SNOO Bassinet Review: An Unsponsored and Genuine Opinion

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Anyone who is even thinking of purchasing the SNOO has asked themselves, but is it REALLY worth it? I personally would say no, it is not worth it. BUT, every baby is different and I think this bassinet’s usefulness really depends on your baby. Keep reading for my genuine and unsponsored SNOO Bassinet Review.

SNOO Bassinet Review: What is the SNOO?

Smart Bassinet
Auto detects crying and utilizes 5 levels of motion and white noise to help baby fall back asleep
App integration where you can control the SNOO and see daily sleep logs
Secure, clip in, swaddling prevents baby from rolling over or onto their sides
Recommended use: Birth to 6 months

It is worth mentioning in this SNOO bassinet review that our friends gifted us their SNOO. They bought it in the middle of the night out of desperation to get some sleep. Their son slept amazing once they put him in the SNOO so they swear by it!

We are extremely thankful and grateful to have been given the SNOO to try out with Kennadi. Unfortunately, we would have been disappointed had we paid $1,600 for it. Maybe it will work better with our next baby; stay tuned for my follow up review when that day comes!

A quick little background information, Kennadi was born a few weeks early and weighed 6 lb. 1 oz. She was 5lb. 9 oz. at her lowest. I only mention this because her petite sizing made it a little difficult to use the SNOO at first but not every parent will experience this issue.

Also, she continued to lose weight and we learned she was having difficulty latching and eating. Before we knew this, we thought she was THE WORST sleeper and were so upset that the SNOO wasn’t helping. Once we learned she was just hungry, it allowed for a better understanding of her sleep and the SNOO.

So here is the thing, the SNOO was pretty great at putting Kennadi to sleep initially but if she woke up, the SNOO was (almost) never able to put her back to sleep (yes, even after the feeding issues were resolved.) Happiest Baby states that if even on the highest level baby cannot be soothed, then they are hungry, have a diaper, temperature issue, etc. Well for us, even when none of that was an issue, the SNOO wouldn’t put her back to sleep and we had to rock her until she fell asleep and then put her back in.

Our main complaint about the SNOO was the intense shaking. After Level 2, the shaking/rocking just does not seem safe. I know it is but it is not fun watching your newborn being shaken around to try to get them back to sleep. Also, as the white noise increases, it starts sounding like the Purge Alarm. It freaked us out! After we watched the levels keep going up in attempt to soothe her, we immediately pulled Kennadi out because we felt it was too much. We ended up going on the app and blocking it from going past Level 2 (there are 5 Levels.) Which kind of defeats the whole purpose of the SNOO.

The one reason why we continued to use the SNOO is because well, we stayed hopeful I suppose, but because I truly loved the safety of it. It is the only bassinet that has clips on the side and keeps baby on their back. Kennadi would have slept on her side from day one if she could have.

It gave me peace of mind knowing she was on her back, strapped in and secure, and wasn’t going anywhere. Their sleep sack is designed like no other swaddle on the market. The Velcro piece of fabric across the chest is SO helpful in keeping their arms down. The ease of this swaddle is unmatched. The SNOO sleep sacks also made it easy to transition her with her arms out. Even if we don’t use the SNOO for our next baby, I will, without a doubt, use the Happiest Baby Sleepea Swaddles.

My main take away from having a newborn and using the SNOO is…..YOUR BABY NEEDS TO LEARN HOW TO SELF SOOTHE.

Yes, you read that right. Even as a newborn, they must learn how to self soothe.

When Kennadi was around 6 weeks old, my sister in law had recommended Taking Cara Babies newborn sleep class. We were willing to try anything. And at 9 weeks old, Kennadi slept through the night (9 pm to 7 am) and she has slept 12-13 hours at night ever since.

Cara has amazing tips (and a section specific to the SNOO) that will help your baby start sleeping longer durations. Once we stopped rocking Kennadi to sleep and then placing her in the bassinet and instead put her in there awake, she started sleeping longer. We actually turned off all motion on the SNOO and only used it for the swaddle/safety. Once she learned to self-soothe, we didn’t have any unnecessary middle of the night wake ups or one of us having to rock her for 1-2 hours.

My point is, if you want your baby to have good, long term, sleep patterns and habits, you cannot just rely on the SNOO. For us, Kennadi learning to put herself asleep without any assistance is what led to her sleeping through the night. And since we didn’t rely on it’s assistance, it completely, again, defeated the purpose of the SNOO. I will mention, there is a weaning mode on the SNOO so as you get closer to transitioning to the crib, you can turn on the weaning mode which stops the constant movement and only turns on when they are fussing.

SNOO Bassinet Review: Cheaper Alternatives

It isn’t a proper SNOO bassinet review without mentioning some similar alternative options to the SNOO.

Neither of these have the built in safety feature of the swaddle clips. However, they both offer gentle movement and white noise. And they are both WAY cheaper than the SNOO.

Speaking of price, SNOO offers a rental option! If you are debating on purchasing the SNOO and it is your first baby, I highly recommend opting for the rental at $149 a month. If you fall in love after the first month and plan to have more kids, then it would be worth it to purchase the SNOO and would be cheaper then paying the rental for each kid.

Most reviews I read on the SNOO were all positive. Years before I was even pregnant, I knew of the SNOO from celebrities raving about it and dreamed of having one for our future baby. I was bummed that it didn’t live up to the hype. Maybe I will love it more with our next baby but I had to post my SNOO bassinet review based on our experience in using it with Kennadi.