Harvey Karp, pediatrician and author of “Happiest Baby on the Block” and creator of the 5 S’s, has developed a new smart baby bed called “Snoo.”
The Snoo Smart Sleeper, by Happiest Baby, promises to keep babies sleeping longer thanks to sensors and a built-in microphone that can detect and soothe various types of cries.
Womb-emulating noise
“New parent exhaustion is a national emergency,” Karp says. “Sleep deprivation triggers marital stress, postpartum depression, abuse, and infant sleep deaths.”
Snoo may help mitigate these problems. With each different cry of discomfort, the crib will use the correct rocking motion and level of womb-mimicking white noise to soothe a fussy baby back to sleep.
The primary goal of the sleek-looking smart crib is to ensure parents that when they do hear their baby crying, it’s because he or she is hungry or in need of a diaper change.
In addition to comforting babies and helping parents, the crib -- which comes with a swaddle affixed with ‘safety wings’ to keep babies from rolling onto their stomachs -- may help prevent SIDS.
Engadget reported that Karp teamed up with engineers from MIT along with furniture designer Yves Behar to create the $1,160 smart crib. Snoo will debut at the American Academy of Pediatrics Conference in San Francisco, October 21-24.
