WORLDWIDE SHIPPING
Dr. Harvey Karp, author of The Happiest Baby On The Block, and founder of the Snoo Safe Sleep system often warns parents of the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and recently shared in an interview his solution for protecting babies and newborns.
Dr Karp reminds us all that a baby’s safest sleep position is on their back and he recommends the SNOO to ensure your baby can’t move around in their cot or roll onto their tummy.
What is SNOO?
If you haven’t heard of the SNOO before it has been based on 20+ years of research by America’s No.1 paediatrician, Dr Harvey Karp. It’s basically like an extra pair of hands, according to their website, helping 24 hours/day, 7 days/week! It soothes your baby when you shower, cook, do zoom calls…or get some sleep.
SNOO imitates the sounds and movements of your baby’s favourite place—the womb!—to automatically calm crying and increase sleep.
“Recommended from birth to 6mths, SNOO adds 1-2+ hours of sleep/night and automatically responds to fussing – with soothing sound and motion – often calming crying in under a minute!
And, SNOO’s extra-safe sleep sack keeps your baby securely on the back, giving all the benefits of swaddling…while preventing risky rolling.“
Watch his recent TV interview below.
What Tizzie Says about extended back sleeping and SNOO
I totally agree that the SNOO is a great short-term option for sure, but what happens when your baby gets older?
One of my number one tips is “prevention is better than the cure” and we should try and prevent sleep problems, but is using a device like the SNOO, which motions a baby to sleep, going to prevent a baby learning to self settle?
My jury is still out on that, I know between sleep cycles it can be helpful to have movement in the cot or crib and help a baby sleep so maybe the SNOO is perfect for that.
I do wonder though, if you need to teach your baby to sleep with bedding once you can no longer strap them down in the SNOO then I’m not sure it is a good thing at all, to be honest.
Extending back sleeping is a brilliant and safe option for your little one and something that I strongly encourage and talk about often.
Extended back sleeping tips
Extended back sleeping, like extended rear-facing in a car seat, is all about keeping your child safe.
Extended back sleeping also keeps your baby safe and helps prevent SIDS and SUDI.
Most people decide once a baby can roll from around 6 mths old then it is OK to let them roll onto their tummy.
However the Save Our Sleep approach teaches parents better.
To prevent your baby rolling on their tummy it is best to ensure they have the correct bedding to encourage them to sleep on their back. Find my safe bedding guide here.
When a baby learns to sleep on their back it will become a lifelong habit and you can breathe easy knowing they are safely tucked up in bed.
How to transition from the SNOO to the Save Our Sleep world famous bedding guide.
Here is how to transition from the SNOO to the Save our Sleep safe bedding guide.
The good news is because of the way the SNOO swaddle works with the inner layers holding the babies arms down in the safe arms-down sleep position the transition to the Save Our Sleep bedding sleep bag and Wrap in a Wrap is an easy one.
When should you make the move? I believe it would be best to make the move at 7 weeks before your baby starts to sleep in daytime sleep cycles. However, if this is too soon for you, you need to be sure you have made the move to the big cot before your baby starts sleeping in their night time sleep cycles at around 6 months of age.
Have your baby on the Save Our Sleep routine for your baby’s age for 7 days and on the 8th day at the first sleep of the day pop your baby into the big cot following the settling advice in my book and the bedding guide.
As I mention in the Save our Sleep bedding guide I do recommend a baby should sleep on a good quality spring mattress and in a mini-crib or cot from day one with slats the full way around for optimum airflow.
Good luck with this move and don’t forget you can pop into the Happy Baby Sleep Clinic for support while you make this transition.
Watch my video of how to put a baby over 8 weeks to bed until no longer wrapped using a double wrap.
Shop here:
