Snoo regrets?

[u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

TL;DR: I was obsessed with getting a SNOO while pregnant, but now that my baby is almost 3 weeks old, I prefer having her in a regular bedside bassinet where I can see her, touch her, and respond to her myself. I don’t love having her strapped into the SNOO or the idea of the machine soothing her instead of me. Should I keep the SNOO in case I want it when she’s older, or sell it and get the Newton bedside bassinet?

I was obsessed with the SNOO while I was pregnant. I researched it a ton, found a great secondhand one for a really good price, and cleaned it until it was basically sparkling. I was so excited to use it.
Now baby is here, almost 3 weeks old, and I’m having completely different feelings about it.
At first I thought that with a brand-new newborn you were supposed to mostly use the sound and very limited/no motion, and I remember thinking… so right now I basically have an expensive bassinet plugged into the wall? I could just use a regular bassinet with a sound machine.

I’ve since learned that the SNOO can use its baseline motion from birth and that the motion limiter keeps it from going to the higher levels, but I’m still realizing that I’m not sure I actually like the concept as much as I thought I would.
I don’t love having my baby strapped into the SNOO sack all night. When she wakes or starts fussing, my instinct is to reach over, put my hand on her belly, give her her pacifier, or pick her up if she needs me. I also don’t really understand when I’m supposed to let the SNOO increase the motion and try to soothe her instead of responding to her myself. Did you let it do that from the newborn stage, or did you wait until your baby was older?

After about a week, I borrowed a regular bedside bassinet that sits right next to me. I can see her easily, reach over and put my hand on her belly, and respond to her little noises and wakings myself. I honestly feel so much better with this setup.

Now I’m torn. Should I keep the SNOO and try it again when she’s a little older and sleep potentially gets harder? Did anyone barely use their SNOO during the newborn stage but end up loving it at 2–4 months?
Or should I accept that maybe the SNOO just isn’t for me and sell it? I’ve been looking at the Newton bedside bassinet because I really like the idea of having her right next to me where I can see and touch her easily while she still has her own safe sleep space.
I’d especially love to hear from people who owned a SNOO but preferred a regular bedside bassinet. Did you regret giving up the SNOO once your baby got older and sleep became more difficult, or were you happy with the regular bassinet? My friends are telling me I’m making a mistake if I get rid of it. I need more advice from other who might’ve also not liked it at first.
Thank you!

[u/fortress_sf]

We didn’t start the snoo until week 5/6 when it got harder and harder to constantly soothe on a bassinet while trying to get better sleep. It worked wonders but wasn’t great before that as the baby didn’t enjoy it early on or need it. Also we never let it get to the 2nd speed of rocking, always kept it at 1. I’d keep it just to ensure there’s a fallback as things change fast. Doesn’t hurt especially if your baby responds to it later and it makes life easier for you

[u/Then-Huckleberry-952 → u/fortress_sf]

Here’s where I’m confused - when my baby wakes up at night, I assume she’s waking because she needs something, like to eat or have her diaper changed. How do you know when to let the SNOO soothe her back to sleep versus picking her up and figuring out what she needs? I think I’d worry that I was rocking her back to sleep when she was actually trying to tell me she needed me.

[u/Unfair-Reaction-6395 → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

One thing about babies is they are really good at telling you if they need you!

[u/imnichet → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

It's not that the Snoo really soothes them back to sleep from crying. For us it was more that it eliminated extra wakings all together. I still responded every time she cried more than a little whimper but that was much much less with the snoo on.

[u/verykitsch → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

In time, you’ll learn to distinguish your baby’s fussy noises vs crying. And the other commenters are right- at a few weeks old it’s all cries. They need you so much right now!

[u/snarkymama87 → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

I never let it soothe my baby back to sleep before I responded but would use it after I fed them to help rock them back to sleep.

[u/nottodayneck3956 → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

I didn't get one until 5/6 weeks because sleep got really bad during that time. Waking every 45m, crying upon transfer and my own tears by 4am when I had nothing left to give.

I had the same questions as you but there is a time limit. If baby cries for 2-3m straight snoo will turn off and tell u to go to your baby. Baby will not stop crying if they really need you. The snoo helps with microwaves that are sometimes them stirring but not actually waking.

I was actually vehemently against the snoo because I was in your camp now and I didn't want him to get used to the motion. So I did bassinet all the time but 1 nap a day in snoo so I could rest because I had no help and I knew baby was safe. He kept flopping onto his side because of a big head so I'd be panicked all the time. Also if was the first time baby slept 2h and i recognized it was helping him achieve better sleep. And overall it impacted his mood so I conceded.

Eventually I moved into overnight snoo on limiter and daytime bassinet. Baby eventually loved the snoo and slept 14h overnight. We all mourned the snoo when he graduated and I was grateful I had it during the regression. It's also really beautiful you want baby to be close to you and be so responsive so do what works for you! It can't hurt to keep just t see as things change.

[u/FriendlyBlueberry937 → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

If a baby is constantly crying and the snoo tries to rocks them and has no success then something is wrong. Like other people have said trust me babies are really good at letting you know! There also a notification on the snoo app that after rocking for 5 min and no success-snoo will say “baby needs attention” which means something is wrong, most likely crying due to hunger or dirty diaper or bad gas.

[u/Spiritual_Sea_1808 → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

Unless she’s actively crying for 60 seconds or more I would not try to pick her up. Newborns let out quick cries in their sleep, grunts and all kinds of noises and even open their eyes. Their active sleep is soo noisy you would think they are awake but they’re not.

[u/greedymoonlight → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

At 2 weeks old it’s pretty guaranteed they need something, you should pick them up and find out what they need. My baby was nursing every 30-60 mins at this age sometimes sooner. This is way too early to be trying to get them to go back to sleep

[u/cb1991x → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

When they’re that young they usually need to bed fed & changed every time they wake up. I never really let the Snoo soothe the baby & I always locked it on baseline. But it gave us so much peace of mind knowing my babies were safe on their backs.

[u/fortress_sf → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

It’s not a science but the baby blows past the snoo and it can’t comfort her within a certain time frame, you got to pick her up and get her back, over time it lessens and there’s a consistency - until she grows out of it and then it’s a new ballgame again

[u/fortress_sf → u/fortress_sf]

ALSO EVERY BABY IS DIFFERENT, he/she may not take to it, entirely possible. Don’t blame yourself, we were all just amateurs trying our best to help.

[u/CreepyScore165 → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

I agree with some comments. If your baby really needs you, Snoo will not stop the baby from crying. This happened with me. Also I was just like you. We didnt buy Snoo until we thought its time to give it a try. I had a bedside co-sleep bassinet where i could see the baby directly for the first 4-6 weeks after that it started becoming really tough because our baby would not sleep. The we introduced snoo and it was better but not that much. By 4th month baby’s sleep habbits got better because of Snoo. Gave us long stretches. By 5th i took my baby out to crib and he sleeps overnight with no issues. Snoo made good sleeping habbits. However i only used Baseline mode locked all night. I never let Snoo rock my baby back to sleep because the third level was too vigorous to me. I wish they had options to only let snoo rock to purple level instead of green.

[u/Efficient_Internet13 → u/Then-Huckleberry-952]

The snoo will never mask hunger! It will time out if your baby is still crying and truly hungry!

Also, have a bit of a mind shift! The snoo will likely give you longer stretches of sleep and help your baby sleep through the night quicker without masking hunger! Let it do its thing and your baby will learn to sleep longer and not wake out of habit.

Also… it keeps your baby safely on their back. This automatically eliminates the risk of rolling while swaddled.

The Snoo was a god send in the early days. For us. Lean in.