Ingenious Smart Crib Monitors Babies Through the Night and Gently Rocks Them Back to Sleep

As any new parent knows, a newborn baby does not exactly “sleep like a baby.” Whether the little bundle of joy is just a bit fussy or having a middle-of-the-night meltdown, trying to soothe a stirring baby back to sleep can be a tricky and tiring task. Recognizing the inevitable sleeplessness that afflicts new parents nightly, smart-tech company Happiest Baby has collaborated with acclaimed designer Yves Béhar and his studio, Fuseproject, to create an inventive and innovative slumber-y solution: SNOO Smart Sleeper.

Happiest Baby is a California start-up founded by pediatrician Harvey Karp and his wife Nina Montée Karp that is “dedicated to helping parents succeed at their most important job – raising healthy, happy children.” In addition to providing free parenting tips on their website and books on everything from infant safety to baby sleep schedules, they have recently introduced SNOO, a wood-and-mesh, state-of-the-art crib that robotically rocks babies to sleep.

So, how is SNOO different from your standard cradle?

SNOO is a “smart” crib that uses sensors and microphones to “sense” when the baby (up to six months old) is awake. Once stirring has been detected, SNOO starts to rock. Its gentle swaying mimics the prenatal movement experienced in the womb, a comforting sensation for young infants. Using the product’s corresponding app, parents can control the motion (“slow swing for sleep, faster jiggles for upsets”) and even pre-set the apparatus with their precise preferences.

In addition to its magical, mechanized movements, SNOO is also equipped with fancy features to assure that baby—as well as mom and dad—sleep easy. Each bassinet comes equipped with SNOO sacks, swaddles that keep newborns securely snug and safely on their backs. Parents can also use the crib’s built-in white noise function to further calm a restless baby, and, in the near future, track baby’s sleeping patterns—“the number of naps he takes, how long it takes him to go to sleep, the amount of times he wakes during the night”—through the app.

Though SNOO—which is available for purchase on November 1—may cost a pretty penny ($1,160 to be exact), nothing is worth more than a good night’s sleep!