Here’s what we thought of the Halo, the MamaRoo, the Snoo, and others
Consumer Reports tester Joan Muratore evaluates bassinets in a CR lab.
By Angela Lashbrook
Looking for a place to park your brand-new baby? While a crib is the best choice in the long run, a good bassinet can often be placed right next to your bed, making it easier to conduct nighttime feedings and diaper changes.
Bassinets are small and have a shorter shelf life—they can be used only until your baby starts to show signs of pushing up onto their hands and knees or until they reach the weight and height limit of your bassinet, whichever comes first, says Jennifer Shu, MD, a pediatrician based in Atlanta and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Still, it may be worth it for your family.
You’ll find our top picks below, and for a more complete look at how to shop for a bassinet, check our bassinet buying guide. And keep in mind the following safety guidelines when using a bassinet for your little one:
Babies should sleep on a flat—not inclined—surface. Inclines of 10 degrees or greater can restrict your baby’s airflow.
Babies should sleep alone in their sleep space. This means they shouldn’t be taking naps with your new puppy or other kids in their bassinet.
Keep toys, blankets, bumpers, and other items out of the bassinet. (Bumpers, in fact, are now banned under the Safe Sleep for Babies Act). These items can potentially suffocate your baby.
Bassinets have a short shelf life. Move your baby to their own crib when they reach the weight and height limit of your bassinet.
A quick note about our testing. Our testers looked at:
• How easy each bassinet is to assemble: How many pieces and steps does it have?
• What features it has: Does it have a motion feature? A shelf for diaper storage
How convenient the product is to use in general: Is it portable? Is it easy to access your baby? Is the height adjustable?
We didn’t test how well any of the features work with any actual babies, nor did we test noise levels on any bassinet that makes sound.
Best Bassinets From Consumer Reports’ Tests
Happiest Baby SNOO Smart Sleeper Bassinet
CR’s take: This pricey bassinet gets our top score, as our testers found it easy to assemble—with few parts and steps to frustrate the excited (and potentially anxious) parent-to-be—and pretty convenient to use. The Snoo is a smart bassinet, which means it moves and makes sounds that are designed to soothe the baby. The Snoo received a top score in our tests because of its plethora of features, including multiple movement and noise levels that respond to a baby’s cries, which you can limit if you don’t want it rocking and shushing your baby at the top of its range. Most of these features are controlled via the Snoo app. It also has a “preemie mode” that limits movement up until the baby’s original due date (babies can be more easily overstimulated when premature). It can also be used when disconnected from WiFi, if your power goes out, or if you prefer to keep your smart devices off your home network, although you’ll lose access to some features. On the downside, the Snoo is not super-portable, so you might want to keep it in one spot rather than move/ it from room to room.
A heads-up that in 2022, we wrote an article about some concerns experts have with certain Snoo features, including the noise level—which some experts believe may go too high—and that it requires a baby’s movement be restricted in the swaddle longer than is developmentally ideal. Parents can work around some of these worries by turning down the noise levels, ensuring baby gets lots of time outside the bassinet, and moving them into a crib the minute they’re ready.
4moms MamaRoo sleep bassinet
CR’s take: This smart bassinet received high marks in nearly every category. Like the Snoo, it has tons of features, including movement and sound options to calm baby. Unlike the Snoo, which has one type of movement (rocking back and forth) and sound (a generic white noise) with adjustable levels, the MamaRoo has customizable sounds and movements. If you (or baby) aren’t a fan of the plain white noise “fan” sound, for example, the MamaRoo has rain, ocean, and “shush” (like a parent saying “shh, shh”) sounds; movement options include car ride, kangaroo, wave, tree swing, and rock-a-bye. You can also control the speed of these movements separately, so you can have a softer kangaroo movement, for example, or a more intense car ride. Our testers used an inclinometer to ensure that the MamaRoo (and all our tested bassinets) never reached an incline of 10 percent or greater, which can be dangerous for a baby’s airflow. Our testers found the MamaRoo easier to control than the Snoo, as many of these features can be controlled via buttons on the side of the bassinet—which is helpful if your phone dies or you have a caretaker who is perhaps less tech-savvy.
Our testers appreciated that the MamaRoo has an adjustable frame height, so you can make sure the bassinet lines up comfortably with your own mattress height, should you choose to place it directly beside your bed.
Cons: Unlike the Snoo, the MamaRoo doesn’t activate automatically upon a baby’s fussing. It’s also heavy and thus not super-easy to move. This is the primary reason the MamaRoo scored a tiny bit lower than the Snoo.
Fisher-Price Soothing Motions Bassinet
CR’s take: This is a budget-friendly smart bassinet with movement, sound, and light features. Movement is limited to vibration, and a “sway” feature that is so gentle, it’s barely noticeable at all. The Soothing Motions Bassinet also plays sounds and music that are supposed to chill out your baby. It also has a unique feature: a light show that projects stars onto the ceiling. It has a night light, which allows for easier diaper changes and nighttime feedings. Below the bassinet, there’s a shelf for storing diapers, pacifiers, or other baby essentials.
Halo BassiNest Swivel Sleeper 3.0
CR’s take: Not interested in a smart bassinet? You may want to consider the Halo BassiNest, our top-rated nonsmart bassinet. This bassinet is great for bedside accessibility. The frame height is adjustable and, true to its name, the bassinet swivels 360 degrees. One side can be lowered for easier access from the bed, and the bassinet can be removed from the frame and transported, like a Moses basket.
While we liked this bassinet, it has a downside: Its legs have a very wide footprint, splaying wide and perhaps presenting a tripping hazard to an exhausted parent getting out of bed in the middle of the night.
Three Things to Look for in a New Bassinet
According to Joan Muratore, test program leader at Consumer Reports, you may want to consider the stability of a bassinet before you purchase one. If it’s set up at a store, she says, push down on the side, as if you were a toddler attempting to reach into it, and see if it begins to tip. This is, obviously, a particular concern if you have other children or rowdy pets in the home.
You’ll also want to think about where you’ll be parking your bassinet, and whether there are any design features that may conflict with your desired placement. “With the Halo, the base is enormous, and if I’m a sleep-deprived parent and I have to get out of bed, I might well trip because the legs are splayed out,” Joan says. “To me, it would be a tripping hazard.”
Consider the adjustability of the bassinet height, especially if you intend to keep the bassinet right beside the bed. Some platform beds, for example, are quite low, so you’ll want to compare how high your mattress is against the base height of the bassinet.
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