One of my baby girls just caught up to my height, yet I remember the exhaustion of having a newborn like yesterday.
As a new mom, your body has just been through pregnancy and the colossal achievement (whatever form it took) of labor / delivery. Maybe you and your baby are struggling with nursing (I was!). You’re also nervous to understand and adjust to the needs of this tiny person whose life is so fragile and new. All this on only a few hours of sleep at a time—if you’re lucky!
Reading about the @happiestbaby snoo smart sleeper, though, I kinda want a do-over. The bed was developed by Dr. Harvey Karp, author of the classic book Happiest Baby on the Block. It claims to add one to two hours a night of sleep for baby (and thus parents!) through responsive “constant calming womb rhythms.” It also prevents SIDS with secure swaddling that stops babies from rolling. Of course it has an app—and access to on-call sleep specialists by phone. Wow. Sleeping baby—at the push of a button.
On the down side, it lasts just six months until babies outgrow it, and costs a hefty $1495. It is available for rent at $129 per month, though, and some employers are renting it as a benefit for their employees--which seems like a pretty good price in exchange for making them feel more cared for and productive.
While it would have been great to have a Scandinavian-style extended leave (the US and Papua New Guinea are the only countries on earth that don’t require paid maternity leave!) I returned to work when my babies were only a few months old. Also, as the survivor of a colicky baby, I would definitely want to go back in time and try this if I could. I understand that it won’t be accessible to every family or work for every baby, but it seems like it would be worth renting to at least try as a basic survival tool for modern parenting.
Have you tried the snoo or a similar product? What do you think?
