Secure the inner band over your baby’s hands. The lower edge of the band should approximately lay over the palm (while keeping the fingers exposed). Your baby cannot roll onto their stomach, or into the sides of the bassinet. It simply can’t happen, so you don’t have to worry about it. The SNOO smart sleeper is a beautiful, high-end piece of technology and yet it is still very simple to operate. Before we get into the nuts and bolts of how to use the SNOO, let’s take a minute to go over the features of the best smart bassinet.

You can use the swaddle with or without additional clothing. For us, a thin onesie under the swaddle was the sweet spot. Babies should always sleep on a safe and sturdy surface, so we appreciate how well-built the SNOO Smart Sleeper is. Made out of wood paneling breathable mesh, its attractive mid-century modern look fits in with most home decor styles. During our tests, the bassinet always felt stable—we never noticed any wobbling or creaky noises—and it’s held up beautifully over the months we’ve been using it. Plus, since the app really is a cinch to use, the bassinet and all its features and functions are long-lasting, too.

There’s a bit of a learning curve with the settings: figuring out which ones you like, which ones your baby prefers, and so on. However, being in a steep learning curve is also just par for the course with a newborn at home, so it’s not too terrible. It might take a week or so, but you’re golden once you have that down. Let’s speed that up. Happiest Baby and Dr. Harvey Karp Automatically responds and adjusts to your baby's fussing with motion and sound, often soothing upsets in under a minute.

On balance, I am sold. It is hard, really, to accept that in two months’ time she’ll be done with it, as it’s designed for babies up to six months (or when they can get on their hands and knees). Of course, it will only be then that we will know for sure if we did the right thing. It is highly likely that she has not become dependent on it. Whether the same can be said for her parents is another question. It can be hard to tell right away if the Snoo is working for your baby or not. I highly recommend asking for advice from the members of the r/snoolife Reddit group. They will dive deep with you and analyze your screenshots of the Snoo app’s daily log. Susan Klemm, an occupational therapist whose work focuses on infants’ head shape and developmental issues, and her colleague Stacy Conder, a physical therapist, own an infant and childhood physical and occupational therapy practice in Charlotte, N.C. Klemm and Conder say they’ve frequently discussed head shape and developmental delays with the Snoo with pediatricians and other pediatric therapists, who share similar concerns. Ultimately, though, it's a small price to pay for improved sleep quality (for both the newborn and parent), which can be hard to come by during those first few months. Everything about it is intuitive and functional, including the app. One of our editors, who experienced postpartum complications and a few hospitalizations, can't rave enough about it: "The ability to have one less thing to worry about and maximize my sleep, giving my body the recuperation it needed, was priceless," she said. "The SNOO not only helped my baby sleep more soundly, it helped me heal." The Competition However, medical experts don’t know exactly how much white noise, and at what volume, is safe for babies’ delicate ears. The existing research on infants is sparse, and most of the research on harmful noise has been conducted on adults. According to the World Health Organization, hospitals shouldn’t exceed 40 decibels at night, and 30 decibels during the day. Long-term exposure in adults to noise exceeding 65 decibels has been correlated with heart disease. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noise exposure in adults of 80 to 85 decibels for over 2 hours can damage hearing.Who it’s for: Newborn babies and their exhausted parents. You can use the Snoo from the time you bring baby home until they reach 6 months of age, weigh 25 pounds, or can get up on their hands and knees. All-night white noise:Research has shown that white noise can help 80% of babies fall asleep in just 5 minutes. In the US, big companies like Snapchat now offer them as a maternity benefit to employees. This week the product’s inventor, the baby sleep expert Dr Harvey Karp, has donated several of the devices to NHS hospitals. SNOO boosts confidence.With more sleep, less crying, and fewer worries about Baby's safety, parents tend to feel like they're doing a good job meeting their lovebug's needs. And more sleep helps a new parent feel more like themself, which contributes to overall wellbeing.

Richter moved her baby out of the Snoo at 3 months. “Transition was actually fine because he clearly wanted more space to move around,” she says. “We always had an additional white noise machine, which is crucial.” He was very happy in his new crib, she says. The Snoo was the bassinet we returned to most often throughout our testing of bassinets, because it was so effective at helping our entire family get more hours of nightly sleep. But it doesn’t work for everyone. If it continues, SNOO will start with the baseline mode and move upwards in intensity until the baby is calm or until 3 minutes have passed. It “times-out” and stops the motion if the crying doesn’t stop in 3 minutes. If the SNOO won’t boot up,the most likely reason is the connection between the loops and the safety clips. If they’re not securely attached, the bassinet won’t start.All-night white noise: Research has shown that white noise can help 80% of babies fall asleep in just 5 minutes. You’ll need to ‘recognize’ the one that’s right for your baby. By “right,” I mean the one that gives them the most opportunity to calm down independently. The tab with a U-shaped icon (bottom bar) shows you the daily time logs (sleep, soothing sessions, activity levels.

Related reads: SNOO review | SNOO alternatives | SNOO criticism | SNOO sales Main features of the SNOO bassinetTo manually increase the intensity level, you push the activity button and hold it for a few seconds.