I was incredibly excited to learn about the Good Nite Lite ($35), for toddlers who wake their parents up too early.
Hey! I have one of those!
Without a good night’s sleep, there’s sluggishness, crankiness, and tantrums…and the toddler might be a little off her game, too.
I’ve heard several suggestions besides the obvious darkening of the room, including adding a clock with the proper wake-up time taped above it. The time-telling solution works great as preschoolers begin to recognize numbers but can cause confusion when your child does not know if 7:01 is before or after 7:30.
With Good Nite Lite you can set the precise time you want the night light to transform from a moon to a sun. My daughter thinks this night light is incredibly exciting and, if she had a mellower personality, I think this could really work as a solution for extending her wake-up time.
Programming the night light requires the manual but was fairly easy if you follow the instructions. You set the actual time, program a time for the moon to turn on indicating bed time, and then a time for the sun to appear.
The manual has suggestions, such as setting the night light for the time your child usually awakens, and then pushing the time back by 15 minute intervals until it is a satisfactory time.
Although the night light packaging says it is intended for ages 3+, I think we should have started using the night light earlier with our particular little preschooler. She finds the night light delightful but we’ve had some trouble convincing her to keep the light on when we leave her room at night. The light is a bit brighter than most night lights but I have a feeling she would also object to a dimmer version or any change at all to her bedtime routine. When she wakes up in the morning, she asks us to plug it back in.
Once the sun “rises,” it automatically shuts off after two hours to save energy. While I appreciate the sentiment of saving energy and money, I wish there was an option to keep it on. My daughter was initially upset that the sun did not stay on throughout the day and wanted us to turn the light back on. I ended up setting “bedtime” to immediately follow the end of the two hours of the sun light. I think it would be great if there was an easy way to turn the moon and sun on, overriding the programming if necessary.
Overall, I would recommend introducing the night light at around 18 months’ so your child becomes accustomed to it. Good Nite Lite is a clever idea to solve a common parenting challenge–because a good night is a good morning.
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Want It: Purchase Good Nite Lite ($35)
