The Snoo: It’s a lifesaver, if you can afford it
NEW YORK—“I don’t even call it a bed. I kind of think of it as your grandmother.”
So declares Dr. Harvey Karp, a Los Angeles pediatrician whose smart-tech baby sleeper, the Snoo, is a game-changer for some sleep-deprived parents.
The Snoo has earned rave reviews from baby gear experts and parents alike, including Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis. Last year, the consumer products show CES bestowed its coveted baby safety award on the invention.
The Snoo is all about swaddling. Just don’t call it a bed.
In a video on his website, Papa Karp says the Snoo provides a service “more than being a thing.” It gently rocks and jiggles babies from birth to 6 months old, a period he calls the “fourth trimester,” when— he believes—simulating the womb environment is key to calming babies.
Babies are zipped into a mesh sleep sack after a broad cotton swaddle tightly pins the infant’s arms to the side from shoulder to wrist. The sack is then secured to the Snoo’s frame before the rocking and a white-noise lullaby commence.
Karp, who’s also written a book, “The Happiest Baby on the Block,” says infants should be soothed in 40 to 60 seconds. The Snoo increases its motion and noise based on persistent sound from the baby, until it reaches its fourth and final level. If that doesn’t work, it turns off. Parents can adjust settings manually or with an app. The Snoo also comes with an organic cotton sheet and sleep sacks in three sizes.
But at $1,160, the Snoo more expensive than many rocking devices—though designer baby beds can run higher.
New York mom Kathleen Udo heard about the Snoo and “thought, ‘Wow, that sounds great, sign me up,’ until I looked at the price. I was, like, ‘ Get out of town.’”
Then her son Jack, now 3 months old, was born. Parental fatigue set in and she found a mommy friend with a Snoo to lend.
“My little terrorist over here wouldn’t sleep. Even with the Snoo, we’ve only gotten to about four hours at a stretch at night,” said Udo, who is an attorney. “I’m going back to work in midJune and I need to be back on my A-game. The Snoo was a desperation move.”
Karp says babies who aren’t put in the Snoo from birth have a learning curve, and that was the case with Jack. But, says Udo, “It definitely calms him,” so that she doesn’t need to rock him to sleep anymore.
Jamee Zalewski of Denver tried the Snoo with her second child Ruby. “The mental break was really important for me,” she said. “I was able to take it because I knew the Snoo’s soothing would shut off if Ruby needed me. I could watch it on my phone and get an alert.”