Atlanta becomes first city to offer free smart bassinets to employees
Like most expectant parents, Briana Faucette heard the typical warnings about sleepless nights. Despite the cautions, the 39-year-old South Fulton mom had the rare distinction among new parents of getting a full nights rest soon after her son, Asher, was born.
“That was the thing that really did scare me about motherhood. I’m like oh, ‘I’m just going to be tired all the time’ and that just wasn’t the case,” recalled the Atlanta business manager and first-time mom.
Faucette attributes her sleep triumph to family support and a new parental benefit offered by the city of Atlanta. She was one of the first city employees to receive a free six-month rental of the SNOO Smart Sleeper Bassinet designed to soothe infants.
A high-tech answer to sleepless nights
Atlanta is the first city to offer the benefit to its employees. Since the program launched in January, 15 employees have participated in the rental program, according to James Salmond, Atlanta’s city benefits director.
The bassinet contains a specially designed sleep sack in which parents safely secure their newborns. The built-in technology automatically senses when the baby is fussy or begins to wake, automatically increasing gentle rocking and white noise to soothe the infant back to sleep.
If the baby continues crying even after the bassinet reaches its highest soothing setting, parents receive an alert through the mobile app. The notification signals that the infant may need to be fed, have a diaper changed or be evaluated for another cause of discomfort.
In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the SNOO as a medical device based on its ability to help keep sleeping infants positioned on their backs. The bassinet is designed to keep babies in the recommended back-sleeping position, which pediatricians and public health officials say can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome and sudden unexpected infant death.
In Georgia, the rate of SIDS and SUID deaths is about 137 per 100,000 live births, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Salmond said the bassinet complements other employee benefits involving a newborn.
“We provide our employees with what we refer to as child caregiver leave, where an employee can receive up to six weeks of their regular pay to be out to care for either a newborn child or child that they adopt or foster care,” Salmond explained.
The additional sleep provided by the bassinet also is believed to reduce burnout and postpartum depression in working moms and dads.
Faucette said she attended a webinar Dr. Harvey Karp, a pediatrician and child development specialist who designed the bassinet, led for Atlanta city employees as SNOO was being introduced to them as a benefit. She previously read Karp’s book on parenting and quickly signed up to receive a SNOO before she left on maternity leave the next day. The bassinet was waiting for her after she gave birth at Piedmont Hospital in February.
Faucette said she noticed an immediate difference between the sleep she and the baby had in the hospital and soon after developing a rhythm of sleeping and feeding schedules at home.
“That rocking motion that (SNOO) has, it just really helped to get him to sleep very quickly.”
Within two months, her son was sleeping about 10 hours a night, allowing Faucette to get seven to eight hours herself, she recalled.
A benefit built around family needs
The city of Atlanta joins more than 150 employers nationwide offering SNOO as a workplace benefit including those with Atlanta offices, such as Inspire Brands; JPMorgan Chase; Pfizer; Baker Donelson; Citibank; Red Bull; and Nasdaq. The rental is free for six months, which is the typical length of time a bassinet is used before the baby is too big for it or is able to get onto their hands and knees independently.
“We are treating this just like we do with any other vendor that’s offering services to our employees from a health and welfare standpoint,” Salmond said. “Just like we provide medical insurance; we provide dental insurance.”
The benefit offers employees an added perk while helping the city stand out in a competitive market for workers, Salmond said.
“When we’re having these conversations with employees and for those that are either expecting a child or considering having a child during their employment, that their employer makes this available … that’s one less expensive item they have to concern themselves with,” he said. “At the very least, for a bit of time, everyone learns to sleep a little bit better because of this particular device.”
Faucette said she is grateful for the free rental opportunity, which she wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. A new SNOO costs $1,695, while a preloved model sells for $1,195. Families can also rent one directly from Happiest Baby for $159 a month or $499 for six months.
Now, she is preparing to return the SNOO at the end of the rental period. She says it’s perfect timing because Asher has outgrown the bassinet and is transitioning to a crib.
For her, the bassinet provided more than a few extra hours of sleep. It gave her confidence during the earliest months of motherhood and helped her son develop healthy sleep habits.
“I think it’s because of those months that he was rocking to sleep and had that training, but now he doesn’t need it.”
Roni Robbins has been a journalist for nearly four decades. This is her second stint as a freelance reporter for the AJC. She was formerly a freelance reporter and editor for Medscape. Her writing has appeared in WebMD, HuffPost, Forbes, the New York Daily News, BioPharma Dive, MNN, Adweek, Healthline and others. She’s also the author of the award-winning novel, “Hands of Gold: One Man’s Quest to Find the Silver Lining in Misfortune.”