This blog is totally independent, unpaid and has only three major objectives.
The first is to inform readers of news and happenings in the e-Health domain, both here in Australia and world-wide.
The second is to provide commentary on e-Health in Australia and to foster improvement where I can.
The third is to encourage discussion of the matters raised in the blog so hopefully readers can get a balanced view of what is really happening and what successes are being achieved.
Friday, June 21, 2024
Is This Technology Gone Mad Or An Essential Investment?
There’s
one question that many of today’s new parents or parents-to-be are asked over
and over again. “Have you got a Snoo?”
For
the unenlightened, the Snoo is a controversial $2000 piece of baby tech that
automatically soothes your baby to sleep by imitating calming sensations of the
womb.
It’s
a smart bassinet that can listen for when your baby is fussing or crying and
gently rock them, claiming to often calm crying in less than a minute.
The
Snoo is like an extra set of arms for new parents – if that set of arms also
had in-built Wi-Fi, microphones, white noise speakers and a motor.
The
device is the brainchild of American pediatrician Harvey Karp, who wrote the
book The Happiest Baby on the Block
and pioneered a “5 S” approach to newborn babies: swaddle, side-stomach
position, shush, swing and suck.
It’s
become wildly popular with many new parents, given its allure of extra sleep
for babies and their parents alike. Sleep deprivation can be one of the
toughest aspects of parenting.
Snoo’s
parent company, Happiest Baby, says Snoo boosts sleep by one to two hours a
night from the very first days of life, and that by two to three months of age,
most “Snoo babies” sleep more than nine hours a night.
Those
are lofty claims and it’s understandable that some parents would be open to
shelling out thousands of dollars for a bassinet, even one with plenty of bells
and whistles.
A
couple of disclaimers: Snoo parent company Happiest Baby sent over a review
unit for the purposes of this write-up, so I didn’t pay the RRP. Secondly, I’ve
only had one baby so far, who is at this stage a happy little two-month-old
boy, so I don’t have a non-Snoo baby to compare.
Our
experience, two months in at least, has been pretty remarkable. It’s no silver
bullet by any means: our baby can often wake up at random times as all babies
do, and sometimes won’t settle in the Snoo at all. But there have been plenty
of moments of calm in what can otherwise be a chaotic, stressful and intense
time.
One
stand-out feature is that the Snoo automatically ramps its rocking speed up or
down depending on if the baby is crying or settled, and often it works.
It’s
not a cure-all for a crying or fussing baby. But at the same time, it’s hard to
put a dollar value on a decent night’s sleep.
It
does sometimes feel like a bit of a cheat code, and that’s what can make some
parents and some paediatricians feel uncomfortable with it.
And
that’s where the controversies come in. Critics say technology such as the Snoo
could potentially negatively affect baby bonding, and that it can create bad
habits by making the baby too reliant on rocking or white noise.
“I
remain somewhat reluctant to have so much gadgetry around a newborn baby,”
Australian pediatrician Dr Daniel Golshevsky, better known as Dr Golly, says in
a blog post.
The
Tweetycam baby monitor was one of our favourites.
“I
see countless babies with untreated causes of unsettled behaviour, from colic
to eczema, protein intolerance to reflux, and everything in between. I deeply
believe that glossing over these treatable conditions does a disservice to
babies.
“Prevention
is the key, so yes – babies should/can snooze without Snoos.”
Snoo
parent company Happiest Baby says, on the other hand, that its device is safe
to use, and that it’s easy to wean babies off its sound, swaddle and motion.
It
points to research commissioned by the company that has found that Snoo’s
rocking, swaddling, and white noise combo works just as well as parents’
soothing to calm fussy babies quickly, and that 90 per cent of nurses surveyed
say that Snoo reduces infant fussing.
We
haven’t yet reached the weaning phase ourselves, given babies can use Snoo for
up to six months and our little one is just two months. On some occasions, we
have had to settle him in bassinets that aren’t the Snoo, and we’ve found we
are doing all the same things the Snoo does for us – rhythmic rocking, swaying
and playing varying levels and types of white noise.
Is
it worth the $2000? Like so many baby purchases, you need to keep your
expectations in check. It’s not a cure-all for a crying or fussing baby. But at
the same time, it’s hard to put a dollar value on a decent night’s sleep. And
we’ve been having an increasing number of those in recent weeks.
It’s
not for everyone, but the Snoo has been the most useful, high-impact gadget
I’ve used in a long time. And I’ve used a lot. Like so many baby purchases,
it’s also worth checking out Facebook Marketplace: used Snoos typically retail
for around half the price of their brand-new counterparts.
What else did we try?
Australian company Tweetycam’s range of products really impressed and its baby monitor ($239) was our favourite.
The monitor doesn’t use Wi-Fi – meaning no real security concerns– instead relying on a technology called FHHS to send the signal from the camera to the monitor.
The Tweetycam also monitors the room temperature, which is a real plus, and its picture and sound quality are excellent. The monitor itself is easy to use with no smartphone app required, and its battery life lasts about 12 hours. There’s definitely benefit in having a standalone monitor rather than needing to open a smartphone app every time you want to check on your baby.
The Tweetydreams nightlight and sound machine is also strongly worth considering, and at $120 is good value. That product requires a smartphone app, however, which can be a bit fiddly. A basic nightlight that just switches on and off has worked best for us, particularly when trying to bumble your way around in the middle of the night.
Our other favourite baby monitor for those who do prefer a smartphone app is the Lollipop smart baby camera ($319). It’s incredibly versatile, wrapping around the baby’s cot or bassinet, for example, or standing upright on its own. The Lollipop sends you phone notifications whenever it detects a noise, and you can monitor it from any device, be it a smartphone, tablet or desktop. Its picture quality is top-notch and it comes in fun colours such as cotton candy, pistachio and turquoise. Other things to consider
The Snotty Boss nasal aspirator has been a godsend, and is superior (and decidedly less gross) to the manual method of sucking snot from baby’s nose. I didn’t try a “smart sock” – the baby monitor that tracks pulse and oxygen levels via a sock on the baby’s foot. That felt like a step too far.
And lastly, it might seem obvious to say, but technology is no replacement for human interaction. Parenting is a messy, tricky and intense thing, but no amount of technology will substitute for spending time with your little one. There are just some things that can make it that little bit easier.
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