Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 9 May 2018
Swaddle, rock, whoosh: Putting babies to sleep in the Snoo

it can be adjusted.
Karp, who worked with de-
signer Yves Behar on the
Snoo, says the device also
promotes safety, by keep-
ing babies in the supine
position recommended
for sleep by the American
Academy of Pediatrics,
and by making it unnec-
essary for sleep-deprived
parents to bring babies
into their own beds. About
3,500 infants in the United
States die suddenly and
unexpectedly each year,
according to the U.S. Cen-
ters for Disease and Con-
trol, and the causes include
accidental suffocation in a
parent's bed.
Getting babies to sleep
soundly can also reduce
postpartum depression
and marital stress. "The No.
1 stress that new parents
talk about is exhaustion,"
Karp said.
Karp's team works with
companies offering rented
Snoos to parents return-
ing to work, foster parents
and doctors treating ba-
bies born to drug-addicted
mothers. He is also working
on a plan to offer Snoos for

Paul Zalewski shows his infant daughter Ruby in a smart-tech sleeper called the Snoo, which gently rocks and jiggles babies to rent at reasonable cost.
sleep from birth to 6 months old. At the University of Kentucky
Associated Press Children's Hospital in Lex-
ington, 10 Snoos are avail-
By LEANNE ITALIE lieves — simulating the rocking devices — though him to sleep anymore. able for babies with the
Associated Press womb environment is key designer baby beds can Jamee Zalewski of Denver addiction and withdrawal
NEW YORK (AP) — "I don't to calming babies. run higher. tried the Snoo with her sec- condition called neonatal
even call it a bed. I kind Babies are zipped into a New York mom Kathleen ond child Ruby. "The men- abstinence syndrome, in
of think of it as your grand- mesh sleep sack after a Udo heard about the Snoo tal break was really impor- a state where 15 of every
mother." broad cotton swaddle and "thought, 'Wow, that tant for me," she said. "I was 1,000 babies is born depen-
So declares Dr. Harvey tightly pins the infant's arms sounds great, sign me up,' able to take it because dent on opioids. Such ba-
Karp, a Los Angeles pedia- to the side from shoulder until I looked at the price. I I knew the Snoo's sooth- bies routinely experience
trician whose smart-tech to wrist. The sack is then se- was, like, 'Get out of town.'" ing would shut off if Ruby disrupted sleep, said Dr. Lori
baby sleeper, the Snoo, is cured to the Snoo's frame Then her son Jack, now 3 needed me. I could watch A. Shook, a neonatologist
a game-changer for some before the rocking and a months old, was born. Pa- it on my phone and get an there. Before she stumbled
sleep-deprived parents. white-noise lullaby com- rental fatigue set in and she alert." on the Snoo at a pediatrics
The Snoo has earned rave mence. found a mommy friend with Her husband Paul, who conference, she'd notice
reviews from baby gear Karp, who's also written a a Snoo to lend. blogs about baby gear the babies in the eight-bed
experts and parents alike, book, "The Happiest Baby "My little terrorist over here at Fathercraft.com, said unit fussing terribly in their
including Ashton Kutcher on the Block," says infants wouldn't sleep. Even with they sometimes wondered, bassinets.
and Mila Kunis. Last year, should be soothed in 40 to the Snoo, we've only got- "'Are we letting a robot do The Snoos are used in addi-
the consumer products 60 seconds. ten to about four hours at our job?' There were these tion to aromatherapy and
show CES bestowed its cov- The Snoo increases its mo- a stretch at night," said moments when we would massage for calming, in a
eted baby safety award on tion and noise based on Udo, who is an attorney. walk away after Ruby fell unit that focuses on families
the invention. persistent sound from the "I'm going back to work in asleep and we'd be like, caring for their babies.
The Snoo is all about swad- baby, until it reaches its mid-June and I need to be 'We should be doing some- "Now on rounds I see ev-
dling. Just don't call it a fourth and final level. If that back on my A-game. The thing.'" ery baby asleep in their
bed. doesn't work, it turns off. Snoo was a desperation While the Zalewskis did be- Snoo bed," Shook said. "At
In a video on his website, Parents can adjust settings move." come Snoo fans, they opt- first I think the nurses were
Papa Karp says the Snoo manually or with an app. Karp says babies who ed to return the device be- leery because of the mo-
provides a service "more The Snoo also comes with aren't put in the Snoo from fore the 30-day trial period tion, but now we realize it
than being a thing." It gen- an organic cotton sheet birth have a learning curve, was up. The reason: Ruby also allows families to sleep
tly rocks and jiggles babies and sleep sacks in three and that was the case with was colicky and congest- better, and hopefully get
from birth to 6 months old, sizes. Jack. But, says Udo, "It defi- ed and needed to sleep on the babies out of the hos-
a period he calls the "fourth But at $1,160, the Snoo nitely calms him," so that an incline. The company pital sooner and with less
trimester," when — he be- more expensive than many she doesn't need to rock has since added leg lifts so medication."q