Could turning off the night light help with frequent night waking? 🚨

[humuna]

I went down a MN rabbit hole last night and learned to my surprise that night lights can be associated with later vision issues, and that sleeping in the pitch black aids melatonin production (well, the latter wasn’t a surprise just more of a reminder). A red light is better than a blue/white light, but effects can still persist.

Eek!

DS is 20 months and has slept in a warm red glow since birth! Mainly because we were co-sleeping and BFing and I wanted to be able to see him when he was tiny.

But, he’s a chunk now. A chunk who still co-sleeps and BFs once I go up to bed, and who wakes every 90-120 mins on average after being put down for the evening.

I am going to try turning off the night light tonight. Could it be the answer to my prayers the frequent night waking?

☺️

Worth a try. Wakes that frequently I’d be looking to change his schedule, Whats his usual wake; nap and bedtime? Sounds like he needs less sleep overall than you are trying to give him

Hi @Peonies12. He has about 12 hr 15 min sleep in total, with about 1 hr 45 min on a nap and about 10.5 hours overnight.

He goes to sleep at about 8:30 and wakes at about 7.

All these are averages, eg his nap is a bit longer at nursery but a bit shorter at home.

Last night I tried no night light. He woke after 45 mins 🫠 then slept for three hours on the dot before waking. He then fed on and off, somewhat drowsily, for about 45 mins.

I’m not sure if it is necessarily the light but rather that, as I’ve learned, some babies/toddlers sleep well and others just don’t. My DD being one of them that just doesn’t. You have my sympathies. I think with mine it’s the breastfeeding habit. I fed to sleep from birth and fed on any waking to get her back to sleep quickly. What that’s led to is a habit of wanting a feed whenever she remotely wakes and I haven’t wanted to (had the guts to) night wean. Do you feed when he wakes every time? From what I’ve heard/read night weaning is a painful few nights that leads to a future of a long uninterrupted sleep so I suppose it’s how you feel about giving that a try

How old is your DD @Goldenmimx? It’s hard isn’t it. Yes, I have to feed back to sleep at every wake up, with the occasional exception of the first one, where DH has some success with resettling. But if DH has success then DS will only stay asleep for about an hour before he wakes again. It’s truly exhausting, mentally and physically.

So she’s 2.5 now, still feeding to sleep and still wakes about 4 times a night and wants to be fed back to sleep. I had it in mind to stop at 2 but I just couldn’t face the fall out. It is tough and I feel for you. Other posts I’ve seen on the topic do show some success getting more sleep once the breastfeeding stops

I'd be cutting that nap to maximum 1 hour, we have capped day sleep at 1 hour since 12 months, and it has really improved my daughters sleep. If you take out all the time he's awake at night, he's showing you he doesn't need as much sleep as you think he does. Night weaning has also made my daughter sleep through, she is 19 months. I sent my husband in, was hard work but didn't take long for her to learn there was no milk coming and stop waking. I know it's not guaranteed but it can work once they're past 18 months.

Hey, this is very good at getting the little ones to switch off and calm them ready for a nap my daughter loves it, and she always sleeps a long time it’s backed by sleep science too which is good