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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Just a quick question - are those Bunny Alarm Clocks good for early wakers?

20 replies

donttouchthefruit · 07/08/2007 20:47

Have been thinking of getting my daughter one (4rys) so she knows when it's ok to come out of her room in the morning or call for me to come in.

I'm worried though that if I set it for say 7am and she's still asleep it might wake her when it opens it's eyes and it's ears go up!! Do they make a clicking noise or are they quite quiet

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FrannyandZooey · 07/08/2007 20:49

No they shake them and the ears pop up

you need the colour coded clock that cod raves about

DeathbyDora · 07/08/2007 20:54

Hiya - everyone seems to rave about them but personally they haven't worked for us. My DD is 2.7 and keeps waking at the crack of dawn so I thought this would be ideal.

Unfortunately there are a couple of drawbacks in my humble opinion!

You have to put it somewhere they can't get at it because it's really easy to just pop the button and make the eyes open. My DD did that and walked into our room at 05:30 with it saying "look mama...bunny's awake!"
Once it's on a high shelf she can't really see it
It's not very accurate so did wake DD up a couple of times when she WAS actually sleeping a bit later
Breaks easily - we got through 3 and I have now given up. Thinking of just stapling her pyjamas to the mattress when she's asleep.....

ejt1764 · 07/08/2007 20:55

they are very loud! We've used one with ds (now 4.10) since he was just 2, and it's been great for him - in that he knows that he's not to come and wake us up until the bunny's ears pop up - but it did take a few days of the wrath of the mammy descending upon him before he buckled under!
But I know that they're not for everybody - I think I'd go for one of the colour-coded ones if I was to do it again!

Pitchounette · 07/08/2007 21:21

Message withdrawn

elliott · 07/08/2007 21:25

No, I found it not accurate enough and also not easy enough to see in the dark. I use a timer switch with a night light plugged into it - works very well from about age 3.

Lilliput · 07/08/2007 21:28

HOW MUCH!!! £39
I really hope it's worth it Pitchounette
What the colour coded thing?

ChasingSquirrels · 07/08/2007 21:32

when my ds1 was 2.9y and waking around 6am we just got him a normal wall clock (few quid, ikea), explained about the hour hand and said he wasn't to come into us until it was on the 7 (showing him which one was the 7).
No more early wakings!
He did think that quarter to 7 was near enough to the 7 - but fair enough, it was lots better than 6am anyway.

....until he took it off the wall and put it on top of his bedside lamp.....and probably would have burnt the house down if I hadn't gone upstairs for something and happened to smell it.

So if you do this - either don't put the clock somewhere they can get to it (like on the wall above their bed) or don't let them have a bedside lamp!.

Original poster

donttouchthefruit · 07/08/2007 21:34

That's very interesting thanks! Hadn't thought about not being able to see it in the dark and high up.

Is the colour coded one the same as the £39 light one?

OP posts:

Pitchounette · 07/08/2007 21:59

Message withdrawn

amidaiwish · 07/08/2007 22:02

do a search on bunny clocks on here, there are plenty of people who found them a complete waste including me. and the bunny's ears are so loud popping up that it used to wake DD and it is set with a little hand so impossible to set accurately.

we have the kidsleep one here and it does work for DD1 sometimes (if she doesn't have to wait too long) but at least it is a nice nightlight and it is digital so accurate to set.

amidaiwish · 07/08/2007 22:04

or you could always get a normal digital clock - draw say a number 7 on a piece of paper - stick it over the minutes and tell her she has to wait til the number matches the number 7, and if she does it she gets a gold star, 5 gold stars= treat!

FlameBatfink · 07/08/2007 22:12

DH threatened to make DD a colour coded one when we first saw it.

A year or so later, still no clock

HonoriaGlossop · 07/08/2007 22:58

only get stuff like this if you are prepared to back it up with, as ejt so rightly says, the 'wrath of mummy'. Ds just wakes his bunny up himself or ignores it and comes in anyway and I don't seem to have the wrath of mummy gene........I just stagger downstairs with him and make coffee with one eye open.

HonoriaGlossop · 07/08/2007 22:59

we need an 'ineffectual parenting' emoticon just for me

GooseyLoosey · 07/08/2007 23:05

Had a bunny one - awful. Ds goes to bed at 7.00 and wanted to set for 7.00 am but wouldn't let us so we had to sneak back in later to set it and kept forgetting.

Bought a £5 digital one from Woolies instead and drew "7.00" for him so he could see what it looked like. Did this just before his 3rd birthday and it has worked a treat. As said has the advantage that they can see them in the dark and don't need to pick them up.

AllBuggiedOut · 07/08/2007 23:06

Haven't tried it myself (DS2 I think too young to get the idea as only 1.9 and the boys share a room) but friend recommended putting fairy lights on a timer. You can set the timer accurately, and the child is allowed out of the room when the lights come on. No noise, and I doubt fairy lights give off enough light to wake them if they come on while asleep.

awayfromhome · 07/08/2007 23:19

No, they haven't worked for us my dd is 3.4. We had exactly the same problem as DeathbyDora - she just wakes the thing up when she wants to get up. I don't even bother setting it anymore...

I also agree that it is loud, and I have found it difficult to set. It frequently required several wacks to get the eyes shut, and a few times I woke my dd up trying to get the damm thing to work - can't you tell I love it

Pitchounette · 08/08/2007 12:53

Message withdrawn

Lazycow · 08/08/2007 14:53

Our bunny one doesn't make a noise it just lights up and shows a bunny awake when the time is right otherwise the bunny is asleep.

That way if ds wakes up and the bunny is awake he can get up if it is asleep he can't. Now I just have to enforce it - it's not working much so far but we've only had it a week and by some amazing chance ds has woken later than it is set (6.10am) most of those days anyway.

ejt1764 · 08/08/2007 16:48

I did find that the way to get it to work was to set it for earlier than ds usually woke up to start with, then to gently advance the time until we had got to the time we wanted - it took about 2 weeks to get to 6.30am ... but that was when he was just 2 - he's now 4.10, and knows that if he wakes before it does, then he's to stay in his room and play / look at his books until it wakes up - as we're on summer holidays, it's set for 7.45ish!

Well worth unleashing the wrath of the mammy for ... but, as pitchounette has said, you have to really want to use something like this, and follow through, as otherwise it doesn't work.

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