everyone sleeps.
Another major selling point of the Snoo? It comfortably straps babies in for sleep and keeps them on their backs, reducing the chances of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS. That helps explain why 100 hospitals currently use the Snoo -- the FDA accepted it into their Breakthrough Device Program, considering it to be a life-saving device. Pending this approval, it might eventually be available via health insurance like a breast pump.
Obviously, not everyone has the means to drop nearly $1,600 on a bed, only recommended for use the first five or six months of a baby's life. However, Happiest Baby started a rental program to make the bed more readily available, bringing the cost down to $159 per month, averaging $5 per night. After use, the brand refurbishes the bed for another family's use.
There's a special deal if you commit to the Snoo -- you'll pay $159 to rent the Snoo for baby's first four months, and then pay just $49 per month for months five and six. With this deal, you can rent a Snoo for about half the cost of buying one.
Your best move, however, may be to buy the Snoo outright. That's because the resale market for the Snoo is strong, with some used bassinets selling for more than $1,000 on eBay.
The Snoo smart bassinet detects fussiness, and then gradually responds to it with womb-like white noise and motion. It claims to often calm crying in under a minute. It's customizable, too, so you can control sound, motion and sensitivity. The accompanying app, meanwhile, gives you access to settings, a daily sleep report and tips from Dr. Karp.
If you aren't satisfied with the Snoo, the company offers a 30-day, risk-free trial. Snoo will even pay for return shipping.
While no other baby bassinets on the market work quite like the Snoo, less expensive alternatives exist. We rounded up a few other highly rated baby bassinets to help improve sleep quality for the whole family.
While not reactive to a baby's crying or movement, the 4moms mamaRoo Sleep bassinet uses five motions and four sounds to soothe babies and improve sleep. Thanks to Bluetooth, parents have the ability to control the MamaRoo via a smartphone or tablet by downloading its accompanying app.
For those intimidated by smart technology, good news: There are other ways to improve sleep quality for everyone in the house. The Halo BassiNest serves as a more wallet-friendly alternative. It offers a 360-degree swivel and gently vibrates while providing soothing sounds (including heartbeat, white noise, babbling brook and rainforest). Other features include auto shutoff, adjustable legs, two handy side pockets, a waterproof mattress and machine-washable fitted sheet.
The budget-friendly Graco Sense2Snooze boasts a built-in microphone to identify crying. It then responds with head-to-toe movement that includes three soothing motions, two speed vibrations, plus white noise, music and nature sounds. The bassinet cycles though various settings until baby is soothed. You can also program baby's favorite sounds and songs into the Graco Sense2Snooze.
The Fisher-Price Soothing Motions Bassinet, the most affordable smart crib on our list (just a tenth of the price of the Snoo), reacts to baby's own movements with a gentle swaying. This bassinet also offers calming vibrations, music and sounds, plus light projection. And as your child grows, the control unit can be removed and used as a tabletop soother.
It comes in frustration-free packaging -- that is, a rather plain box.
Fisher-Price Soothing Motions Bassinet, $150 (reduced from $180)
First published on April 18, 2022 / 8:00 AM
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