WHY YOUR CHILD NEEDS TO SLEEP IN THE PITCH BLACK! | & Solutions to make it pitch black!
Some parents believe that babies should get used to sleeping in bright and loud places so that they can always sleep on the go. But the reality is that sleeping in those conditions is not going to provide restorative sleep.
Your child NEEDS to sleep in the pitch black.
Here are some reasons why you need to blackout your child’s room:
1. Replicate the environment of the womb.
When you were pregnant, it was pitch black in your belly! I’ve heard parents telling me about nightlights for their infant so that s/he doesn’t get scared, but the reality is that babies don’t get scared. Fear of the dark really only begins around 2.5 years old when your child begins to develop their imagination. Until your child expresses a fear of the dark on their own, then you don’t need to worry about adding a night light.
If and when your child does express a fear of the dark, a red light night light would be the best case scenario, as red light will not cause the brain to stay awake.
2. It will help your newborn with their day and night confusion.
When you’re pregnant, your baby is used to being lulled to sleep all day by your regular daily movement. When you go to sleep at night, your baby is wide awake in the loud, darkness of your womb. Once your baby is born, s/he continues the pattern of nightly wakefulness and sleeping during the day. Over the first few months of life, we work to correct this day vs. night confusion. Brightness during the day will encourage wakefulness and darkness will encourage sleepiness. It’s important to make sure that you make a big deal that morning time is DAY time by opening the curtains and starting to make more noise and doing the exact opposite at night. In the evening, you want to close the blinds and turn off the TV and begin to dim the lights so that your baby can get used to the dark being sleep time.
3. Pitch black will help the brain trigger the production of melatonin.
Around 3 months old, your baby’s body will begin producing melatonin. Melatonin is the sleepy hormone that helps induce sleep and helps your baby fall into more of a regular sleep cycle. When your child is in a dark room, their pineal gland in the brain begins to produce melatonin. On the contrary, when your child is exposed to light, the production of melatonin stops.
4. The light will trigger your baby’s brain to wake up.
As discussed above, the lightness will stop this production of melatonin and will tell your baby’s brain that it is time to wake up. If your child does not have a pitch black room, this can mean your child does not take long, solid naps. It can also mean that you’re dealing with early morning wakings due to light creeping in the bedroom around 4/5am.
5. Blackout rooms will help your baby sleep in later in the morning.
This means your baby will be able to sleep to an acceptable 6-8am time frame. Darkening the bedroom is going to block the light both during the day for naps as well as during those early hours of the morning when sleep is the lightest. Once the morning hits 4am, the brain stops producing melatonin, so if your baby is stimulated to wake up, s/he will have a much harder time falling back asleep. This can cause a vicious cycle of both overtiredness and early morning wakings.
Here are my top blackout solutions:
1. BlackoutEZ Window Covers:
http://www.blackoutez.com/227.html
I love these window covers and I use them in my kids’ rooms. We have never had an issue with naps or early morning wakings because it is literally pitch black in their bedrooms whenever we have the covers up!
2. Black garbage bags over the windows
This is a great option for vacations! Black garbage bags are dark and thick. They block out ALL of the light. Just be sure to bring along some painters tape, too so you don’t have to worry about any damage on the walls.
We used this hack while we were on vacation with the extended family, 12 people in 1 house, and all 5 of my family members sharing one room. We put up the black garbage bags, my in-laws thought I was a crazy obsessed sleep lady (I am, it’s me ?♀️) and we all slept like a dream all week!
3. Aluminum foil over the windows
Not the most adorable option for your beautiful nursery, and it may look insane from the outside, but this is another super affordable option that is also great on the go! The good thing is that you can use aluminum foil over the glass and still cover it up on the inside with your cute blinds and curtains. The best tip I’ve seen about this option is to spray water on the glass first and then spread the aluminum foil over the water and you’re good to go!
4. Black/dark sheets/blankets over the windows
This is another blackout hack I’m proud to say I’ve used before! Although it was UGLY, I wish I had taken pictures because my kids’ rooms were DARK! I threw some blankets up over the curtain rod and used thumbtacks around the window frame to pin them to the walls so there was NO LIGHT coming through. I remember my neighbors asking if I made my kids live in a cave… I proudly responded, “yes, and they sleep like hibernating bears.” ?
On the go blackout solutions:
1. Slumberpod
I wish the Slumberpod had been invented when my kids were younger. Now that they’re preschool and school-age, we don’t use a pack ‘n play anymore, but when we did, I would have LOVED this option. When my youngest was just a year old and my oldest was 2, we took a 12 hour road trip down to North Carolina. We did some camping and some hotel stays and bedtime was always a STRUGGLE. We have gone as far as moving hotel room furniture around so that we could make dividers in the rooms between our kids so that they would go to sleep; otherwise, they would stay up all night playing together.
If you love to travel and have a chance to use a Slumberpod, I highly recommend getting one!
I hope that you found this information useful and helpful!
If you have the perfect sleep environment and your child is still sleep deprived, you may need to implement sleep training strategies.
Not sure if your child is ready for sleep training? Take the quiz to find out!
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If you’re ready to start sleep training, let’s set up a time to chat! Some things to think about when deciding when you want to start sleep training your baby:
- Ensure it’s the proper timing- make sure your baby isn’t sick, you aren’t traveling, or you don’t have any big life changes coming (new baby, moving, switching jobs/childcare, etc.).
- Be prepared to put in the work. Consistency will pay off in the long run. Sleep training isn’t an overnight success; it takes many nights and dedication to help your baby learn to sleep.
- Create a plan or hire me as your sleep consultant for one-on-one help.
Sweet Dreams,
Missy Yandow
