Do blackout blinds actually work?

[artifarti]

DS is 9 months old and has been sleeping through for about 6 weeks. However, his waking time has been creeping back and is now a rather grim 5-5.30! I thought it might just be a transition, developmental stage...but then we stayed at Granny's for three nights and he slept 7-7 every night (routine, food and everything else were unchanged).

At home he sleeps in an East-facing room and so the sun streams through, even with thick curtains. So I am now contemplating blackout blinds. But do they make a difference? (Even a little bit of a difference would be nice...)

Nope - unless you buy 1 which will fit over the entire hole in the wall rather than just over the window...

Now if I could link to another thread I would - but in active convos currently there is a thread about wake-to-sleep which gets children out of the early morning waking habit. Have a read and try it before you waste spend your money!

They definitely make it darker, but I can't promise that it'll help your DSs sleep...

Ikea do some pretty cheaply.

I must say I'm rather that he sleeps through in any way shape or form, my 18 month old often still wakes at night (and she's busy changing her waking time from 7 to 5:30).

Good luck!

I have blackout curtain linings in the kids rooms. They really do make a difference both in the morning and getting them to sleep in the evening

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I've always thought blackout blinds were very sensible. They don't do any harm anyway.

But how come he slept longer at granny's? Has SHE got blackout blinds?

Before you buy black out blinds, have a test run first using aluminium foil taped over the glass in the windows. It doesn't look pretty, but is very effective, and if it makes no difference after a week or two, you will know not to waste your money on proper ones (and the really good ones that fit well can be quite expensive).

Hmmm, thanks all, looks like all babies are different then, as per usual!

poorbuthappy - I have seen that thread but at the moment the idea terrifies me. DS has never been a very sleepy baby and once awake he is AWAKE very quickly! Will have a read of it again though...

PuppyMonkey - no, Granny doesn't have blackout blinds but it was darker and didn't face the sunrise. She also has double-glazing which we don't but I don't think it's that as at his other Granny's that didn't make the slightest difference to his early waking.

Made a massive difference to my DCs sleep. I use the blackout blind and then draw the curtains too.

Great tip Astrophe! I am off to rummage through the kitchen cupboards right now...

My dd (1 year) also is & has always been an early riser. We have found that black out blinds in the window recess & then a curtain with a blackout liner have improved things enormoulsy, esecially in these lighter spring/summer months.
Hope you get things sorted.

We have black out blinds and black out curtains and the dc's are good sleepers. I've even gone to the extremes of taping the sides of the blinds down when the light creeps through on very bright summer mornings . But as I don't usually hear from them until 7:30 at the earliest then its worth it.

I have black out curtains in my room and I sleep better for it.

Well, we have lined the windows with tinfoil and so will see what happens tomorrow morning...

(I am slightly worried that the neighbours will report us for setting up a cannabis farm, mind you...)

Artifarti, if you are local to me (SW19) you can have a new IKEA black uot blind for free.

Well, wake up time today was 4.20! Dreadful. The sun wasn't even up! And a complete refusal to go back to sleep no matter what. So I think we can safely say that it's not the light waking him. Suspect it's teething.

So thanks for the kind offer, Malfoy, but not sure it will help us with this one.

They do help - but the light tends to get in around the sides so you need curtains too.

We have doubled up a blackout blind with blackout curtains. Result : ds is now scared of dark. Good luck.