Baby beds have been virtually unchanged over the past 1,000 years – until today. Happiest Baby, a company founded by renowned pediatrician and child development specialist, Dr. Harvey Karp, is launching SNOO, the world's smartest – and safest – baby bed.

New parents are exhausted. Half get fewer than six hours of broken sleep a night, causing the same mental impairment as being drunk. SNOO reduces this exhaustion by quickly soothing infant crying and boosting sleep with the same rhythmic sensations babies enjoy in the womb. SNOO's smart technology responds to crying with increased shushing and rocking, choosing the level that works best for that particular baby, at that particular moment. Within days, babies become better sleepers, giving tired parents much needed rest.

SNOO also helps infants develop healthier sleep habits and helps parents learn to read their baby's cues, recognizing when crying is a sign of hunger versus the need for a bit more soothing. It comforts fussing from fatigue - often in under a minute - but not the cries of hunger or discomfort.

SNOO comes with a game-changing new swaddle that securely attaches to the sleeper and prevents rolling over...making SNOO the safest baby bed ever made. Finally, parents can have the peace of mind that their newborn will remain on the back – all night long.

"Today's new parents are stressed and exhausted. Many have no experience caring for babies and most have less family support than any generation in history," said Dr. Karp. "My greatest hope is that SNOO will give babies healthier sleep and give parents the confidence and rest they need and deserve. SNOO is the first of a series of science-based, smart products Happiest Baby is designing to help families thrive."

SNOO was invented by Dr. Karp, author of the celebrated Happiest Baby on the Block and creator of the landmark 5 S's approach to calm crying. He developed SNOO in collaboration with renowned industrial designer, Yves Béhar, and MIT engineers. In addition to its elegant design, it offers:

Gentle, broad movements and comforting shushing designed to promote sleep.
A responsive, robotic system that 'knows' when babies are upset and automatically reacts to soothe them.
An easy, 5-second swaddle that is hip-safe and can't unravel and get around a baby's face.
A unique drivetrain and high performance custom motor that can quietly rock for millions of cycles (enough to soothe a baby 14+ hours/day).
Specially engineered white noise that changes volume and pitch according to a baby's needs (soft, rumbly sounds to promote sleep; louder, high-pitched sounds to soothe upsets).
A mobile app that allows parents to control SNOO from a distance and to choose when to wean the all-night rocking for an easier transition to the crib.
Breathable mesh that allows full visibility of the baby from all angles.
Three SNOO Sacks (small, medium, large) and a fitted sheet all made with organic cotton.

"New parent exhaustion is a national emergency," declared Karp. "It triggers marital stress, postpartum depression, abuse and even infant sleep deaths. Furthermore, it causes the same mental impairment as being drunk! Furthermore, sleep deprivation undercuts the economy by reducing a new parent's productivity and increasing absenteeism, on-the-job accidents and health care costs. That's why I felt so compelled to dedicate the past five years to developing this new way to help babies – and tired parents – sleep better."

"SNOO is as elegantly simple and organically natural as Dr. Karp's 5 S's," says Yves Behar, founder and Principal Designer at fuseproject. "It had to be easy to use, provide a sense of trust and comfort and fit beautifully into the context of any home. During the multiyear collaborative process, we worked to merge the industrial design with the functional requirements and aspirational nature of the Happiest Baby mission: transparent, pure and iconic. SNOO unlocks the potential that robotic technology has in our lives – packaged inside a beautiful, ultra-safe, comfortable sleeper."

The basis of SNOO's cutting-edge approach is Dr. Karp's discovery of the calming reflex, a highly effective soothing response activated by the 5 S's, a series of steps that imitate womb sensations. In addition to explaining baby behavior, the calming reflex also sheds light on adult phenomena, such as why we fall asleep on planes and trains and are calmed by the sound of ocean waves.

SNOO's public debut will be held Oct. 21-24 at the American Academy of Pediatrics conference in San Francisco. During that time, Dr. Karp will be available for demonstrations and interviews.

(Source: prnewswire)