Apart from university and hotel stays, I've only slept in two beds in my nearly-three-decades of life: one in my childhood home, the other in the flat which I bought with my boyfriend, now husband, where we still sleep now. (If by sleep you mean intermittently lie in bed waiting to be woken by a hungry baby).
Said baby, by contrast, although only five months old, already owns four beds - and has snoozed in many hotel and travel cots too. Of course, his favourite place to sleep isn't actually his bed at all, but our one...
Still, the reason he has so many is that he's the lucky youngest cousin of four. So one cousin's Moses basket was his main bed, another's crib became a 'day bed' for lounge snoozes, and another's big cot is waiting for him to move into.
And the fourth? That one's brand-new: a Snuzpod. This "bedside crib" is the baby bed that my NCT buddies raved about; the one that I'd have bought had I purchased from new. The Snuzpod attaches to your bed, so you're sleeping side-by-side with your baby. That makes night feeds much easier (you don't have to get out of bed), and it's supposed to be a safer alternative to co-sleeping as there's a zip-up side so the baby has his own, secure space.
Plus the Snuz's thoughtful design means you can also use it as a standalone crib (zip up all sides, detach the clips from your bed) or as a Moses basket/bassinet by pulling it out of its frame.
In our flat, tiny man's nursery is a staircase away from our bedroom, and since he's still waking up so much at night, and under six months (the highest risk factor for SIDS) I don't yet want him to move out. But his Moses basket was getting too tight - so the chance to review the more spacious Snuzpod was well-timed.
First thing to report: those breezy words in other reviews that the Snuz took 20 minutes to build didn't ring true with me. I love a spot of DIY and especially an Ikea product-building session (just like a giant jigsaw), but it still took me a good hour to get the Snuzpod up and running. Some parts are heavy, too, so avoid doing this alone in pregnancy - but, having said that, the instructions are clear and parts are all well organised.
Once the Snuz is built, it's easy to strap to your bed frame, and there are two straps: one for a divan-style bed, the other for a standard one. You can put the bottom of the crib at various levels, dependent on your bed height, so it lies flat against yours - although unfortunately none of the options were high enough for our tall bed, so there is a height difference.
Night one didn't go very well: I left the cot three-sided, and tiny man kept rolling into the dip between the Snuzpod and our bed, getting annoyed, and waking up. Night two was better - I zipped up the fourth side and he must have felt more secure because he slepy long and well. After a week, he was used to the Snuzpod: for expectant parents, I'd recommend using it from the start, with a newborn, (perhaps with a towel rolled up at the base to make it feel cozier) for a smoother process.
My overall verdict? The Snuzpod is a great concept: it means your sleep is far less disturbed by feeds (for a breastfeeder, you just slide the baby across, give them the boob, and slide back, rather than you having to get out of bed and wake up much more). It means you can relax in the knowledge that your baby is so nearby, but has his own space away from risky duvets and pillows. And the fact that the Snuz lifts out completely will be useful for newborns - you can carry your baby to other parts of your home easily.
Some negative points: parts were tricky to build (the wire rods, for example, were difficult to get into their fabric holes), and it's a shame there aren't more levels so the Snuzpod lies flush with a greater range of beds.
But overall, of the many baby beds we tried, in the words of Goldilocks, this one is just right.
* Item sent to Run out of Womb for review. Rest assured, though, that I'm seriously gobby and would never rave about something that's rubbish.
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