No matter where you are on your parenting journey, you’ve probably heard about the challenges of getting your baby to sleep—or experienced it firsthand.

Sleep plays an important role in your baby’s brain development and overall growth. And when the baby sleeps well and is well-rested, so are you. So it’s no surprise that helping hands like rocking bassinets are popular with sleep-deprived parents.
While many parents turn to rocking bassinets as a way to soothe their babies to sleep, what if there was a better alternative? Spoiler alert: It’s Cradlewise—and it’s all about the bounce. Here’s why Cradlewise is a smart, safe, natural alternative to rocking bassinets for soothing babies to sleep.

What makes Cradlewise different from rocking bassinets?

Most bassinets use a rocking or side-to-side motion to help babies fall asleep. While rocking your baby in your arms may soothe them, placing your baby in a side-to-side rocking bassinet or cradle to sleep means securing them in a safety restraint system (such as a belt, harness, or sleep sack attached to the bassinet), to prevent them from rolling into an unsafe sleep position.  These safety restraints can often feel cumbersome and less than natural for your baby.

By contrast, Cradlewise uses a gentle, up-and-down bouncing motion to soothe babies back to sleep, that mimics the intuitive movements parents make to soothe a baby in their arms.

This gentle bounce relaxes and calms babies, making it easier for them to fall asleep. And since the baby is on a flat surface moving up and down, there’s no need to fasten them to the bassinet, allowing you to continue using Cradlewise long after your child transitions out of their swaddle. 

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Is bouncing safe for babies?

There’s nothing more important to us than your baby’s safety. And as a crib made by parents, for parents, every feature of Cradlewise was designed with your baby’s safety in mind. 

We spent four years perfecting the safety mechanisms and certifications for Cradlewise. We’ve left no stone unturned when it comes to your baby’s health and wellness—including our bounce mechanism.

“Gentle bouncing is safe and practiced by parents worldwide,” says Dr. Anoop Rao MD, Cradlewise Medical Advisor and Neonatologist at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford.

Learn more about Cradlewise’s safety certifications and features here.

How Cradlewise works

Cradlewise is the only AI-enabled smart crib that learns the sleep patterns of each baby and helps soothe them back to sleep before they cry.

Cradlewise comes with a built-in monitor (a big plus!), which uses 3D-image mapping technology to detect the baby’s early wake-up signs.  The crib also comes fitted with contactless sensors that detect the baby’s breath rate and movements. It uses this information to determine which phase of awakening the baby is in: Quiet, active, or cry phase.

• Quiet phase: In this phase, the baby is very still, but awake and taking in the environment. the cradle responds with low bouncing and soothing music so that the wakeup does not escalate to the “cry phase.” Getting the baby back to sleep while they are still in this first, quiet waking phase is the secret to better sleep.

• Active phase: In the active waking phase, the baby moves actively, and is attentive to sounds and sights. At this stage, the cradle responds with a medium-level bouncing motion that gradually tapers off as the baby is soothed back to a quiet waking phase and finally sleeps.

• Cry phase: Once a baby has reached this phase, they move a lot, may cry loudly, and don’t respond as easily to soothing sounds and motion. In this phase, the crib will respond with a higher bounce, tapering back down to a reduced intensity as the baby grows calmer, or alerting parents if the crying phase continues.

Cradlewise learns and adapts to your little one’s schedule, forecasting sleep and wake-up times. And because there is no one-size-fits-all length of time it takes to soothe a baby, the cradle provides a custom, intuitive, dynamically learned response based on the individual baby’s needs. 

The best part is that you can customize Cradlewise’s bounce—including its speed and duration. If the baby doesn’t respond to the cradle’s soothing by falling back asleep, Cradlewise will stop bouncing and alert you.

Since Cradlewise also addresses baby’s movements rather than just cries like other smart cribs, your whole family gets longer stretches of sleep.

What makes Cradlewise bounce so soothing

Cradlewise’s bounce is designed to mimic the natural rocking motion babies experience in the womb. This bouncing motion stimulates their vestibular system, which is responsible for maintaining balance and spatial orientation and has also been shown to have a calming effect on babies.

In addition to its soothing motion and design, Cradlewise also comes with a built-in soothing sound system that features a variety of calming sounds, such as white, pink, and brown noise that you can customize to your baby’s preference. 

Just as Cradlewise’s bounce closely resembles the motion that babies experience in the womb, its treasure trove of sounds can be customized to reflect the noises that babies hear in the womb, like pink noise, mixed with the mother’s heartbeat and breathing.

How long can my baby stay in the Cradlewise Smart Crib?

Time flies when you’re raising a baby— before you know it, they’ll be halfway to their first birthday.

Most rocking bassinets will be your baby’s sleep companion for only up to 6 months. However, Cradlewise is the only smart bassinet and crib designed to grow with your baby from birth until the 24-month mark, with smart-soothing bounce available in both bassinet and crib mode.

Sleep patterns change significantly from infancy through 24 months of age. Cradlewise adapts its soothing technique to match the baby’s developmental stage. Parents can always customize the motion and sound settings to find the perfect sleep mix that works for their little one.

And by bundling a smart bassinet, crib, video monitor, sleep insights, and sound machine in one, Cradlewise offers expecting parents a connected, easy-to-use sleep support system with all the tools families need for a better night’s rest. 

More posts you might like:

• How to help your newborn sleep in their bassinet.
• Cradlewise packs major functionality into a compact mini crib.
• Bassinet vs. crib? Here’s why you don’t have to choose.
• 10 ways Cradlewise builds healthy sleep habits for the entire family.
• How you can plan your Cradlewise purchase in advance (and help our planet.)