The SNOO Smart Sleeper is a good bassinet that received many good reviews from parents. However, its price is high, so purchasing a new SNOO will be hard for you.
Many people want to rent the SNOO instead of buying it. In this article, we will analyze the pros and cons of the SNOO and more details on the SNOO rental service. You can also find the answers to some frequently asked questions about the SNOO and SNOO rental.
What Is An SNOO Bassinet?
The SNOO bassinet is a technological advancement created by pediatrician Harvey Karp, author of “The Happiest Baby on the Block''.
His theory is about recreating life in the womb to calm and help infants sleep. He put this theory into practice by the SNOO, in partnership with MIT Media Lab and Yves Béhar, a well-known Swiss designer.
We can understand the SNOO as an intelligent and safe robot rather than a crib.
It has two motors to revolve the mattress and safety clips on the sides of the bed attached to the sack. The clipped swaddle keeps the baby to stay on their back and prevents them from rolling over while sleeping. Rolling over while swaddling is dangerous for babies, so it is a common concern for parents.
The SNOO bassinet can shush the baby with built-in speakers with various levels of white noise. The bassinet also can check the infants’ movements and sounds with three microphones. These microphones help SNOO understand an infant’s crying to adjust the white-noise volume and speed of rotation.
It has four levels of increasing sound/motion from “baseline," SNOO will move through it to find the one that works best to calm your baby. You can manually increase the level by the power button on the front of the device or by the SNOO smartphone app. The app is helpful for you to receive daily tips and track your baby's sleep.
Why Would You Want To Try The SNOO?
The SNOO is a smart and safe crib for the baby, so everyone wants to try it. It promises more sleep, less crying, extra hands, prevent rolling and sleep trains for the baby.
Putting the baby back to sleep
The primary reason people want to try the SNOO is its major function - calm babies upset and put them back to sleep.
If the SNOO is effective on your baby, you can save countless hours of sleep and brain cells by not having to wake up and put your baby back to sleep every night.
It doesn't mean that the SNOO can calm the baby down when they wake up, but it will be helpful if the baby just needs to go back to sleep with a light touch or motion.
The SNOO received good feedback and recommendation from many parents. You can read them in the review section of online shopping websites or Happiest Baby websites.
Sleep trains
The SNOO can help the baby feel more like in the womb with the white-noise sound and motions.
The baby needs time to learn and get used to the outside world in the very first months. The SNOO works to calm them down and make it easier for them to fall asleep. Without it, the sleep training process for your baby may have more cry-it-out moments.
The SNOO bassinet also has a special weaning feature that helps your baby learn to sleep without motion. So you do not need to worry if the baby can adapt to the normal crib when they grow.
It looks and feels great
The design of this crib is so simple but stunning. It has a nice modern Danish that can fit any style of interior decoration. All the details are sturdy and work flawlessly.
Of course, it is what you would expect when you pay that high cost. However, its appearance is one of the common reasons many parents want to have the SNOO in their nursing room.
Excellent investment
We all agree that the price of this bassinet is relatively high.
However, you can consider that buying the SNOO is a long-term investment if you plan to have many babies. And when you don’t use it, you can let someone rent it. If you only want to have one baby, you can buy and resell the SNOO after using it for a reasonable price.
There is an option to rent the SNOO for a month. You can check whether it works for your baby and decide to rent it more or buy a new one. Saving one or two hours of sleep each night for six to eight months is priceless to every parent.
The SNOO app
The app supports you in tracking every sleep session your infant has in the crib. It is helpful because it provides you with the baby's sleep last night and the trends and developments of the baby's sleeping habits.
In addition, through the app, you can pick the best motion and sound settings for your baby. You even can change the level up and down directly through the app to respond to your baby’s cues.
Why Shouldn't You Use SNOO?
Some parents gave a negative feedback about the SNOO's height, which is too low and creates back pain for tall people or too high for short people. However, the company offers leg lifters and a separate set of low legs. Your experience using this crib doesn't change because they are also made of non-slip, elastomeric materials.
Many people's concern is about the white noise feature of the SNOO. You can notice that the SNOO has a built-in white noise machine, which means we could turn it off if the SNOO is on. It will be hard for the baby to hear their parents’ voices and learn how to fall asleep without the white noise.
From parents’ feedback, we can see that the SNOO doesn’t seem to work well for all babies. Many just hate swaddling and couldn’t stay inside the crib for more than 20 minutes. However, you must clip in the swaddle for the SNOO to start.
Parents also said that the machine could not react in time when the baby gave early cues of fussiness. When it starts to change the sound/motion, it is too late, and the baby already gets angry. Caregivers need more time and effort to calm the baby down and help them back to sleep again.
Most of the concern about using or renting the SNOO is its price. It is expensive to compare with other similar bassinets in the market, with only a 1-year limited warranty. If it has a problem when you use it for your future baby, that will cost you more to fix it.
How Long Can You Use SNOO For Your Baby?
You can use the SNOO for your baby until they are 4 or 6 months old before they can get up on their hands or knees.
The manufacturer informs that they design the bassinet for babies 25 pounds or fewer. The swaddle becomes tighter when the baby gets more extensive, and they may not feel comfortable inside the bassinet.
And if the baby can get up on their hands and knees, it would not be safe to put them in the SNOO anymore. They may try to escape from the swaddle and get up. You should help them learn to sleep without motion and move to a normal crib when they are young.
How Does The SNOO Rental Work?
You can rent the SNOO bassinet on the website of the Happiest Baby easily. You need to place an order by choosing a shipping date. The shipping fee will be free. And once the SNOO arrives, the company will automatically charge you monthly.
Besides the rental cost of about $159 a month, you need to pay a reconditioning fee and a refundable security deposit when you place an order. You must rent the SNOO bassinet for at least one month.
The deposit will be refunded within 5 to 10 business days after the company receives your return SNOO. You also need to pay about $59.5 for the return shipping to the Happiest Baby.
Before delivery to you, the bassinet needs to go through strict reconditioning steps.
They will deep clean the outer and inner of the bassinet and sanitize it with hospital-grade, baby-safe products. The mattress, bassinet sheet, and waterproof cover will be replaced. The company also tests the safety, sound and motion sensor, and other features before shipping.
If the SNOO stops working during the rental period, you can contact the Happiest Baby customer service, and they will deliver you a replacement immediately. If your baby does not like the bassinet, after the initial minimum 1-month rental period, you can cancel and return the SNOO to Happiest Baby.
You should save its delivery packaging and all the relevant contents in a safe place so you can use it again to return the SNOO. If you lost the original packaging, you will be charged a replacement fee.
Is The SNOO Bassinet Rental Worth It?
There is no correct answer to this question. While some parents claim the bassinet is a waste of money and is over-hyped, many parents think the SNOO intelligent sleeper rental is worth the cost and supports them a lot.
The disappointment came from a few parents because they expected a more magical effect. Their infants still sleep less than what they think the bassinet could help. And some parents also believe the SNOO reaction is quite late to soothe the baby at the right moment.
The bassinet works but is not similar to all babies. Each baby may have its pattern of sleeping and waking that parents need to understand and adapt to.
It is essential to follow the recommendation of the manufacturer. You should follow the guide and place the baby in the bassinet when he is already asleep for the first two weeks using the SNOO.
One enormous advantage of the SNOO bassinet rental program is that you can cancel anytime after the first month. These 30 days will allow you to check how much it can help the baby’s sleep. And then decide to rent more or buy one for the long-term investment.
SNOO Rental Vs SNOO Purchase: Which Is Better?
If you buy the SNOO and plan on using it for more than one child or resell it after you, I think it is worth the money.
The cost of this bassinet is more than $1500 on Amazon now, six months used for your first baby and then six months for the second one. Or you can resell the used bassinet at $900 - $1000 on eBay for other parents. So it will cost you $700 - $800 for six months of use in this bassinet.
Renting the SNOO currently costs $159 per month. Using the Newborn Special price will pay $159/month for the first four months and $49 for months 5 and 6. You need to pay extra for the reconditioning fee and return fee. So the total cost will be $893 for 6-month use.
However, renting will be lower if you do not use the bassinet from the baby’s first month. If you only use it for 3 or 4 months, rental is an option with a lower cost (around $600 -$800). So we think you should rent the SNOO to try if your baby is already around two months old and you are not sure if it will work.
One advantage of the SNOO smart sleeper rental is saving spaces. You do not need to worry about the room to store the bassinet when your baby has moved on to a normal crib.
On the other hand, you will prefer an SNOO purchase if you don’t like the fact that the bassinet has been used, no matter how perfectly clean and sterile when you get it. For many people, it’s not a problem. But some people do not feel comfortable about that.
Below is a comparison table about SNOO Rental vs SNOO Purchase:
How To Use The SNOO Bassinet
After receiving the package, you must follow the instructions to set up the bassinet. It is well-designed, so it will cost you only 30 minutes to prepare the SNOO bassinet.
Follow these steps to use the SNOO Bassinet:
If the SNOO could not calm your baby, remove him from the bassinet and soothe or feed them as needed.
SNOO apps allow you to change the speed of motion and the white noise sound. To use it, you need to connect the SNOO to a 2.4ghz band Wi-Fi through the app. You can customize and set the limitation for sound and motion by an app.
You can also quickly respond to your baby’s needs by adjusting the level through the app. If the baby is hungry or uncomfortable, they need more than SNOO’s soothing. The app will alert you to come and pick the baby up.
FAQ
The SNOO is not a low-price product, so we must consider many aspects before purchasing. These are some commonly asked questions about the SNOO rental and the answers from us.
Can I rent an SNOO bassinet on vacation?
Yes, you absolutely can.
The baby can usually sleep without the SNOO during a short vacation (3-4 days). But if it’s longer, the vacation may affect the baby’s sleeping habits, and they may cry and wake every hour.
If you plan to have a long vacation with your baby, it will be great to rent an SNOO. It will be shipped to your destination, and you can return it when you are about to leave.
The pros are that you don’t have to pack your SNOO and carry it along. It will be in your room when you get there if you make the arrangement. You also don’t need to worry about the damage to your bassinet while traveling.
However, you should consider it because SNOO rental for a vacation will cost you a minimum one-month rental fee and the extra cost of reconditioning and returning. It needs a plan for the shipping in advance so you can get the bassinet to be at the hotel when you arrive.
Don’t forget to keep the shipping packaging because you will need it to repackage the SNOO for returning.
What is an alternative to an SNOO?
In the market, many bassinets have the same functions as the SNOO. For example, Graco Sense2 SNOOze, HALO BassiNest Swivel Sleeper, or 4moms mamaRoo Sleep Bassinet. You can consider them a lower-price alternative, but their effect may not be as good as the SNOO.
Graco Sense2Snooze
HALO BassiNest Swivel
4moms mamaRoo
Read more: SNOO Vs Graco Sense2snooze – Real Experience From 25 Moms
SNOO discount program
The Happiest Baby has many discount programs for purchasing the SNOO. The Military Discount is 20% off for the purchase.
You could not combine this special discount with other promotions, sales, or coupon codes.
There is an SNOO medical discount. It includes SNOO physician discount and SNOO nurse discount. You can claim these discounts on the website by filling out a form and providing proof that you’re a physician or nurse or working in the military (for military discount).
For the rental service, there are also promotions for you. You will get a $30 gift card if you refer a friend and they rent the SNOO. If you plan to use the SNOO right after your baby is born, you can save money using the Newborn Special promotion.
You should check with your companies if they signed agreements with the Happiest Baby to support the bill of renting the SNOO for their employees.
How to get the SNOO security deposit back?
When you rent the SNOO, you need to deposit $99 for security. You will receive the refund after the bassinet is delivered and checked by the Happiest Baby.
They will refund you the deposit once if no damage has occurred beyond reasonable wear and tear. This process takes 5-10 business days after receiving the SNOO.
You may not receive the total amount of the security deposit back if there is any damage or loss with the bassinet. They will deduct the deposit to cover the cost of damage, destruction, and loss. You can read more about the terms and conditions of the SNOO rental program on the Happiest Baby website here.
Closing
In conclusion, to answer the question “SNOO rental vs SNOO purchase: which one is better?" The decision also depends on your financial ability, how many months you plan to use it, and whether your baby likes it.
If you plan to have more than one baby, you should buy the SNOO bassinet as a long-term investment. However, if your baby is already 1 or 2 months old, you should rent the SNOO bassinet instead. You can have a fantastic supporter with a lower cost and more convenience.