Your baby’s bassinet or crib doesn’t only impact their sleep, it also impacts yours. I’m a new mom, with my little one having been born at the end of September, and we’ve been using Cradlewise’s smart bassinet consistently for the past month. While it’s not a foolproof method of getting your baby to sleep (is any crib foolproof?), it has helped reduce the need to intervene. Less intervention means more sleep for both me and my babe, so I’m a fan of Cradlewise.
Cradlewise has all the gadgets built in: a baby monitor, a sound machine, and even a bouncing motion to soothe Baby. The latter two are completely customizable from the Cradlewise app. But it’s not just gadget-packed—the app has AI within it that will use the camera and microphone to track and categorize Baby’s sleep, and react when Baby is fussy.
Cradlewise has worked to help keep my baby asleep, oftentimes responding to him before I do. On his most recent nap, I watched him through the app as he went in and out of fussing, eventually being soothed back asleep by the crib’s bouncing. During that time, I was able to write this review. I’m sold.
Baby’s First AI
Cradlewise’s AI is designed to learn your baby’s sleep habits so it can respond appropriately. Considering I’m in the thick of the newborn haze, I’ll happily welcome anything to help with sleep at this stage. The crib’s monitor, built into the crib’s overhanging arc, uses 3D-image mapping technology to detect the baby’s sleep state from quiet, active, or crying. AI interprets and categorizes this information to respond by either bouncing Baby, kicking on the sound machine, or both. The more the built-in AI is able to understand and predict your baby’s sleep habits, the more it can take a preventative approach to your baby’s fussing and stirs.
I was hesitant to rely on AI for my baby’s sleep, but Cradlewise is designed to respond like a parent would to a baby fussing. It’ll start soothing with a gentle bouncing motion and turn on the sound machine. If your baby is still protesting sleep, it’ll respond by increasing the bounce motion and volume of sound. When the crib recognizes your baby is soothed back to sleep, all functions turn off. If the baby can’t be soothed by these actions, it’ll send an alert through the app.
Through the app, you have full control of everything from the intensity of the bouncing motion to the sound machine’s volume. Neither is constant, so your little one is less likely to become reliant on either to fall asleep. I’ve been using the sensitivity setting on high so the bassinet responds almost instantly to my child’s stirring or sounds. When he stirs, I wait to see if Cradlewise can soothe him back to sleep. About half the time, it will. On the downside, sometimes the bassinet will increase the bouncing motion too soon, from a gentle bounce to a level three or four (level four being the highest bounce intensity), which often feels too aggressive and even counterproductive to get my baby to sleep. When this happens, I turn the intensity down myself. Hopefully this is a pattern the AI will eventually pick up on and readjust to, but so far, it hasn’t.
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With AI comes a few glitches. In the app is a log of the baby’s sleep for the day and it was accurate about 80 percent of the time. If I let my baby take a supervised nap with a blanket, it struggled to track sleep accurately, missing significant chunks of sleep time. A couple of times the crib started bouncing even though my baby wasn’t in it, and it occasionally sends inaccurate updates through the app on my baby’s sleep state, like stating that he’s sleeping when he’s actually awake. However, both are not common occurrences and I’m hopeful AI will continue to sort this out.
Monitoring Baby
The Cradlewise has both a video baby monitor and a sound machine built into it, making it an all-in-one nursery device. The crib’s camera, built into its arc, only shows the inside of the crib. The 1280p x 720p quality isn’t spectacular but even as an anxious first time mom, I found it was enough to keep me satisfied. I love that I could minimize the app on my phone while scrolling other apps, so the monitor is always on my screen.
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The sound machine offers white, pink, and brown noise along with other sounds like a heartbeat and gentle rain. You can even play multiple noises like overlaying pink noise with a heartbeat, or you can stream your Spotify. I didn’t get too crazy with it and was happy with a white noise the AI would kick on along with the bouncing.
You’ll need Wi-Fi connectivity to take full advantage of the crib’s smart functions from the app. It works on both 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz wireless networks. If you’re worried about privacy, Cradlewise has kept this in mind. The company confirmed that if the crib and your phone are on the same Wi-Fi, the video feed doesn’t go to a server and is completely secure, as Cradlewise uses state-of-the-art encryption. You can also choose to switch off data uploads through the app if you don’t want the crib to use and learn from your baby’s sleep patterns.
Still, when I wasn’t connected to Wi-Fi, I didn’t experience connection issues. While on a walk, I was still able to view the livestream of my napping babe. However, I wasn’t able to control the bouncing or noise machine, as confirmed by my husband who was watching him. You can share the app, and control of it, with your partner or loved ones. If you have twins or more, you can also use multiple Cradlewise units in the same app.
Crib Style
If you’re worried that the Cradlewise is too tech-forward to look good in your nursery, there’s nothing to fear there. The easy aesthetic of the natural biodegradable wooden frame makes it easy to add to any baby room (or even your own bedroom). The included mattress is soft and biodegradable, made of coconut coir and natural latex wrapped in a 100 percent cotton quilted cover free of VOCs. Cradlewise sells bassinet sheets ($35), but I found mini crib-sized sheets worked just fine if you want to bring your own. The crib needs to be plugged into a standard 110-volt US wall socket, so having the crib right next to your bed may be an issue. The crib is lightweight enough to comfortably move around if needed, however.
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Cradlewise’s biggest competitor is another stylish, smart bassinet: the Snoo (as seen in our guide to the Best Bassinets). Both intuitively respond to baby with motion and sound, but unlike the Snoo, there’s no built-in swaddle with Cradlewise. I personally preferred the freedom to lay my baby down without strapping him in, because it’s not always necessary for his sleep. Plus, the bouncing motion is up and down as opposed to Snoo’s side-to-side; the up-and-down motion has never caused any movement of my little one.
Both these bassinets are a splurge, with the Cradlewise being the larger splurge, retailing for $1,999 to Snoo’s $1,795. But the Snoo can only be used until about six months old, while the Cradlewise can transform and grow into the toddler stages, working until 24 months or 33 pounds. That length of time makes the price tag much more worth it.
As a new mom, my biggest question was, “Will this gadget bond, or disconnect, me from my baby?” In my month of using this bassinet, it has confirmed: Nothing can replace a parent’s touch. I never felt like the Cradlewise bassinet was replacing me. I also never felt like my babe was becoming dependent on the bouncing motion and sleep machine, especially because both are not in constant use when he’s sleeping. Considering how young my newborn is, I can’t say he’s loving the bassinet. Naturally, he prefers sleeping with Mom or Dad. But I’ve watched the bassinet work its magic on him on multiple occasions.
