Sleep improvement: No artificial light except red light before bed?

[Anticyclone]

Anyone else tried this? We're giving it a go in desparation to try and help with 13mo DSs sleep.

We're not putting on any lights during bathtime or during the bedtime routine, but in order to see anything we're having to use a small battery powered red light - but it's not easy to see when putting a nappy on, and not great when reading the bedtime book as the colours look all weird! We might have to find a more powerful light.

Has anyone found that using a red light before bed has helped with their DCs sleep?

I started using one last night in an essential oil diffuser (using a sleep blend in another desperate attempt, I know where you are coming from!) It has 7 different lights and one of them is red so have set it to that thinking it cant hurt! I read an article by Sarah Ockwell Smith that says that it doesnt necessarily help sleep but other lights inhibit melatonin production where red doesnt.

The diffuser we have is a 500ml one, I could read by the light of it across the other side of the room without much difficulty I expect

Yep, we're also doing this after reading Sarah Ockwell-Smith!

We're also using lavendar oil, but just a candle burning under some liquid - I will have to look into the light-up diffusers! We definately need a more powerful red light.

This is the one we have, pleased with it so far. Last night we only had one post midnight wake up (still pretty bad overall: down at 8, up at 9.20, 11.50, 4.00 and up for the day at 7.20) this is a massive improvement for us! I'd been using a calpol plug in before and found that helped him to sleep a little better so the sleep blend is to mimic that recipe.

www.amazon.co.uk/MIU-COLOR-Diffuser-Ultrasonic-Humidifier/dp/B00BS692N6

How many wake ups are you looking at??

Thanks for the link. Calpol plug In? I'll look into that too. He probably wakes every 1-2 hours ish, but not sure exactly.

Yeah its just a plug in night light (blue though!) that you put little pads in that smell of lavender, cammomile and eucalyptus. They are meant to be for when they have colds but I randomly used one about 10 days ago and we had a run of 4 nights good sleep (pattern like above, i'll take that as good sleep!) so thats what finally pushed me to get the blend and diffuser as the plug in would have bankrupted me (£6 for 5 pads)

www.boots.com/en/Calpol-Vapour-Plug-Nightlight_46977/

I read about this too but just find it too hard now the evenings are dark. Though I have stopped using my phone while feeding him to sleep as noticed on nights I have it on he takes ages to drop off but nights it's off he goes quickly. Could be coincidence but definitely a pattern to it. I don't have any lights on in his room.

This works for adults--I have a special program on my computer called Fluxx that "warms" the color tones. At first your computer will look very oddly red to you...then, after a couple of hours, it will seem quite normal, and if you turn off the program the light is blindingly blue, making you wonder how you ever lived with such an annoying bright machine glowing at you.

It's made a huge difference in my DH's ability and mine to get to sleep when we want to and when we turn off the lights. If it doesn't work for a baby, I'd be surprised!

Hi again Mangofizz...could I ask, is the actual action of diffusing the fragrance noisy? And does it make a beeping noise when you press the buttons to turn it on and off? Thanks.

Science backs it up - blue wavelengths of light prohibit melatonin production. Melatonin makes you feel sleepy. Good luck!