Pitch black- is it needed really?!

[thaimoon]

I followed a sleep trainers advice to blackout my dds room. So we've put sheeting on the window which shuts out all the light.

It's like, can't see your hand in front of you dark.

She sleeps really well but now she's a bit older I wonder... is it really needed for it to be so dark?!

I like a bit of natural light in the bedroom personally and can't help wondering if she might too!

Plus it's a pita to blackout rooms on holiday/ when travelling and surely they won't do this at nursery?!

Just wondered what people's experiences are of this?

None of mine ever had blackout blinds. ( One did have blackout curtains but as they let in light round the edges, not as dark)
All of my DC were good sleepers. So I would say, no the blinds are not necessary.

If she doesn't wake up when it gets light, I'd say it's not needed. Personally, yes, mine wake up earlier (remember sun comes up at like 4:30 in the summer) when it's not dark. But if it doesn't bother her, that I'd say it doesn't matter.

In general it's not needed. Lots of children including my son sleep with the door open. However, only you can answer whether your child needs pitch black or not!

Nope. Didn't bother with DD shes an excellent sleeper and far too much faff. Takes her ages to drop off but she's fine by herself.

It depends on the child and if you needed a sleep trainer I would follow her advice.

Depends totally on the child

DD2 can sleep with light around the edges no problem

DD1 has all sorts of sleep issues. She needs darkness. Getting a bit better, she’s ok with 95% dark now rather than 100% but we still take blackouts on holiday for her (she is 8).

Can’t bear it when people think they “trained” their child to sleep in the light, noise etc. Chances are their child is just a good sleeper naturally. If you have a child who struggles with sleep it’s a different story.

The parenting advice in our family is to get kids used to sleeping with light and noise.

I went on a weekend away with a friend and her daughter will only sleep in complete silence and darkness. It made travelling hell tbh.

SirenSays perfect example.

Maybe your friend tried getting her child to sleep in light and noise and it just didn’t work? Maybe the child is a lighter sleeper naturally?

If you are desperate for sleep you’ll try anything and sometimes pitch black can help.

However... if you can get your child used to sleeping with normal curtains you do yourself a massive flexibility favour.

I don't think it needs to be pitch black for them to go to sleep, but I wouldn't remove the blackout at this time of year, unless you enjoy getting up at 4:30 am with the sunrise!

Mines the other way. She will only sleep with the curtains wide open.

I wouldn’t do this because it’s not something you can easily replicate when away.

Much better to sleep train in a normal environment with standard curtains and noise, so that the child can learn to fall asleep almost anywhere.

Incidentally, what qualifications does the ‘sleep trainer’ hold?

@minipie lol nope, she didn't, that's why I used it as an example.
Obviously children are different and have different needs which should be taken into account.
But for my friend, her daughter had simply never slept in a room that wasn't temperature controlled, near pitch black and pindrop silent. After that weekend she threw away the black out blinds and her daughter will now sleep even with the vacuum going. No more whispering! Allowed to flush toilets. It's a win.

I worked at a very nice nursery a few years ago. Our nap room was lovely but it had windows and was next to a pretty noisy kitchen. My advice, try to get them used to things like this.

Ha well yeah if she didn’t even try seeing whether her child would sleep without the blackouts and silence, that’s daft.

Most people IME who have blackouts and/or silence are doing it because they’ve tried both ways and know their child doesn’t sleep without those things!

DD (lazybones) will pretty much sleep through anything.
DS (high maintenance) will wake as soon as the first crack of sunlight enters his room unless I've blacked out the windows.

DS is 2 and likes it pitch black to sleep still, in the winter it wasn’t much of an issue but now it’s bright outside until 8ish he struggles with it so we put his blackout back up. We have a travel blackout blind too which is easy and great!

I echo others that it depends on the child. Before we had DD I was determined she wasn't going to need pitch black to sleep. Our bedroom had blackout curtains but I kept a light on at very low levels so I could see to feed her in the middle of the night without turning a proper light on.

Her bedroom had a blind and curtains. When we moved her into her room at 6 months or so (in the summer!) I went to the curtain shop after 2 days and asked them to fit a blackout liner to her curtains!!

Now she's old she has a Gro Clock so the room isn't pitch black and that seems to suit her.

To be honest I struggle to sleep in a room that isn't pretty close to pitch black so I think some of it really is down to the individual. We have a portable blackout blind that sticks to windows for when we're away from home. It isn't perfect but seems to be good enough.

I work in a nursery and we use a blackout blind in the sleep room. Some children might not need it but some definitely do!

Thanks you guys. I really appreciate all your responses. I haven't actually tried her naps or bedtime without the blackout so I have no idea how she would be and as a pp said, perhaps the summer isn't the best time to try it 😆.

But I will later in the year as it's a total faff so if she can manage without I'd be relieved.

Due to lockdown she hasn't really had a chance to "nap on the go" much either she's just slept in her dark silent room! So we shall see how we get on 😬🤞

My eldest always seemed to sleep better when the Army firing ranges were going!

Can you try just leaving the blind a bit open and see what happens? I always liked having va bit of light so I could check on them at night.

We didn’t have a blackout blind. My daughter started waking at 6am in March. With the clock change this would have been 5. Got a blackout blind, she often sleeps til 8 at weekends. We have a gro blind which will fit most windows and I take it when we go away. For us it’s worth it!!

My DD has always had blackout curtains but they still let a lot of light around the edges and things. She's always been very light sensitive - even as a small baby we noticed she'd sleep better and longer in darker environments. She was a summer baby and by the time we got to the next spring with the earlier sunrises she was sleeping worse and waking extra early - the sun in our house hits her bedroom first too. We bought the GroBlinds to put under the curtains and they really helped, there was an instant change to her sleep, waking later. We use them from about April-September, basically when she starts waking earlier in the mornings they go up and work their magic. She can nap for an hour or two (well, she's nearly 3 so it's only an hour or less these days) in daylight as long as it's not too bright, we always closed one of her curtains for naps in her room just to shut the bright light out a bit. She's always napped less at nursery than at home but managed well enough. GroBlinds are great because whenever we have gone on holiday we just take it with us and stick it up there.