I first noticed the Sleepyhead pods on Instagram but to be honest I wasn’t totally sure exactly how we’d use one. Intrigued and enticed by too many gorgeous IG baby pics I did a little Googling and the rave reviews were hard to ignore so I was excited to try it out when our little boy Casper arrived a few weeks ago.
So what exactly is the Sleepyhead Deluxe and what does it do? It’s sold as a portable baby bed which you can also use inside a crib or cot to make baby feel much more snuggly. It’s essentially a ‘pod’ made up of a flat mattress with a ‘bumper’ around the edges to create a comfy and safe baby nest.
Our pod arrived after Casper’s first week at home. We had started off using the Chicco Next 2 Me crib at night. He looked so tiny in the vast space of the crib and after waking up to find he had shuffled down into one corner of it up against the side I decided to try something else. So for a few nights we lugged his moses basket up and downstairs every morning and evening but he was struggling with reflux and I couldn’t tilt the basket like I had done with our bedside crib….
Cue the Sleepyhead - we put it into the titled crib, which gave us back the ease of getting him out for feeding during the night, being able to see him better than in the moses basket, with the elevation helping with his reflux. The real beauty of it though was putting my mind at rest that he couldn’t slide around too much and it helping him feel more cocooned and safe.
In recent weeks, we’ve also bought the pod downstairs a few times for daytime naps on the sofa, which is really handy. Although I haven’t had chance to take our Sleepyhead out of the house yet I read lots of reviews saying how great it is when travelling and I can see us chucking it in the car to take over if we’re visiting friends and family for longer than an hour or two.
So if you’re considering the Sleepyhead here are its good points:
- It prevents your baby getting lost in your bedside crib or cot initially as it makes the space much more snug
- It has a removable cover which is fully washable, breathable and hypoallergenic
- Lots of the reviews I read said how good it was for babies who would only sleep being held. Casper actually prefers going to sleep lay down but I can absolutely see how the nest like feel would help a baby that preferred being snuggled to sleep!
- It’s very easy to move around the house for daytime naps, tummy time and play time or even to take out and about.
- As it’s so light and portable you could also use it when travelling, so rather than taking a more cumbersome travel cot you could take your Sleepyhead and pop it inside a larger cot provided in hotels for example
- Lots of people said how much easier it made their babies transition to a cot. We’re a few months off this stage but anything which might make the move from bedside to own room (sob) and to a larger cot easier has to be worth a try!
And a couple of downsides (to give you an honest and full review) which I can think of:
- It’s fairly expensive (£120), as with most baby things they grow so quickly that it will inevitably have a relatively short life span. The marketing blurb for the Sleepyhead said it can be used up to 8 months but lots of customer feedback suggests up to 5 months is more realistic. It does open at one end of the pod to give you more length and they do also do a bigger version called the ‘Grand’ but again this isn’t cheap!
- Finally, the removable cover isn’t the easiest to get on and off for washing which when you have a baby with reflux is a little frustrating. You can buy covers for them (again not cheap) and I’ve read other people have used cot sheets over their pods but when we tried this I wasn’t keen on how it fitted it so I just keep fighting with the fitted cover and putting it through the express ‘one-day’ wash!
Overall I do think the Sleepyhead pod is worth the money but I’d also recommend checking out the comparable Red Castle Cocoonababy, which my sister used and loved, before deciding which is best for you. It’s helped Casper settle much better in his bedside crib and definitely put my mind at rest that he’s safe and comfy during the occasional hour I get to close my eyes in between feeding him during the night ;-)
What do you think? Has anyone else used the Sleepyhead pod? Do you have any pros and cons to add which I’ve missed?
Chloe x