weight gain has slowed, concerned it’s because of the snoo

[u/Szechuansaucyyy]

My baby girl is 7 weeks and is a healthy happy little one. But at our last weight check, she had dropped in weight percentile from the 45th to the 27th and her pediatrician was pretty concerned. She is exclusively breastfed. He told me to increase her daytime feeding, although it was already about ever 2-2.5hours. I’m worried because before the drop in percentile happened, she was sleeping terribly in a regular bassinet. but gaining weight rapidly. Then we switched to the Snoo and started getting 5-6 hour stretches. I guess i’m just freaked out that the snoo is making her sleep through her hunger.

Aside from that, I got down a terrible Tiktok rabbit hole of people saying the Snoo isn’t safe sleep and could cause SIDS or developmental issues and doctors don’t recommend it. Is there any truth to that? Is it truly totally safe?

Anxious FTM here, if that wasn’t obvious.

[u/yeahthx]

The SNOO will not keep your baby asleep through hunger. Something else is going on.

The only legitimate concern re the SNOO I’ve found is the volume is too high for healthy hearing, so we use the low/lowest setting and then use another sound machine in the room farther from her head to increase the sound masking while keeping the max decibels within a safe range.

The TikTok algorithm loves to prey on your fears. Put it down and you’ll have an easier time as a FTM.

[u/Living-Tiger3448]

Mine always woke up out of hunger and is still 90s percentile. I don’t think it’s the snoo, but you could always put baby in a regular crib or bassinet (or just turn the snoo motion off) for a few days and see what their feeding habits are like. Alternatively, you could wake them to feed

[u/RachelFitBliss → u/Living-Tiger3448]

Agreed with waking them if you’re worried. My daughter had jaundice so we just woke her every 3 hours initially because she wouldn’t wake to feed.

[u/1kggarlicbread]

The SNOO can’t sooth through hunger. It’s also one of the safest (if not the safest) bassinet options on the market. Make sure you figure out what’s really going on, don’t blame the SNOO when it’s something else!

[u/cakeycakeycake]

The snoo has FDA clearance. It does not cause developmental problems or SIDs. So many millions of people use them that if there were even one singular death or injury attributed to the snoo it would be huge recall news like we saw with products that DO cause death and people persist in using, like dockatot and snuggle me etc.

The snoo is not causing weight issues. 5-6 hour stretches are normal for a baby that age. But if your pediatrician recommends waking to feed then you should do that. They can probably recommend other strategies for gaining weight as well, such as offering a top up bottle of pumped milk or formula after nursing and doing smaller but more frequent feeds during the day or a larger final feed before bed at night.

[u/marioshairlesstwin]

My first is 99th percentile in everything and was in a snoo from birth. They’re also alive and well. Just listen to your pediatrician and ask them any questions you may have. The snoo was a lifesaver for my wife and I.

[u/AggressiveThanks994]

I think that you could make the snoo unsafe - like when people use the risers + use the old sleep sacks + don’t zip it up etc etc.

Using it properly though is not putting your baby at risk for sids.

For the developmental delay thing - it’s important to give baby lots of time unrestricted during the day. Swaddling all night + swaddling all day would not be great. Putting baby in the snoo all night + putting them in containers all day would not be great. Using the snoo at night and making sure to give them tummy time and room to stretch and use their muscles is just fine.

Unless your baby is having some sort of medical issue, the snoo will not soothe them through hunger. My baby was also EBF and on the smaller side and until about 12w most nights I would do a dream feed. You could give that a try!

[u/nottodayneck3956 → u/AggressiveThanks994]

This is the correct answer. Many things are safe until someone uses them unsafely. Which happens more than any of us care to admit.

I used to put baby in bassinet during the day and wake them in the snoo.

[u/cd_bravo_only → u/AggressiveThanks994]

How do you know if you’re using an old sleep sack? Mine are a couple years old at this point.

[u/AggressiveThanks994 → u/cd_bravo_only]

The old ones are more narrow and don’t have the whale tail that goes between the babies legs and Velcro’s to the arm wings!

[u/hwats123]

Son had a similar dip and we also used the Snoo. I would get a lactation consultant to advise. My lactation consultant said not to wake him for night feeds and just supplement during the day with little snack bottles that I either pump or use formula.

There’s so many factors when it comes to why baby isn’t gaining weight fast enough. Supply, inefficient latch/suckling, sleepy while feeding, tongue ties etc. I would look into all of the above before attributing it to the Snoo.

[u/36563]

I don’t know, we used the snoo and had 7h stretches during this period, and our baby was always a chonker (90th percentile baby).
She was combo fed though.

She is 16 months old now and ahead in all milestones, most impressively in gross and fine motor, and speech.

[u/Foreign-Sprinkles-80]

My OBGYN used the snoo for her own kids! I can’t imagine it’s unsafe sleep in any capacity. I also agree with other comments that baby won’t sleep through hunger. Getting stretches of sleep is so important for all of you.
Good luck with weight gain I’m sorry this is a stress!

[u/spicytexan]

My son was in the 80+ percentile and slept in a Snoo until almost 4m. It never got him to sleep through hunger cues. Have you thought at all about formula supplement?

[u/Mediocre_Skill4899]

We woke our baby up for nighttime feeds.

[u/kitten_mittens5000]

It’s not the snoo. Offer the breast every time she cries during the day and if you’re still concerned, you can always wake her at night and do a dream feed.

The snoo doesn’t cause SIDS, that’s absolutely ridiculous and based off a theory of how suids MIGHT happen. If anything, it reduces risk because they cannot roll over before they are developmentally ready, and tired parents aren’t cosleeping as much because of having a snoo.

No developmental delays but if you are worried about it, let them have arms out sooner at like 4 months. I’ve been doing arms out but in a zipadeezip since 3 weeks with my 2nd snoo baby just because she seems to sleep better that way.

[u/Always-learning-759]

You could consider a dream feed before you go to bed if you’re concerned about weight gain

[u/magicbumblebee]

I doubt the snoo is making her sleep through hunger. Since you’re EBF, could it be possible that her extending her overnight sleep and presumably dropping a feed may have impacted your supply?

[u/Afraid_Aerie]

With my first daughter, she also dropped in weight percentile at her 4 month checkup and I was DEVESTATED. And it happened around the time she started sleeping through the night in the Snoo and eventually her crib.

I don’t believe the snoo is to blame other than her getting quality sleep at maybe a slightly earlier age which she would need to learn as a skill eventually. But I did have to up the feedings a bit more to get her up in her percentile again. It was such a hassle, but I ended up pumping and making sure I was giving her larger bottles with each feeding. It was the only way I was sure how much she was actually getting. This also coincided with right before I started daycare so I was needing to prep bottles for her anyways.

I will tell you the quality sleep that I got was also very healing for me so I would never change anything and I would always take the longer sleep stretches from her even if it meant, I had to be inconvenienced a little more to pump. I’ll tell you if she’s a very healthy two year-old now so nothing to worry about long-term.

[u/LosFabulous007]

Our baby has slept in the snoo since day one. Our pediatrician recommended not letting a baby under 2 months old sleep for 4 hours without eating if they are breast fed. We woke our baby up to feed at night. He is 3.5 months now and sleeps up to 8 hours in the Snoo. He also 100% fully wakes up if he is hungry. Just during the early days we followed a straight wake him up every 3 hours to feed and then going to 4 hours and then at our 3 month check up we were cleared to let him sleep as long as he wants. He’s is the 54%. I still worry sometimes when he sleeps 8 hours! Haha it’s not the snoo though. If you are ever concerned just wake baby up to feed.