The SNOO… it’s like some mythical, magical creature that everyone has heard about but not all have seen… or in this case used. That could have a little something to do with the hefty price tag of over $1100. Before you drop your jaw to the floor, let me say, I know this is an investment. A major investment. But is safe, restful sleep for your little one worth considering an investment like this? For their sake and for the sake of your sanity, I would have to honestly say… heck yes! Allow me to elaborate and I will be getting into the pros and cons of this product so you have a well-rounded review and can decide for yourself what you deem “worth it”.

What is the SNOO?

Per the Happiest Baby website, the SNOO is “a responsive bassinet that boosts sleep using rhythms that babies love! It also calms fussing quickly and prevents risky rolling.” The site goes on to explain how the SNOO helps sleep train by assisting with babies learning to self soothe when they wake in the night, increases sleep by 1+ hours with rocking and white noise, “hears” baby crying and automatically enhances sound and movement to soothe and many other benefits that will have you saving your money to buy one stat!

Better sleep for baby mean better sleep for parents and sleep is a highly valued luxury as a new parent so I’m sure you’re on board already. I sure was! I also heard from several friends who used it for their little ones that this thing was AMAZING and I trusted their experiences completely. Bowie was put in the SNOO the day we got home from the hospital and it really took her no time to adjust and enjoy the benefits of the SNOO’s motion and sound features. We’ve been using it for all naps and night sleeps every day for nearly two months so I think we’ve got a pretty good handle on why this thing is in fact amazing and what we wish we knew about it before investing…not just money but habit forming time as well.

PROS

First and foremost, the SNOO ensures SAFE SLEEP! SIDS is a terrifying subject for all new parents and it’s one that literally kept my husband and I up at night before Bowie’s arrival thinking how would we ever shut our eyes again. The fear of waking up and the worst having happened, scared us so much. The Snoo is designed with a built in swaddle sack that has straps attached, which fasten to either side of the SNOO’s interior to ensure baby girl stays on her back all night long. The ‘Back to Sleep’ campaign that launched in 1994 raised awareness about the incredible reduction rate of SIDS in infants who were placed on their backs to sleep. Knowing that Bowie would be kept on her back all night gave us great relief when trying to get a few hours of shut eye ourselves.

Another great pro is the built in swaddle. No mussing and fussing with swaddle blankets or velcro wraps that I could never figure out. Just fasten the main torso strap around her arms and zip the sack shut! It’s relatively escape proof, especially compared to other swaddle blankets… though we do have a little Houdini on our hands so she’s escaped once or twice!

With everything baby tech operating off of wifi, it’s a novelty and a welcomed one when things function without an internet connection because sometimes connection are bad or the power goes out! While the SNOO app does operate on wifi, there are manual settings on the bassinet itself that allow you to increase levels of motion and sound without the app. I’m mentioning this because if you’re not a thorough manual reader like us, the button to do so may go unnoticed at first. We didn’t realize this manual option was available for the first few days and would panic when the app was having trouble connecting. There is a single button on the bassinet that you hold down for a few seconds to increase levels one at a time.

Lastly, the sound and motion features are incredible. The motion and sound is meant to emulate what she would have felt and heard in the womb and there are 5 levels of motion and sound that you can use to soothe her depending on how alert/distressed she is. I joke that my husband and I should be certified SNOO DJs as we often manually go up and down levels on the app while we watch her on the monitor and figure out the perfect formula to send her into a deep sleep.

CONS

This first con is minor but worth mentioning because while you can increase levels manually, there is no way of decreasing them this same way. This can be super frustrating when going up a level accidentally disrupts baby more than they already were before and the app is having trouble loading.

The reason I’m telling you about this leads me to my next con… quite a handful of times the app has had trouble loading. This could be down to our overloaded, poor wifi connection but definitely worth noting.

Lastly, the biggest con is that the SNOO rarely seems to increase as needed for Bowie’s fussiness on its own. We made sure our settings were set to sensitive but the SNOO still doesn’t seem to pick up when Bowie’s unsettled or starting to cry. This is fine by us because we always have the monitor with us and the app is easily accessible on our phones for us to manually adjust the levels but still, for the price tag, you want to make sure the product does exactly what it offers.

THE BOTTOM LINE

This bassinet is definitely worth the investment in my opinion because of the assurance of safe sleep. To me, resting easy knowing my infant is going to stay on her back all night is reason enough for me to recommend this bassinet to every expectant parent. I also have to say that I’ve watched Bowie go from completely unsettled and starting to get agitated and upset to being ushered into a deep sleep thanks to the SNOO’s sound and motion features, although we have to manually adjust the settings ourselves via the app. I do have to admit that because she’s never slept in any other bassinet, I’m not sure if she sleeps better in the SNOO than she would in a regular bassinet but I definitely assume that is the case. Am I nervous to adjust her out of the SNOO and into a crib? VERY! For the safe sleep issue and for the self-soothing issue as well. Will she be able to cope and calm herself without the assistance of the SNOO? One can only hope because we’re traveling for the holidays and the SNOO isn’t coming on that plane with us so cross your fingers for us!

SHENAE GRIMES-BEECH

Shenae Grimes-Beech is an actor and YouTuber with a highly engaged community of like-minded women who are here to stand up for what they believe in and lean into discomfort, especially when it means doing the right thing.