My Full Review of the Halo Bassinest Swivel Sleeper

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You may have seen ads for the Halo Bassinest swivel sweeper – this is the bassinet that offers a 360 degree swivel so that you can have it by your bedside and simply pull it over to reach your newborn baby. I’m sure your wondering how well it works and if it is actually worth the $199.99 price tag for the basic one (the Essential) and $299.99 for the Premiere on the manufacturers site (although I see them listed for less at other retailers). Lucky for you, we used this with both of our children, and I can tell you all about our experience with it.

Product Description

So what exactly is the Halo Bassinest swivel sweeper? Well, it’s a bassinet that swivels and rotates a full 360 degrees and features a drop down side to that you can have your baby near you in a bassinet, but also accessible. The idea is that it’s as close to co-sleeping as you can get without actually co-sleeping (which has some inherent risks that are avoided with a bassinet). The height of the bassinest is adjustable from 24” to 34”, but check to make sure it will work for your bed, especially if your bed is really high or low. The bassinest also has mesh walls so that you see your child and to provide greater breathability. All versions feature a removable mattress with a fitted sheet (and you will certainly want extra sheets if you end up purchasing this). The Premiere versions of the Bassinest feature a floor light, a night light, 6 sounds (3 soothing sounds and 3 lullabies), 2 vibration settings, a back to bed reminder and storage caddies on the side of the bassinest. We have a Premiere version of the bassinest, so I’ll can share my thought on the value of those additional features. I did see that they offer a twin version of the Bassinest as well. Finally, there are some additional accessories you can buy separately like a mobile, newborn insert, and a caddy.

My Thoughts

Now…on to my thoughts on the Bassinest. Firstly, I had a c-section and so getting out of bed initially was a major struggle. I really thought the bassinest would be a lifesaver when it came to that…but sadly it really wasn’t. What I couldn’t figure out is if I had this large 30 pound HEAVY bassinest on my side of the bed with huge metal legs sticking out, how could I actually get up to say go to the bathroom easily? If the bassinest had a longer range forward and backward it would have worked perfectly.  I don’t really need it to swivel 360 degrees, but I needed it to go farther back and forth. Otherwise you have to keep it fairly close to the bed to actually be able to get your baby out and then there’s not an easy way to exit. You either have to push it farther back and lose the accessibility (which is what we ended up doing) or fumble with trying to get by it. Other than that, it worked well as a bassinet. I loved the mesh siding on the Bassinest, and both my daughter and my son seemed to find it comfortable to sleep in.

The mattress pad is not very thick and seems like it wouldn’t be the most comfortable option to sleep on. The only other negative that I had regarding the Bassinest is that the branded Bassinest sheets were fairly difficult to get on and off the mattress pad. It seriously was a fight every single time to get the pad inside the sheet and laying flat. For my second baby, I ended up buying these bassinet sheets off of Amazon, which were super easy to get on. I have seen several other reviews complaining that the bassinest is uneven and that their baby rolled to one side. I will say this is something we didn’t experience, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Premiere Features

As for the Bassinest Premiere/Luxe extra features, we definitely did not use all of them, but plenty of them did come in handy. We used the storage on the sides for diaper creams, extra sheets, and other random items. We also loved the vibration feature.  We used a couple of the sounds, but not consistently because children did not always seem to like them. The heartbeat sound was the one we liked the most. We found the lights to generally be too bright at night for not waking someone up. So overall, it’s really a personal call on how much you think you need those features. None of them are absolute musts for everyone, but we did enjoy them. We were also gifted a mobile, which was really adorable. My daughter was not all that interested in it, so I would say it is absolutely not necessary.

Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of the Bassinest Swivel Sweeper that we experienced:

Pros:

• Extremely sturdy with a four point base and well-built
• Swivels smoothly and seamlessly
• Mesh sides for safety and viability of your baby
• Soothing center works reasonably well

Cons:

• Not enough front/back movement for our bedroom setup, defeating the main purpose of the Bassinest vs. other alternatives
• Very heavy, not at all portable from room to room (or even to push aside if you need to get past it)
• Big metal feet which are hard to avoid stubbing your toes on
• Sheets difficult to change
• Reports of bassinest being uneven (again, not something we experienced)

Final Review

Overall, I think that we would have been just as happy in the long run with a less expensive basic bassinet. It did have some nice features that we enjoyed, but the main swivel feature did not work well for us and since babies outgrow bassinets very quickly I don’t think I would pay for it if I did it all over again. If you can find a configuration with it that gives you the easy accessibility it is touted for, then I can see how it would be well worth the money. Here is a link to the basic version if you are interested, and here is a link to the Luxe/Premiere version.

However, there is a Halo product I do highly recommend: their sleep sacks / wearable blankets and swaddles! Our daughter used the swaddle ones and then the free-armed sleep sack until she transitioned to a big kid bed. I absolutely loved them!

Here are some bassinet alternatives to consider:

• This Travel Bassinet which comes with variety of built in features, like a rocking mode, a mosquito net, and a waterproof mattress AND then it is portable to boot!

• This 2 in 1 Rock&Stay Bassinet (also portable like the first option) which folds in half for super portability.

• You could just get a pack-n-play/play yard with a bassinet to use for those early days. The bonus is that you will be covering multiple things with one purchase (travel bed, bassinet, changing station, etc.) and it will outlast those newborn days.

• This Bed Side Crib – pulls right up to the bed to keep baby close, while you sleep in your bed with 7 height levels to ensure it will fit most any bed. It also has a rocking mode built in.

• This Baby Bassinet Cradle has a classic cradle design that is lightweight and has wheels for portability and a gentle rocking feature.

• If you really want the top of the line Bassinet…check out this SNOO smart sleeper. This bassinet automatically responds to babies cries with noise and motion to help soothe them and keep them asleep for longer. What parent doesn’t want more sleep when they come home with a newborn?!?

Interested in other baby items? Check out my Top 10 Newborn must-haves or my favorite 0-3 month baby items.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Katie