The SNOO - an amazing product marketed as THE solution to your newborns sleep issues.
It promises to give you more sleep, less tears and "stop crying in under 1 minute" (Snoo.com.au)
So is this "24/7 babysitter that rocks and soothes for all naps and nights" really worth the hefty price tag?
As a midwife, gentle sleep specialist and mum of 2 I am here to give an honest review of the Snoo Smart Baby Sleeper.
WHAT IS THE SNOO?
The SNOO is a smart bassinet designed by The Happiest Baby team. If your baby cries the bassinet starts to sway and white noise kicks in to then soothe your crying baby without you even lifting your head off the pillow.
Sounds amazing right?!
Well it is.... BUT..
THIS SOUNDS AMAZING, WHY WOULDN'T I BUY IT?
The SNOO is most certainly a fantastic sleep tool for a tired and busy mum. It is expensive yes but the promise of more sleep can be enticing to many parents. My reservations come from firstly a midwifery/early childhood perspective and secondly a sleep training perspective. Let me explain...
Newborn's are meant to wake frequently. It is developmentally normal.
It is hard when parents are sold a product that "stops" these wake ups. Who wouldn't want more sleep?! But I consider this potentially detrimental from a growth and wellbeing perspective. Your baby thrives by taking little feeds regularly. Newborns are designed to wake 2-4 hourly. Although exhausting, this is normal. A bassinet may stop those wakes but the impact of the reduced intake of milk could be significant. That is not to say every baby using the SNOO suffers failure to thrive, but it is possible.
From a sleep training perspective newborns are too little to be sleep trained. End of. They need us. They need the contact and closeness. I recommend all parents to be responsive to their children. For me, the SNOO undermines parental responsiveness - basically baby cries ..... and we don't come.
That doesn't sit right with me.
This is a judgement free zone and you do you boo. But from a newborn wellbeing perspective I am not sure the SNOO is all it promises to be.
Further, having worked with a number of clients who became dependent on the SNOO and its magical settling techniques I have seen the negative impact of it. The bassinet is cleverly designed to only fit your baby until they are 4-6months old. You then face transitioning to a cot ... .without all the SNOO magic of rocking and tight swaddling. In the past this is where clients have contacted me; at breaking point with terrible sleep day and night. The only change they made - they stopped using the SNOO. Ouch!
So then, right in the thick of the 4 month regression we are having to teach healthy sleep foundations and sleep train a very prop dependent baby. 😫
OK MAYBE THIS ISN'T THE PRODUCT FOR YOU, BUT NOW WHAT?
The SNOO is only one of many products on the market. They have an amazing marketing team who push adverts into new mammas faces like nothing else. That doesn't make it the perfect product, it just makes them great marketers! Look around, ask your friends and family for advice.
The sleep solution, that isn't about leaving your baby to cry, is to consider setting healthy habits from day one. Enhance Sleep is excited to introduce our NEWBORN SLEEP GUIDE (click here for more info). This isn't like all the other info out there. This is ALL you need to know to sleep well, from day one. It is responsive, gentle settling that works.
In summary, the SNOO is an amazing product for babies of 0-6months old. I cannot take that away from the designers. Would I buy one, nope, Not a chance! There are too many red flags for me, and at some point your baby is going to have to learn to sleep without the magic of the SNOO. Instead I would invest in learning healthy sleep foundations from day one....
Sleep deprivation is torture. Tessa Gow is a midwife and certified sleep consultant working with families across the globe. She offers nurturing methods with lasting results. Let her be the support and guidance you need to get through this. On the other side of a consultation with Enhance Sleep is rested, functioning families. Take the first step towards healthy sleep by contacting me today.
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