Cradlewise Smart Bassinet and Crib Review: AI to Help Infants Sleep
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.
Photograph: Cradlewise
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.
