WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THE SNOO
So, let me confess. My baby sleeps. No, really, I mean she sleeeeeeeps.
You’ll hate me, and I probably deserve it, but she’s six months now, and last night she slept for twelve hours. Which - I’m so sorry!- isn’t unusual.
Before she came I did my due diligence. a tonne of research (and by that I mean Instagram served me a fortuitous algorithm that day) and discovered this incredible magic robot crib called a Snoo. My friend in New York - where it’s barn-stormingly huge - had one, and so I made a very strong case for why we absolutely needed a £1000+ baby bed. (Equates to less than two takeaway coffees a day for six months worth of sleep - that reasoning usually does the trick, you’re welcome). The thing rocks and shushes the baby all night like it’s in the womb, and it’s marketed as an extra pair of hands. So you can see, for someone who was nervous about sleep deprivation and any possible resentment that might catapult me into, it sounded like manna from
So, does good sleep make you bond better with your baby? According to the paediatrician who invented the Snoo, yes. They donate them to foster carers and adoptive parents for that very reason, so for me and my alternative motherhood situation, it made perfect sense. (Does it make you bond better with other mums? Hell no. You need to keep that shit quiet. The positive outcome of decent sleep is like a shameful secret that I have learnt not to share. Except now I am...)
I know that there are lots of knowing women shaking their heads, knowingly, about relying on a robot for sleep, and predicting a nightmare when it comes to transitioning into the big cot. But we’ve done it. She’s in the big cot. And, um, last night she slept twelve hours.
I know I sound evangelical, it is because I think this bed is a miracle. It worked for us. Apparently there is a small chance it won’t work for everyone, but they offer a trial month to cover that worry off. So, let me answer some Snoo FAQs:
F.A.Qs
WHAT ABOUT WHEN THE BABY HAS OUTGROWN IT AND CAN’T GET TO SLEEP WITHOUT THE ROCKING AND THE WHITE NOISE?
There is a ‘weaning mode’ that makes the bed responsive so it only rocks when the baby cries. And you gradually introduce sleeping with their arms out the swaddle so they wean themselves off it.
We never got to try it though, our baby decided one day that she was ready. Every time we put her down and turned it on she’d get super excited, like it was a game instead of a sleep aid. We tried her in the travel cot next to our bed and she slept for 8 hours with only one insignificant wake up.
DOES THE NOISE KEEP YOU AWAKE?
On the contrary, I miss it now. White noise works on me too. They do a Snoo Bear now that makes the same noises. Also good for overnighters, speaking of which…
WHAT IF YOU GO AWAY OVERNIGHT?
Some people take their Snoo with them, it just needs wifi. But we just tried to recreate the effect a bit. They do swaddles that work outside the Snoo (they’re amazing for any baby in any bed tbh), so she could sleep in her pram bassinet. Plus we got a Rockit Rocker, which attached to a pushchair frame to bounce it on its own for half an hour to send them off. Uh. May. Zing.
The next time I just took the swaddle and a travel cot. She slept fine both times!
WHAT IF MY BABY DOESN’T LIKE IT?
Apparently a very tiny percentage of babies don’t get on with the Snoo, and we held our breath the first time we put her in it. But she was out like a light within FIVE MINUTES. But enough about me, there is a thirty day trial so it’s worth the risk. In the States they do a rental programme, which I’m sure they’ll bring over here soon enough. But I had a quick look on Ebay and they retain their value pretty well too...
ANY MORE QUESTIONS?
Feel free to ask me and I’m happy to answer. I’m not a Snoo ambassador btw, I just think it is miraculous.
