Fostering the well-being of infants, families, and healthcare workers through research

Exhaustion is almost a universal new-parent stress. That is especially true in developed nations where parents have little family support or baby care experience.(1,2) During the first months postpartum, parental sleep is frequently fragmented into 1–3 hour intervals.(3,4) This is not just a problem of the first weeks. By 6 months of age, approximately 30% of infants continue to wake two or more times per night.(5)

New-parent sleep deprivation is associated with mood disturbances(6), depression(7), impaired functioning that is equivalent to being drunk(8), motor vehicle accidents(9), and engagement in unsafe sleep practices(10). Excessive infant crying is a significant stressor for both parents and healthcare providers, and commonly leads to postpartum depression(11,12) unsafe sleep practices.(13)

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Mother comforts sleeping baby in SNOO Smart Sleeper

Our Story

SNOO Smart Sleeper was developed by pediatrician and child development specialist, Dr. Harvey Karp, MD, FAAP. It is based on his 5 S’s framework for soothing infants (14). His goal was to achieve two key goals: improve infant sleep and reduce the incidence of SIDS/SUID.

SNOO is designed to imitate the dominant intrauterine fetal sensations. It delivers continuous gentle rocking and rumbly white noise. It automatically responds to fussing with four incrementally higher levels of these sensory inputs, imitating the actions of an experienced caregiver to calm crying and lull infants to sleep. In internal studies, analyzing 42 million cry episodes, SNOO was found to calm ~50% of cry episodes, often within 1 minute.

Sleep Help

The bassinet uses a unique sleep sack that secures to safety clips on the bed’s platform. This securing mechanism safely swaddles babies and prevents non-supine placement or rolling during sleep. Babies who are placed in or who roll to a non-supine position are at a higher risk of SIDS and SUID. (See happiestbabyscience.com/fda for important safety information.)

Over the past 5 years, Happiest Baby has succeeded in significantly expanding access to SNOO. Today, U.S. parents can rent a SNOO and tens of thousands of families have received a free, 6-month SNOO rental from their employer or insurance company. Happiest Baby is developing initiatives to make SNOOs available to families receiving Medicaid coverage and to military families, too.

 

More on SNOO Smart Sleeper

FDA Indication for Use:

Keeping Babies Safely on the Back…All Night

SNOO is the first—and only—baby bed granted De Novo authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its ability to keep sleeping babies safely positioned on the back.

The FDA-authorized Indications for Use: “The SNOO Smart Sleeper bassinet plus the SNOO Sleep Sack are jointly intended to facilitate a supine position during sleep. Infants who are placed in a supine sleep position are at lower risk of SIDS/SUID. The device is intended for home use by caregivers of infants from birth to 6 months of age, who are not yet able to roll over consistently.”

Please see happiestbabyscience.com/fda for important safety information.

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Supporting Infants, Families, and Healthcare Workers Through Research

At Happiest Baby, we study the impact of improved infant soothing and sleep on infants and caregivers.

Review the published research on SNOO Smart Sleeper

SNOO Research News

Some of the uses described in these publications may involve off-label uses of SNOO Smart Sleeper. This information is being provided by HBI for educational and informational use only. Please see happiestbabyscience.com/fda for the indications for use authorized by FDA and important safety information.

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Bridging the Gap to Help Parents Follow Safe Sleep Practices 

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Smart Cribs Soothe Babies Experiencing Opiate Withdrawal

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Medical College of Wisconsin Study Distributes SNOO to Evaluate Safe Sleep Outcomes and Family Wellbeing

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BioFrontiers Faculty Awarded Monumental Grant for Military Research

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Hospital to Home: Continuity of Care With SNOO

SNOO is currently used in approximately 200 hospitals across the United States. A survey was published in Advances in Neonatal Care analyzing responses from 204 clinicians using SNOOs, across 44 hospitals in 22 states. The researchers found that SNOO use was associated with an unprecedented time savings of 2.2 hours per clinician per shift. Additionally, almost all respondents indicated that SNOO improved the quality of infant care (99%), decreased infant fussing (98%), and enabled staff to reallocate time to other clinical responsibilities (97%). (17) This finding has been corroborated by two additional studies. (18, 19)

Integrated Infant Sleep Support for Medicaid Plans

Happiest Baby offers Medicaid Managed Care Plans a combined service that integrates SNOO Smart Sleeper with Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) via a caregiver support, sleep success center. The bed collects real-time sleep and usage data, delivering daily reports to families. Complementing this, provides families with expert support from trained sleep coaches and data-informed care coordination. The program is initially being focused on supporting medically vulnerable infants after discharge from the NICU and will be extended to various high-needs populations.

Notifications and reports are shared with families and care managers to facilitate early identification of sleep-related concerns and various other areas of health risk (e.g., maternal mental stress, food insecurity, etc.). This performance-based model links compensation to real-time usage and outcomes.

REFERENCES

  1. Olivieri, R., Lo Presti, A., Costa, S., & et al. (2024). Mothers balancing work and family: The associations with emotional well-being, sleep–wake problems and the role of basic needs. BMC Psychology, 12, 750. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-02241-3
  2. Richter, D., Krämer, M. D., Tang, N. K. Y., Montgomery-Downs, H. E., & Lemola, S. (2019). Long-term effects of pregnancy and childbirth on sleep satisfaction and duration of first-time and experienced mothers and fathers. Sleep, 42(4), zsz015. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsz015
  3. Lillis, T., Hansen, D., & Van Dongen, H. (2025). Profound postpartum sleep discontinuity in first-time mothers. Sleep, 48(Supplement_1), A398. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsaf090.0915
  4. Witkowska-Zimny, M., Zhyvotovska, A., Isakov, R., Boiko, D. I., & Nieradko-Iwanicka, B. (2024). Maternal sleeping problems before and after childbirth: A systematic review. International Journal of Women’s Health, 16, 345–371. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S446490
  5. Paavonen, E. J., Saarenpää-Heikkilä, O., Morales-Muñoz, I., Virta, M., Häkälä, N., Pölkki, P., Kylliäinen, A., Karlsson, H., Paunio, T., & Karlsson, L. (2020). Normal sleep development in infants: Findings from two large birth cohorts. Sleep Medicine, 69, 145–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2020.01.009
  6. Divine, A., Blanchard, C., Benoit, C., Symons Downs, D., & Rhodes, R. E. (2022). The influence of sleep and movement on mental health and life satisfaction during the transition to parenthood. Sleep Health: Journal of the National Sleep Foundation, 8(5), 475–483. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2022.06.013
  7. Dennis, C. L., & Ross, L. (2005). Relationships among infant sleep patterns, maternal fatigue, and development of depressive symptomatology. Birth, 32(3), 187–193. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0730-7659.2005.00368.x
  8. Durmer, J. S., & Dinges, D. F. (2005). Neurocognitive consequences of sleep deprivation. Seminars in Neurology, 25(1), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-2005-867080
  9. Tefft, B. C. (2018). Acute sleep deprivation and culpable motor vehicle crash involvement. Sleep, 41(10), zsy144. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsy144
  10. American Academy of Pediatrics. (2022). [Safe sleep behaviors and factors associated with infant second sleep practices]. Pediatrics, 149(6), e2021053935. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-053935
  11. Dennis, C. L., & Ross, L. (2005). Relationships among infant sleep patterns, maternal fatigue, and development of depressive symptomatology. Birth, 32(3), 187–193. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0730-7659.2005.00368.x
  12. Radesky, J. S., Kistin, C. J., Zuckerman, B., Nitzberg, K., Gross, J., Kaplan-Sanoff, M., Augustyn, M., & Silverstein, M. (2014). Patterns of mobile device use by caregivers and children during meals in fast food restaurants. Pediatrics, 133(4), e843–e849. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-3703
  13. Bittle, M. D., et al. (2019). Maternal sleepiness and risk of infant drops in the postpartum period. Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, 45(5), 337–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcjq.2019.01.007
  14. Karp, H. (2003). The happiest baby on the block. Bantam.
  1. Gellasch, P., Johnson, S., Walsh, T.A. (2023). The Experiences and Perceptions of Neonatal Clinicians When Using a Responsive Bassinet. Advances in Neonatal Care. 23(4):E88-E95, doi:10.1097 / ANC.0000000000001086
  2. Gellasch, P., Torraca, M., & Okun, M. (2024). Sleep and Mood Among Women with Histories of Depression When They Used a Responsive Infant Bassinet During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Gynecologic, Obstetric, & Neonatal Nursing, 2024; 53(4):406–415. doi:10.1016/j.jogn.2024.02.006
  3. Gellasch, P., Walsh, T.A., & Geiger, S. (2023). A Descriptive Evaluation of Time Savings and Work Experience Among Neonatal Clinicians When Using a Responsive Bassinet. Journal of Neonatal Nursing, April 2023; doi:10.1016 / j.jnn.2023.03.001
  4. Pariser-Schmidt, M., Luo, S., & Chwa, J. (2025). Improving Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Outcomes and Nurse Experiences: Integrating Responsive Bassinets With Eat, Sleep, Console. Advances in Neonatal Care, April 2025; doi: 10.1097/ANC.0000000000001266