By the time Carly Abrahams gave birth to her second child, it is safe to say she was a bona fide baby gear expert—and not because she had already had a crack at parenting. In addition to being a mum, Carly is the founder of Aussie online parenting community Mums the Word and the author of Buying for Baby: A Month by Month Guide for Everything You Need.

To write Buying for Baby, Carly and her co-author spent two years surveying the vast baby product market in order to identify the five very best products in each category.

'Obviously we put the SNOO in. Bouncers and prams haven’t changed in the past 10 years. SNOO is the only thing that’s really innovative and different,' she says. 

So, even though it had been nine years since the birth of her first child, Carly was well-versed in all the best baby products by the time she was pregnant with Baby No. 2…and SNOO was smack-dab in the middle of her radar. 

'With SNOO, there was no question—we were going to use it,' Carly says. 

Carly’s son arrived in June 2020, spending three weeks in the NICU before coming home.

'His esophagus and trachea were connected in wrong places, so he needed surgery straight away,' Carly explains. 'SNOO was even more important for us because the body heals while it sleeps. I think it was a part of why he recovered so well.'

However as smitten as Carly was with SNOO, it was not exactly love at first snooze for her son. Initially, he did not seem to like it, but Carly was not deterred.

'We tried again and then had six months of absolute bliss,' she says. 'When people ask if they should get SNOO, I say absolutely, but you may have to keep trying. As with anything, two days later something that didn’t work before will start to work.'

In the beginning, Carly’s favourite part about SNOO was how quickly it was able to help her son fall asleep, and soon she became just as impressed with how well SNOO soothed her son back to sleep. This was a big change from her experience with her older son.  

'My first was addicted to the dummy and would wake very time it fell out. I remember rocking him constantly,' she recalls. 'The first six months was so much easier this time.'

And the beauty of having SNOO for the second-go-round is that she has more time to spend with her older son!

'I’ve had to help my 9-year-old with homework, and SNOO has made it a lot easier,' Carly says 

To boot, Carly’s enjoyed the peace of mind SNOO has given her. 'I know he’s in a safe position and safe environment,' she says.

So, has this expert’s feelings about SNOO changed now that she has gotten to try it herself?

'If anyone knows baby products, it’s me, and SNOO is the one thing that is a real game-changer for parents.' See Carly’s full review of SNOO here!

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