Happiest Baby has launched the new Snoo smart baby bed, with a built-in robotic nanny. Just place your baby in the Snoo at bed time and it will take care of all but the worst cries through the night.
Developed by Dr. Harvey Karp, author of the celebrated Happiest Baby on the Block and creator of the 5 S’s, the Snoo is armed with sensors and motors that detect the type of cry your baby is using, and automatically use the correct rocking motion to try to lull it back to sleep, often within one minute, according to Happiest Baby. This gives parents the comfort of knowing that they only have to worry about the worst cries that don’t get promptly hushed, almost guaranteeing it is out of hunger, and not discomfort.
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“New parent exhaustion,” Karp noted, “is a national emergency. Sleep deprivation triggers marital stress, postpartum depression, abuse, and infant sleep deaths. And, it causes the same mental impairment as being drunk. Furthermore, exhaustion seriously impacts the economy by reducing worker productivity and increasing absenteeism, on-the-job accidents, and health care costs.”
The bed relies on a number of responses in order to comfort a restless baby. The Snoo has a motor capable of more than 10 million cycles, enough to comfort your child for 14 hours a day for six months, and uses gentle, broad movements and comforting shushing designed to promote sleep. The bed also features a range of specially engineered white noise that changes volume and pitch according to baby’s needs, like soft, rumbly sounds to promote sleep and louder, high-pitched sounds to soothe upsets.
The Snoo can also be paired with a smartphone app, allowing parents to check in on how the baby is doing from anywhere and can turn off the rocking remotely. This gives new parents the chance to start to wean a newborn off of all night rocking to prepare them for a crib, while also avoiding disturbing the baby by walking into the room.
Snoo also comes with a fool-proof, 5-second swaddle equipped with special ‘safety wings’ that attach to the bed and keep babies from rolling to the stomach, meaning parents can rest easy knowing their baby will remain on his or her back the duration of the night. When the child has grown too large for a swaddle, the bed also comes with three Snoo sleep sacks of varying sizes and includes an organic cotton fitted sheet.
On the design front, Dr. Karp teamed up with renowned industrial designer, Yves Béhar, ensuring a clean design that will fit in any nursery’s decor.
The Snoo will have its public debut at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference in San Francisco, October 21-24. When it hits store shelves, it will cost about $1,160.
