Why I Regretted Not Getting Snoo – Smart Sleeper Bassinet Earlier

Do you really need a smart bassinet?

I remember soon after I got married everyone told me to wait before having kids; I Heard all of the usual unsolicited advice, especially from other millennial moms: “A baby is expensive. A baby is going to throw a curve ball in all your plans. You’ll never have the same body again”. Not going to lie, most of it was terrifying. 

But as it happens with most people, baby fever catches up and you decide on having a kid. And what I realized after having my first kid was that it does not matter how much you prepare for a baby, or how long you prepare for one. When the little bub does finally arrive, it’s going to throw all of your preparation out the window. 

Nobody truly prepares you for running on no sleep, the science that is breastfeeding, suddenly realizing you look best in pajamas, and just how darn annoying the sound of coco melon can be. 

While nothing in the world can truly prepare you for being a first-time parent, I think it’s unfair that we don’t credit the first child enough, for amply preparing us for the second. Because when you finally get over the horrors of the first few months of parenting and baby fever kicks in again, the second time it’s usually accompanied with a better insight based on all of your experiential learning of what the truly challenging bits are going to be. 

You realize half the gadgets you got at your baby shower turned out to be either minimally used or are still sitting in their boxes. 

You realize how expensive everything is and so you’d rather invest only in the items that you truly truly need and most of all you realize based on your first parenting experience what your own triggers are and what mistakes you cannot afford to repeat because they cost you your sanity. 

In my case, my first kid had colic and she just refused to sleep without being rocked. So, her father and I would stay up all night rocking this little child that would fuss as soon as she was put down. Which meant, yeap, you guessed it. We never put her down. Both of us were zombies for the first three months straight and you cannot truly imagine how much it tests your sanity when you are perpetually running on no sleep at all. 

As it happens, we discovered kids need to be fed every 1 to 2 hours, and they need to be patted back to sleep even longer than the newborn phase. As she started gaining the pounds, rocking her to sleep or transitioning from out of our arms and onto a mattress became a nightmare. 

A mistake I was 200% certain I was never going to make again. 

So as soon as the second one coming was official, my hunt for the best sleeping assistant began, especially since this time, there was an older kid to take care of as well. 

Countless product searches, recommendations by friends, and review readings later, I finally decided to invest in the ‘Snoo – Smart Sleeper Baby Bassinet’.  The Specifications read as follows: 

SNOO Smart Sleeper Bassinet – Features

Longer Sleep Duration

What’s the first thing that caught my attention? The fact that new parents who invested in the Bassinet slept 2x longer than parents who were possibly rocking their children to sleep? 

Hello? Yes Please. Just that marketing promise alone had me salivating from cheerful anticipation. But of course, I had to put the new arrival in it to know if it was only a gimmick or truly the answer to my prayers. 

And happy to report, touchwood, it turned out to be the latter. 

White Noise Function

The smart bassinet was not only equipped with motion sensors but also 5 different types of white noise options. This was very convenient compared to my first experience where I was frantically trying to YouTube the sound of waves, rain, or birds chirping trying to figure out which one would calm the hysterical baby fastest. 

I could switch between the sounds while it stayed connected to my phone and increase or decrease their volume from afar. 

This proved super helpful on days when I was working in the kitchen or helping the other kid study, observing the baby with the monitor, and controlling the bassinet through WIFI when the need arose. 

Automatic Motion Sensors: 

The motion sensors were a different ballgame altogether, the three tiny sensors inside the bassinet were sensitive enough to differentiate between the sounds of a fussy infant vs the sounds of a toddler that was throwing a tantrum next door, or the extra sounds that come from the tele or the street. 

The automatic response feature meant the bassinet would start to rock as soon as it noticed the baby tossing or fussing. This meant it completely cut down on the need for me to wake up from my sleep just to pat the baby back to comfort. Delivering 2x more sleep to the parents? That promise was met. 

Despite all the assurances of calming the baby down whenever required and letting the rents sleep more, safety is also always a concern especially since babies eventually roll over making the danger of accidental suffocation a very real threat. 

Safety Feature: 

The clip-on sleep sack addressed this concern. It ensured the baby stayed on their back all night long eradicating the need to constantly check that the baby hasn’t rolled over. 

There are 3 hip-safe sleep sack swaddles and after using them I realized why the Snoo Smart Sleeper was also approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics. In addition, the mesh walls ensured complete breathability for the child as they napped their way to healthy growth. 

Smart Log: 

The smart log of the bassinet was also a welcome change because it easily lets me track how long the baby had slept. When it was time to feed them, and gave me an exact schedule to relay to the pediatrician when the need arose. 

And although I haven’t used it yet, but there is a weaning mode that is supposed to help with transitioning to the crib. Needless to say, cannot wait to put it to the test. 

Price Point: 

Of course, from a price point, this was quite the investment. The 30-day money back guarantee was a huge cushion because I was absolutely terrified of committing such an amount and then the baby absolutely refusing to use it. Happy to report, that there was no post-purchase dissonance from the moment the baby got home though. 

And it made me realize, that as new parents we often tend to go overboard investing in things that have more cosmetic value and less functionality. 

So, if you are a first-time parent, take this unsolicited advice from someone who learned it the hard way. And if you’re a second or third-time parent, this would help you too. The baby can have hand-me-downs from older siblings and may not need the 200 stuffed toys you think they do, what they need is a well-rested happy parent. And so invest in that. 

Invest in you, gadgets that will enable you to be rested enough to be productive. And trust me, that is all that will matter in a few month’s time.