A friend was having their first child and debating about shelling out for the Snoo, an extremely expensive robotic bassinet (nearly $1,700!) that claims to help newborns sleep longer with its swaying motion and sound. He was put off by the idea of paying for some newfangled device, but I explained that when you’re in that haze of those first few newborn weeks, you would literally saw off your arm for another hour of sleep.
The best part of having two kids is getting to A/B test baby gear. Did my second kid sleep longer and better in the Snoo than my first? Eh, slightly. Both were pretty average sleepers; the Snoo didn’t magically make my newborn sleep through the night at 4 weeks old or anything. However, my first kid slept in a Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play — an inclined rocker that was popular at the time but has now been recalled due to several instances of infant death. So comparing the Snoo with a traditional safe sleep surface (a plain flat crib)? The Snoo would probably win out.
There are a few cheaper ways to get a Snoo. I got a free Snoo for my second kid, a hand-me-down from a friend who got it as a hand-me-down herself. They have a rental program for $150/month — you probably only need it about four months anyway. Kids outgrow it by around 5 months old, and in my own experience and from what I’ve heard from other parents, it’s not that useful in the very first two weeks, either. (I actually had motion turned off until about 3-4 weeks.) There’s also a huge resale market for Snoos on Facebook Marketplace. If you shell out $700 for a used one, you can probably recoup most of that by reselling it when you’re done. —Katie Notopoulos, Tech News Reporter
You can buy a new Snoo from Amazon for around $1,695.
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