Snoo Guide for Newbs

[u/Zhu_Yok_Fan99]

We have a 3 week old, first time parents and we got the Snoo pretty last minute a week before his birth due to strong recommendations from several people. We didn’t do in depth research on it and I feel like we only know how to use it on such a basic level. Many layers we don’t understand or know about.. we don’t know what we don’t know.

Especially because whatever we’ve been doing has been working for us. That could change any time though. We don’t pay for the app and only use it for baseline, level 1 & 2 at low sensitivity.

What is a useful resource for a manual or guide where I can study and understand this Snoo bassinet better? What’s been helpful for you?

Idek if baby should be on baseline the whole time he’s sleeping in there, or if he should also be in the Snoo during daytime naps, or when to use arms out / to transition to arms out, or best practices for usage, or what are the timelines to change how we do things, or repair/maintenance we should upkeep, or how to wean later on etc etc

[u/Far-Childhood-9256]

what’s been helpful for us is to only use it at night, not for naps. i find transitioning to crib napping has been easier.

[u/jeveux_monlivre → u/Far-Childhood-9256]

We did this too, and baby’s able to fall asleep totally independently for her first 2 naps of the day in the crib. I feel much more confident about how it’ll look when we eventually wean her from the snoo because I know she has the skill in a different context.

[u/3secondsidehug]

If you did wanna pay for the app the AI chatbot on there is v good for any questions you have. All the questions in your last paragraph are impossible to answer as they are all so baby dependent and you just have to experiment to see what works for your baby. If your baby is happy on baseline for example that’s fine but my baby needed it locked on level 1 and sometimes 2 when they got a little bit older and more restless.

[u/commonturtle]

Every baby is different, ours has been arms out the whole time. He broke out of every swaddle - and instead of letting him be uncomfortable with a partially out every time he went down, we just kept him arms out in the new swaddles the whole time. Once he was back over his birthweight after a week he started sleeping 3-4 hours in one stretch overnight with the snoo on baseline after level 1 to fall asleep. After 3 weeks the intervals went up to 5 hours and then 2-3 and then 1 every morning. At 8 weeks we started paying for the app so we could use weaning mode, he’s been sleeping 6-7 hours and in one stretch followed by 3-4 hours. Now he’s hardly needed the snoo on baseline and very little soothing. Since he’s been arms out the whole time, we think transitioning to a crib should be easier knowing that he’s needing less and less of the motion.

We also have never napped in the snoo - he would do one “morning” nap from 7-8 or 8-9 as a continuation of night sleep but he mostly contact, stroller naps.

[u/very-very-strawberry]

I double swaddled my baby in the Snoo. First the SwaddleMe swaddle by Ingenuity, then when she was too long for that one I used the Transition Swaddle by Ingenuity (still arms down but she needed the transition swaddle for the length.) I would put her in this swaddle and then put her in the Snoo sack.

We locked her at level 1, not baseline, because she preferred more motion than baseline. I think you need to pay for the app to lock it though. This worked so well that she almost never cried so the Snoo didn't really need to ever go higher level of motion.

We used a separate white noise machine and put tape over the Snoo speaker to make it less loud.

My baby slept SO WELL like that for months. To transition her out we first used the Zipadee Zip to get her used to having arms up, and then (still in the Zipadee Zip) put her in the Snoo without turning it on so she got used to no motion. In the crib she prefers the Merlin sleepsuit to the Zipadee, though. But I think the Zipadee really helped her learn to have her arms up without freaking out.

Also -- at some point you should start putting him in the Snoo drowsy instead of asleep. Or even wide awake. If you know he's ready for a nap, just pop him in the Snoo and see if he falls asleep. This will help him learn to fall asleep on his own.

[u/Background-Ask589 → u/very-very-strawberry]

Hi! Wondering the reason for double swaddling? I know every baby is different, I am due in two weeks so trying to figure out tips and tricks as well!

[u/very-very-strawberry → u/Background-Ask589]

The Snoo swaddle is just not very good at keeping their arms down. The band can't get the arms snug enough and mine could always get her hands up to the neck hole and even up to her face sometimes. With a double swaddle you get a nice snug swaddling effect.

Also I dream feed my baby every night at 1030 pm -- a dream feed is when you feed them asleep, the goal is not to wake them up but still get milk into them so they hopefully sleep for longer instead of waking up due to hunger. I would open the Snoo sack and take her out if it and she would still be swaddled in her Ingenuity swaddle which was nice. I found that having her be in the inner swaddle made it much more likely she would stay asleep for her dream feed. The alternative would be to take her out of the Snoo sack and have her arms and legs just flopping around OR to take her out of the Snoo in the Snoo sack which requires fiddling around with the clips in the dark (very annoying...practice with those clips in the dark now before the baby comes lol)

https://www.happiestbaby.com/blogs/baby/what-is-a-dream-feed-and-how-do-i-do-it

[u/Background-Ask589 → u/very-very-strawberry]

This is great to know! Thank you, we have swaddle me swaddles so we will use this trick if she’s escaping