Night light for feeding

[Havingkittens]

Can anyone recommend a good light to have in my room for feeding and changing during the night please?

Are those night lights you get for the cot enough light to feed by or are they only suitable for comforting the baby?

Also, whilst I'm on the subject, do people generally use the nightlights to comfort the baby whilst not with them? If so, why black out blinds? Is darkness better? Or soft light?

we bought some "touch" lamps from Next, 4 little taps complete the cycle of 3 different brightness or off. on bedside table - brightest setting is good enough to read by
buy the lowest wattage bulbs you can get - and you need the "frosted" versions

black out lights are for daytime use to reduce the light coming in - less to see, less for baby to get excited by, but mainly because of the body's response to light v. dark.

bright lights raise the level of serotonin in the body - that's the hormone that causes wakefulness - you need light to wake up and stay awake during the day.

dark on the other will cause a drop in serotonin levels, thus making you & baby sleepy

I used a touch lamp with my eldest, but it broke and I haven't replaced it. With my youngest we leave the landing lamp on with the door ajar through the night. He seems more settled to have that small bit of light and its enough for me to feed and change him. Prob not great for the electricity bill though! :)

Install a dimmer switch, it's easy to do (dh can do it and he would fail ks1 DIY) it's a must for middle of the night nappy changes and feeding. Just enough light to see what's clean and what's not and latch baby on/plug in bottle.

I just put the light on the landing on which have enough light for feeding and nappy changing. For anything that required a bit more light, I used the torch app on my iPhone.

I used these which were great. Have just bought second lot as DS dropped a couple! Also used one of these dimmer sockets for the bedside lamp.
The night light on a monitor etc usually not enough to change a nappy by. TBH there will be poo explosions that you need a fair bit of light for!

About blackouts - some babies sleep better in a black outed room, not a problem in winter but in summer when trying to put them down in sunshine it can be tricky withut, depending in your baby. I had a non-sleeper so tried blackouts along with many other things..... Also as above, it helps them learn daytime/nighttime.
Light at night is not good for babies eyes and can make sleep problems worse (not that you need blackouts, just avoid leaving light on). DS is now 2.5 and became scared of the dark from about 2, so has a little light on just whilst he goes off to sleep. Before that the dark's not a problem.

Thanks so much for the feedback. All makes sense now. So much to learn!

I like the look of that dimmer switch plug adaptor actually. Thanks mincepies.

I just bought a red bulb for the normal bedside lamp. I wanted to be able to distinguish between night and day, red didn't hurt my eyes going on it wake us too much but is enough to see by.