Snoo Review: My Unsponsored Opinion

Today I want to give my unsponsored review on the Snoo. I say this because when I was first doing my research on this, every post I came across was a sponsored post. Meaning the blogger likely received the Snoo for free and was paid to write a review on it. I trust bloggers, but I think you are going to have a more favorable opinion if you received compensation and something for free. The Snoo is really quite expensive so I just think you will have a bit of a different opinion if you got it for free vs. saving and shelling out the hundreds of dollars for it.

With that being said, we were actually able to borrow our Snoo from our friend. So take my opinion with a grain of salt! My girlfriend very generously let me use hers. But if that wasn’t an option, I was actually going to buy it from my other girlfriend who was selling hers. Which brings me to my next point, so many people sell their Snoos on Facebook. Join a mom’s swap group in your neighborhood and you will likely find one for sale on there. Or you can rent them, which is another great option.

What is the Snoo?

Ok, I should probably back up a bit. What is the Snoo? I’m not going to go into too much detail about it because if you have landed on this post, you probably already know kind of what it is. It is a bassinet that is like no other! The Snoo has a device that rocks the baby and mimics the womb. It has special swaddles that you use to keep baby in a certain position. And it also has a built in sound machine. The most amazing part of the Snoo is that when the baby starts to cry, the rocking and sound machine intensify and do it’s best to put the baby back to sleep. It’s actually pretty genius!

How We Used the Snoo

I will admit, the Snoo scared me a bit when we first brought Sloane home. You can read her birth story here, but she was a preemie and only around 5lbs when she was finally released from the NICU. It scared me that the rocking motion of the Snoo would somehow hurt her or do something to her head. Their heads are so floppy when they are newborns and it just scared me a bit, to be honest. So at first we just used it like a traditional bassinet. We put her in it to sleep in a swaddle, but didn’t lock her in or turn on the rocking/sound machine part.

After a couple of weeks and few really bad nights, we decided it was time to use the Snoo to it’s full advantage. At this point, we were a little more comfortable with her and it just felt like the right time. We turned it on and never looked back!

When we first started to use the Snoo, we had it on weaning mode. Meaning, the Snoo would only move if the baby cried. The sound machine would turn on, but the swaying or rocking motion would only go off when baby started to get fussy. You usually use this mode when you are transitioning to the crib. I was a little nervous that she would get so use to the rocking motion that she would never be able to sleep in her crib, which I think is a valid concern for parents. So we started on the weaning mode and she was sleeping so good! It was nice because the bassinet would do a little of the work for me and sometimes she would even fall back asleep. But if she was hungry, even the rocking motion couldn’t put her back to sleep.

Since Sloane came six weeks early, we really had not done any research on this device or how to use. We sort of just winged it! But as we were getting even more comfortable and had a little more time to do some research, we realized the benefits of using the Snoo to its full advantage. The next night, we took Sloane off the weaning mode and used it like you should. It rocked her the whole night and would intensify as she got fussy. That night we got five, uninterrupted hours of sleep and it was glorious! And you could see from the app, that those five hours of sleep were very good ones for her!

What I Like About the Snoo

As a first time mom, I really liked the feature that the Snoo turns off when the baby really needs you. Babies are so noisy when they sleep! And I am such a light sleeper that every little fuss that she would make, I would get up and get a bottle, but she wasn’t even awake. She was just being a noisy sleeper. The Snoo intensifies in rocking them and the noise machine gets louder and it tries to put the baby back to sleep. But after a certain amount of time, if baby isn’t falling back asleep, the Snoo shuts off letting you know that the baby needs your assistance. Likely that they are hungry.

I also really like that the swaddle makes them sleep on their back in a safe position. When we first brought Sloane home and were just using the Snoo like a traditional bassinet, she would roll and sleep on her side a lot. Which isn’t always the safest when they are that little. The pediatrician assured me it was ok, but it still made me really nervous. Especially because at that point, she couldn’t lift her head. So I really liked that she was strapped in and not going anywhere. She was always in a safe position which gave me a lot of peace.

Pros

I really think the Snoo set up Sloane to be a good sleeper. She learned at a very young age how to self soothe and put her self back to sleep, with the help of the device. And obviously if she really needed us, we were right there.
It helped me to know when she really needed to eat or needed me because the Snoo would turn off if it couldn’t get her back to sleep.
The swaddle and the way the Snoo works means they are locked in place. So there is no risk of them moving around or getting into a bad position.
It has a sleek and modern design so it looks good with your decor.
Easy to transport. We took this up to my parents with us on two different occasions and it is really easy to pop the legs off and load it into the car. Although it does take up a lot of trunk space so you have to pack light!

Cons

It’s expensive! Probably the #1 con and worst part about this device- it’s so expensive!!! Look into renting it or buying it second hand.
The swaddles can be hard to lock in, especially if baby is already asleep. It might startle them a little and wake them up.
The mesh liner around the bassinet can be tricky. You have to be careful with it because you don’t want to rip it. I will say, our dog, Addison, jumped up onto it on a few occasions to see what was in it haha and her nails never ripped it. And she would kind of scratch or paw at it too, and she never damaged it. So it is really strong.
It is white which is a nice color, but can be hard to keep clean. I was the third friend to use my friends Snoo (gotta love hand me downs) and while it was still very clean, it probably wasn’t as white as when you first opened it up.

Transitioning

After a couple of months using the Snoo, I read somewhere that the top of the swaddles actually have snaps on them that you can open up. And you can then use this swaddle (my favorite was the rainbow print!) with the Snoo swaddles so they would have their hands up closer to their face. Sloane didn’t really like her pacifier, but she did self soothe with her fingers and thumb so she really liked it when we started using these swaddles.

At around four months, we decided it was time to start the transition out of the Snoo. I don’t think there was anything that pinpointed our decision. She looked like she was getting a little too big for the Snoo lengthwise and honestly, it just seemed like a good time. I hate when I would read things like this, but you kind of just know when the time is right! Most people don’t transition out until around six months, but for us we felt it was time.

I first started one nap a day in her crib. She would sleep swaddled in her Dock a tot, which I know you are not suppose to use this for sleeping, but I watched her on the monitor like a hawk! And since she was so use to sleeping in the same position in the Snoo, she didn’t move. Eventually she was taking all of her naps in the crib.

And then I found the Merlin suit. So we used the Merlin suit instead of the Dock a tot. The Merlin suit is pure magic!!! She absolutely loved that thing! And after about a week of her napping in her crib, but still sleeping in her Snoo at night, we decided to make the transition. We put her in her crib for the night and never looked back!

I will mention that the transition out of the Merlin suit was pretty difficult. She loved that thing so much, but once they start to roll, it is really unsafe for them because they can’t really use their arms in that suit. So if they roll over and can’t use their arms to push themselves up, it could be dangerous. I always knew she would cry because she gets fussy when she doesn’t like the position she is in, but you never know if you would hear it or not. We decided to go cold turkey and drop the Merlin suit and also sleep train all at the same time. Now she sleeps like a little angel thru the night and I really thing a lot of that is attributed to using the Snoo. It set her up for good sleep right from the beginning.

Tips

Buy extra swaddles and sheets. They will spit up (at least Sloane did) so having extra sheets was a life saver. And an extra set of the swaddles was nice because you could wash one and still have one for them to sleep in.
Use the Snoo for at least two naps during the day. This way they get used to being in it.
Don’t be afraid of the rocking motion. My friends who used this device scared me a little on how fast the Snoo rocks. And it does rock them pretty fast when they are really upset. But I didn’t think it was anything bad. You can control it if you don’t want it to go that high.
Take advantage of their app. It was nice to see how well and how long Sloane was sleeping. And her quality of sleep especially when she started sleeping longer stretches. It was fun to go back and compare how far she came.
Snoo has great customer service so take advantage of it. We never had to use it but I was this close to calling at one point. They really help you figure out what our baby needs.
Enjoy those post nap baby stretches! When you first unswaddle them they stick their arms straight up and it is the cutes thing ever!!

Is the Snoo Worth It?

I 100% believe this Snoo is worth it. But I also got to use this for free, so my opinion might have been a little different if I had to shell out the hundreds and hundreds of dollars for it. We loved using it. And I loved that I knew she was safe in it at all times. Your hormones are off the charts around this time and the worrying can really be bad, so I always knew she was safe in it. And I really liked the fact that it helped me to realize when my baby really needed me. They can be loud sleepers and you don’t want to get into the habit of tending to them when they are really just being loud. As a first time mom, this was a great feature.

Hope this helps!

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xoxox Amanda