Do Babies Sleep Better in Smart Bassinets?

Do Smart Bassinets Help Babies Sleep Longer And Better?

Smart bassinets are all the rage these days. These cool baby devices do everything from rocking, playing sound, and even detecting your baby’s cry before starting a soothing sequence to help him back to sleep – genius!

But do smart bassinets actually achieve the goal of helping babies sleep longer and better?

The manufacturers of smart bassinets make some pretty interesting and enticing claims about how these devices can help boost sleep for your baby and yourself.

The company Happiest Baby, which manufactures the world famous SNOO Smart Sleeper, claims that the “SNOO has been proven to add 1 to 3 hours of sleep a night for babies”. That sounds pretty amazing, especially if you find yourself at the upper end of that spectrum.

For more information on the different smart bassinets and how they compare with each other, you should check out Upside Dad.

The reality is that every baby is different so there is no way to know if it will work for your little one.

Let’s take a look at how smart bassinets work and how they can help you and your whole family get more restful sleep.

What are smart bassinets?

There are more and more smart bassinets entering the market every year. Bassinets that fall under the “smart” umbrella are the ones that have one or more of the following features:

• Automatic motion
• Vibration
• Soothing sounds
• App or remote control
• Cry detection

Most smart bassinets come with a combination of these features, not all of them. When choosing a smart bassinet parents should make sure to decide which features are the most important before choosing the right one for them.

The whole point of a smart device is to reduce the workload for the user in one way or another. That’s still the case for smart bassinets. They all claim to be able to calm a baby and help parents, especially for night wake-ups.

Each smart bassinet is slightly different and offers something the competition doesn’t.

The 4moms MamaRoo Sleep bassinet offers five different soothing motions with adjustable speeds for each motion but no cry detection. The Graco Sense2Snooze offers one motion, 3 speeds and it comes with cry detection that will automatically start motion and sound as soon as your baby wakes up unhappy. The SNOO has a patented swaddle technology that will keep your baby on his back the entire night and it offers the most advanced app technology along with the doctor’s stamp of approval.

Smart bassinets come in all shapes and sizes but the goal remains the same – give parents a hand when it comes to soothing babies.

• Are smart bassinets safe?

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a real concern for parents today. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warns against the dangers of SIDS and instructs parents to follow important guidelines when it comes to baby sleep and safety.

Any manufacturer in hopes to sell baby sleep products in Europe or North America will need to adhere to strict rules and regulations while demonstrating the utmost safety of their products.

All of the “big brand” bassinets mentioned earlier have been thoroughly tested to North American standards for the safety of your baby. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has strict guidelines for child safety and ensures that every product sold in the USA has to meet or surpass them.

Parents can rest assured smart bassinets that have been tested and approved by major governing bodies such as the CPSC are safe. Since everyone has different personal thresholds for safety, it’s important that each parent does their own research on the certifications and testing of each smart bassinet before making up their mind and choosing one.

• How do smart bassinets help babies sleep better?

Have you ever heard of the “mom bop”? I was first introduced to it when my son was mere hours old and the nurse picked him up while he was crying. She started lightly bopping up and down and shushing. This simple, yet soothing action was enough to calm him down and get him to stop crying.

That’s exactly what smart bassinets are supposed to do. They mimic the soothing motion and sounds of a mom or dad trying to calm their baby down.

Instead of you having to continually bop up and down for hours to keep your baby happy, the bassinet does it for you.

• Are smart bassinets worth it?

Smart bassinets are certainly worth it if your baby accepts it, and the only way to know is to try. When they work, they just work really well. Parents swear by their smart bassinets and claim to get full nights of sleep within a few weeks of bringing their babies home from the hospital thanks to these amazing devices.

But what happens if your baby doesn’t adapt to it?

Well, there are always other options. One great option is to look into gentle sleep training techniques. There are many sleep training courses online that can help parents navigate the days and nights with a fussy baby.

Another option is to meet with a private baby sleep consultant. These professionals have been trained to identify opportunities to help babies get better sleep. They will analyze your daily and night routine and give you pointers on what you should do to improve the quality of everyone’s sleep.

A combination of the smart bassinet and gentle sleep training is ideal for getting the best possible results when it comes to quality sleep for everyone.

Guest Article. Contains a sponsored link.