During the newborn months, your baby will be sleeping a lot. This means your bedside crib is going to be one of the most-used items you're buying for your newborn.
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We assess the features that we feel will be the most practical, for example an easy to use drop side for quick access to your baby during the night, or whether there's removable and washable covers and, if so, how well they fare during our wash tests.
We look at how easy it is to assemble and disassemble, and whether it comes supplied with a travel bag because portability might be important to you if you're visiting friends and family. For more helpful advice on what to look for, take a look at our best bedside cribs guide.
Our tests are informed by our years of testing experience. We buy all the bedside cribs ourselves, so you can be sure that the reviews you read are entirely independent and unbiased.
Find out which bedside cribs keep your baby supported in our bedside crib reviews
The bedside cribs that impress us the most in our tests are made Best Buys. A bedside crib needs to score 70% or more in our tests to become a Best Buy, but you should still read our reviews to check for any factors that might impact your buying decision. Take a look at our Best Buy bedside crib reviews.
Bedside cribs that receive a poor score of 45% or lower are Don't Buys and should be avoided - these are likely to have safety issues that could be dangerous for your baby or toddler.
Our bedside crib reviews are for Which? members, but any mattresses labelled 0% Don't Buys are given a safety alert that's free for anyone to read, as we believe it's our public duty to inform all parents about any serious hazards or risks that our tests have uncovered. Check to see which are Don't Buy bedside cribs.
Great Value models do pretty well in our tests ' they need to score at least 65% and be at least 20% cheaper than the average cost of the other bedside cribs in our tests. These are ideal if you're looking for a bargain. Some Great Value bedside cribs also score well enough to be a Best Buy. See our Great Value bedside crib reviews.
Our safety tests replicate those in the current cribs safety standard, which is BS EN :. We also test the cot mattresses to the current cot mattress safety standard, which is BS EN : + A1:.
Both standards are voluntary, which means it's not a legal requirement to follow them. However, manufacturers are strongly encouraged to meet these standards to minimise risks and hazards for babies.
The standard tests include checking for choking and swallowing hazards, such as loose zip pulls, as well as entrapment and suffocation risks.
Straight out of the box, we want to know how easy it is to assemble. Can the crib be put together by one person, or is it a two-person job?
Let's face it, you'll probably be tired of building baby furniture by this point, so the easier the better. We also want to ensure that it isn't possible to assemble the crib incorrectly and that the instructions and parts are clearly marked to aid correct assembly of the bedside crib.
We want to know whether all of the component parts and the assembled crib itself feel well constructed and sturdy. A wobbly or flimsy-feeling crib won't fill you with confidence.
Often you will be doing this in the middle of the night, so having easy access to your baby and being able to quietly place them back in will be imperative.
We assess how easy and quiet it is to raise and lower the drop side so you won't disturb your baby once you've finally got them back to sleep.
Before we start any of our other tests on the mattress, we check to see how firm it is. This means we can tell you how firm the mattress is when it's new, and how this compares with other mattresses.
One of our tests investigates whether a mattress is firm enough to ensure your baby is still able to breathe when they roll over onto their face while sleeping.
If the top layers of the mattress are too soft and your baby accidentally rolls on to their front, their face could sink into the mattress and this poses a suffocation risk.
It's a concern with babies aged between four and 12 weeks, when they're typically able to roll over from their back to their front.
Rolling from front to back requires more strength, and in some cases a baby may not master this skill until they reach around six months old.
Ensure a safe environment for your baby with our guide to cot mattress and baby bedding safety
The truth is that the mattress is going to be subjected to a lot of liquids. Babies get sick, their nappies leak, and numerous spills are inevitable.
Not only is it important that your baby doesn't sleep on a damp mattress, but also that the mattress stays clean of any bad bacteria. But if liquids are settling deep into your baby's bedside crib mattress, it's going to be difficult to tell if it's still hygienic.
We test each mattress within the bedside crib to see how resistant it is to moisture permeating its inner layers. We've found that some are very good at preventing this, while others allow liquids to pass through easily.
We use special equipment to check the airflow through the mattress.
This is to assess how breathable it is, as it's important for fresh air to circulate around your baby's face.
It's also to see whether the mattress draws away body warmth effectively so your baby doesn't overheat.
You will probably need to start cleaning the mattress right from the start.
If it comes with a removable cover, we'll check how easy this is to get on and off. You don't want to be battling with an awkward cover when trying to clean a soiled mattress in the middle of the night.
We also assess how the mattress cover fares after several washes, and check to see if there is any shrinkage or bobbling to the fabric.
If a cover shrinks, then it could potentially compress the mattress. The smaller dimensions might mean that the mattress no longer sits flush within the cot bed, and if there's a gap of a few centimetres, there's a risk that a baby can trap a limb and become stuck.
If your baby becomes trapped and is positioned face down, this could be a serious suffocation risk.
Each of the above tests counts toward a total test score. This score is the overall percentage you will spot next to each of our bedside crib reviews. To become a Which? Best Buy, a bedside crib needs to score at least 70%.
Not every aspect of the bedside crib carries an equal weighting in the total test score. We've considered which aspects will be the most important, and have broken down the score as follows. The cot mattress tests account for 50% of the score and the bedside crib tests account for 50%.
For more electric baby bedside cribsinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
Our reviews completely ignore the price. Check out our bedside crib reviews to see which ones we've tested.
Photo: Connie Park
Best for: Folks who are willing to pay (significantly) more for a responsive bassinet that might help their family get more hours of sleep during those desperate early days of parenting.
Why we like it: The Snoo Smart Sleeper is an expensive, well-engineered smart bassinet that makes a lot of big promises about increasing your baby's sleep. Specifically, the claim is that it will add one to two hours per night to their schedule and sleep-train your baby. (For our full assessment of the Snoo, see Is the $1,700 Snoo Smart Sleeper Bassinet Worth It? What to Know Before You Buy.)
The bassinet is outfitted with a microphone and sensors that allow it to tell (via sound and motion clues) whether your baby is awake and in need of soothing. The bassinet responds accordingly with automated swaying and shushing, coaxing the baby to sleep and ultimately allowing parents to get more rest during the bleary, exhausted first months of newborn life.
In our case, it actually worked. But for every Snoo devotee out there, you're likely to find a hater or'more commonly'a parent who paid a pretty penny only to be underwhelmed when their infant didn't follow the script.
To activate its smart features, the Snoo requires the use of proprietary 'Sleep Sack' swaddles, which have wings that clip into the side of the bassinet, securing the infant in place.
Photo: Connie Park
The Snoo rocks at its baseline speed'that is, what it would typically do throughout the night when a baby is asleep and calm. (Note: The doll used for this photo shoot was 18 inches long; the average length of a newborn is 18 to 22 inches.)
Video: Connie Park
To activate its smart features, the Snoo requires the use of proprietary 'Sleep Sack' swaddles, which have wings that clip into the side of the bassinet, securing the infant in place.
Photo: Connie Park
The concept behind the Snoo isn't anything new. It was designed by Dr. Harvey Karp, a pediatrician who popularized a method of calming babies, called the 5 S's, in his best-selling book The Happiest Baby on the Block (first published in ). Caregivers have long been responsible for implementing the S's (including swaying, shushing, and swaddling). But the Snoo lets you outsource'er, automate'some of them, enabling an infant to sleep longer and more deeply with less parental intervention.
It's not like humans are totally forgotten in the process, though: The Snoo's features are designed to mimic the relaxing sounds and motions of the womb. The idea is that a baby feels comforted by the familiar at a time when the outside world is an unfamiliar and unsettling place.
The Snoo's rocking speed is automated, but it can also be increased or decreased by a caregiver via the Snoo app or manually on the bassinet itself.Video: Connie Park
At first glance, there's nothing that reads particularly high-tech about the Snoo. It looks like a sleek and stylish bassinet, with white mesh walls anchored by a wooden base and chrome legs that give off a vaguely Scandinavian vibe. The cover of the mattress is water-resistant, and the mattress and mesh can be spot-cleaned with a mild soap or detergent.
At 38 pounds, the Snoo is heavy to move, but it's easy to assemble without tools, and it has a compact footprint. The bassinet comes with an organic cotton sheet and a starter pack of Snoo Sleep Sacks'proprietary swaddles you zip your baby into and then hook onto two plastic clips affixed to the bassinet's base. (The Snoo's motion function cannot be activated if the swaddle is not attached properly to the hooks.) By attaching the swaddle to the mattress clips, you are effectively immobilizing your child on their back within the bassinet.
The Snoo's app is easy to use. As of July 15, , Happiest Baby, which makes the Snoo, will offer two subscription options for the app.
The basic version is available to everyone free of charge; it includes the ability to control the Snoo's speed and sound, and to receive alerts if the baby needs attention.
Along with the functions of the basic app, the premium version lets you track your baby's sleeping and eating patterns over time. It also has some advanced settings for motion and sounds, and more. The premium version is free for nine months for those who buy the Snoo directly from the company or an authorized seller; those who rent it get the premium membership for the length of the rental plus one extra month. For people who buy their Snoo secondhand, borrow from a friend, or want to extend the membership beyond nine months, it costs $20 a month.
If you bought your Snoo from Happiest Baby or an authorized seller before July 15, , and are currently using it, you'll have nine months of free premium access starting from when you began using the Snoo.
For most families, the Snoo's price will be its biggest drawback. At the time of publication, it was $1,700 purchased at full retail (though it does go on sale); this is a number that might sound outrageous or reasonable, depending on your budget and desperation for more sleep.
Still, the Snoo is known for having a healthy resale market, so you're likely to be able to recoup a good portion of your initial investment. Or a Snoo can be rented directly from Happiest Baby, for $159 per month. You should also factor in the cost of purchasing additional Snoo Sleep Sacks, which come in different sizes, if you want to have extras.
The criticisms about the Snoo should not be rejected out of hand. Some parents we surveyed complained that it simply didn't work for them'their babies just didn't like it. Others had difficulty weaning their babies from the Snoo and moving them to a traditional crib after four to six months.
I interviewed multiple experts who were in favor of the Snoo, but I also spoke to experts who voiced concerns. Among the issues? The Snoo can work so well that babies may not wake up on their own to eat. If parents aren't diligent about setting alarms every two to four hours for feedings, babies could potentially end up suffering from 'failure to thrive.' This is the term for when a child's weight or growth rate falls significantly below that of their peers, cautions Aleesha Burke, a lactation consultant in Layton, Utah.
Stacy Conder, a physical therapist, and Susan Klemm, an occupational therapist'both of the Carolina Kinder Development pediatric practice in Charlotte, North Carolina'also advise against using the Snoo. Because Snoo babies aren't repositioned often enough, they said this could potentially exacerbate head and neck conditions such as plagiocephaly (back-of-the-head flatness), torticollis, and brachycephaly.
And since the Snoo Sleep Sack pins the baby to the bassinet surface, it keeps the infant from practicing developmental skills, like rolling over, as they grow. A pediatrician I spoke with didn't name the Snoo specifically, but they suggested that a smart sleeper that uses prolonged swaddling could hamper gross motor development, by preventing a baby from trying to roll in the two- to four-month window. The Snoo's maker says it can be used for up to six months. But six months is a long time to go without the freedom to roll over, considering how many hours infants log in their beds. Finally, the Snoo provides no storage space.
For more on our personal experience with testing the Snoo, see Is the $1,700 Snoo Smart Sleeper Bassinet Worth It? What to Know Before You Buy.
Assembly time: 3 minutes
Dimensions when assembled: 35¾ by 19 by 31 inches (LWH)
Bassinet weight: 38 pounds
Baby weight limit: 25 pounds
Adjustable: no
Storage: no
Included accessories: three Snoo Sleep Sacks (S, M, L) with Snoo purchase or two (S, M) with Snoo rental, one fitted sheet
Other special features: responsive swaying, white noise
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