Gro-clock/lights on timer: success stories and support here! #2

[barbaraz78]

The other option is later bt, if you want to keep the nap. We have a late bt at 9 and ds sleeps 9 pm to 7.45 am (in average), and wu is at 8. We recently went to the sea and he was going to bed later, as 9.15-9.30. At the beginning the wu was even earlier with a late bt, but now wu is moving toward 8.30, and we are having longer nights with later bt, and the nap is still the same. This is because ds is on school holidays and we are sleeping inthe countryside with my parents, so a late wu is possible and the late bt suits us better in these days (and next week we will be ob holoday too, so I will encourage a later wu if I can . Of course, if you want to keep the bt the same this is not an option... The thing is what is more important for you: your evening or the nap break? Both are often not possible at this age.

[TB9]

Hi everyone!

Joining in because DD'd big girl bed is going to be delivered in a couple weeks and I've ordered her a glo-clock as well...hoping the clock will keep her in bed until a decent hour instead of mucking about in her room once she realizes she can get out of bed

She's dropping her nap as well, so I'm hoping she will be sleeping well enough at night and be tired enough to stay in bed.  But if she naps then she usually ends up waking 2-4 times at night, which could be trouble if she can hop out of bed!

Fingers crossed this clock will keep her in bed until I'm ready to get out of bed

[Tweakster]

It's still working for us at 3.5yo lol  Yay for the Gro-clock!  May it work for you too!  However, it does not keep our kid in bed.  It keeps him in his room.  Sometimes you just gotta take what you can get.

[*Becky*]

still works for us too at nearly 4.
I would say though -  be super consistent. Many of our friends IRL say is does not work for them but it is because they go in before the sun is up or let lo's come out before the sun comes up 'sometimes'
You do need to be consistent. Hell, if Finn and Henry can do it there is hope for everyone I think

[cath~]

I would say though -  be super consistent. Many of our friends IRL say is does not work for them but it is because they go in before the sun is up or let lo's come out before the sun comes up 'sometimes'

I agree.  L woke up and needed the loo a few mins before the sun the other day.  I took her to the loo but still put her back to bed afterwards, even though it was only for a minute or less!  At the moment, she totally accepts that she doesn't get up (except to pee) before the sun and, generally, is v keen on doing things 'properly'/the 'right' way.  But if she ever got wind of the idea that sometimes she could get up early, I'm sure that would be the end of it working!

[TB9]

Yeah, I'm finding it difficult to be consistent...I had to wake her earlier than normal on Friday so I set the clock earlier the night before so the sun would be up, but then the next morning she wanted to be up at the same time as friday, lol.  I let her get up because Daddy was up and getting ready to go to work, but I explained that's why she was getting out early. 

I've set the clock for a time that I find acceptable for wakeup, and I will keep it there now!  She slept in today, but because she's dropping her nap I'm expecting that to happen a lot, I just can't predict how much sleep she will need day to day.  She's only napping once every 5/6 days, so she's making up her sleep at night and not able to get into a real routine at this point.  I guess all that matters is that the sun is on the clock when she gets out of bed

[anna*]

Stan's still using his at 5. It's just a clock! Of course he can get out of  bed any time he likes, but when he doesn't have his clock (like if we are away) he has to come ask me if it is morning yet!

[oliversmommy]

Just curious ladies, at what age did you start using the gro clock w/ your LOs?

[anna*]

Stan was 2, maybe a wee bit less

[cath~]

19 months I think

[*Becky*]

22 months.

[clazzat]

We started using lights on a timer for e at 18 months, and have just started using them for x at 17 months. It took both of them three days to get it - the first 2 days I was in the room saying "sh, sleepy time" until the light came on and then making a big fuss about it being time to get out of bed, then day 3 I didn't hear them until the light came on and that was that! X has had his light for a week now, and we have had 2 mornings when he woke up early and sing/cried (but quietly, like he didnt expect me to come) until the light came on, a couple of mornings when I heard him about half an hour before the light came on and then he went back to sleep, and a couple of mornings when I haven't heard anything at all until the light came on. E has been using the lights on a timer for 2.5 years now!

I have never tried making it come on later, though - the way I see it is that the price I pay for not hearing a squeak before 7 every week day is that they are allowed to get up at 7 at the weekends too. Now that the girls are older, we have explained to them that the light is permission to get up but that they don't have to if they feel like sleeping later. Over the holidays and at weekends they have decided not to get up even though the light was on a few times.

[*Ali*]

If Cadan gets up to pee before the sun is up but I am happy for him to get up then I turn the sun on while he is peeing in the bathroom and then let him go back in his room and discover it. I act all surprised when he says it is up. That way he hasn't seemed to click that I am the one turning it on

We started using it about 28mo I think. That was when we moved to a big boy bed and also started dropping the nap. We never has EW before that. We actually have it set for 7.45 now.

[cath~]

The gro clock works fantastically for us but it has one drawback which is that even on the lowest brightness setting, it still sometimes/often wakes L up when the sun comes up.

(NB it's not a huge problem cos we set the sun for an acceptable WU time for us anyway, but sometimes it would be nice if she would sleep in past it w/o it waking her and I feel bad about something waking her when she was still asleep (although presumably only a light sleep for it to wake her and she does sleep in past it sometimes))

Do any of you have this problem too?  Any suggestions on how to solve it?  Is there a different product which doesn't have this problem (not that I really want to buy something else and replace it though. I feel that would be tempting fate..)?

[Tweakster]

Well what we have done is set it beyond the wake time we know he will wake.  So for instance, if she would normally wake at 7 - then set it for 7:15 or even 7:30.  It might even encourage her to stay in her room a while longer.  Finn stays in his room up to an hour at times because Mr. Sun isn't on   Leave her a basket of books or toys or something (you can pop it in when you go to bed at night) and she can play in her room.  On the rare occasion that he has slept through, it has sometimes woken him but it's the exception rather than the norm.  If you find that it's always waking her, I'd move the time out more.