Dark room for naps?

[Baby Nanny]

So, my older charge just moved to a new bedroom and it is DARK because the room has roller bamboo blinds, then curtains with block out lining.  He slept AWFULLY as a baby and toddler, especially with our early morning sun (4am  ) in the summer and now that he has a dark room, he sleeps 12 hours a night and a good 90 - 120 minute nap over lunchtime.  We went on holiday to Greece in July last yr and had block out on the windows there and had GREAT 12 -13 hr nights with no waking and 2 - 3 hour naps each day, got back home after 2 weeks and back to 40 minute naps and 9 - 10 hour broken nights. That's why I'm convinced the dark room had something to do with it.

The new baby will be sleeping in toddlers old room (toddler quite chuffed about this lol) but it isn't nearly as dark.  There is block out lining, but because it's a bay window, light creeps in the sides and over the top.  I'm worried (probably needlessly so ) that this baba won't sleep well either.  I'm trying to figue out a way of making the room dark apart from putting a blanket over the curtains and along the top rail - mom and dad don't like it, looks messy. 

Any ideas?  Or any way to make baby sleep in a light room?

Tx
Sarah

[owelley]

You could use something to darken the roo,.  foil on the windows is good but looks tacky.  An extra curtain or a darker one perhaps??  It's even possible that he'll be ok with sleeping in a light room.  In my opinion...

[notenoughshelfspace]

My baby's room is not that dark at all it just has venetian blinds so light creeps in from everywhere ad she was born in April so the nights were light. She is ( touch wood) a fantastic sleeper; 11.5 hours a night since 8 weeks and fantastic naps; went from 4 hours a day when she was really small to three and now to  2.5. SO I am not sure the light will solve your potential problems.....

[chell]

In a way it would be good if your new lo learnt to sleep in a room which isn't completely dark (or completely quiet for that matter), so if you are out and about you may have a chance of them sleeping on the go. They are all different, and I do think it's a bit of trial and error. You may be pleasantly suprised. I'd give it a go as it is and see what happens. If the sleep is not going well - alter this bit, maybe by hanging the heavy curtains to see if it makes a difference then you will know whether to make permenant alterations.
Let us know how you get on.

[Psmum]

My lo is exactly the same as your little boy, we have got a blackout blind up, blackout linings on the curtains and still we have to put a rolled up blanket on top of curtain rail so that light doesn't get in! We have tried to get her used to sleeping in a light room before and it just didn't happen! she would also have catnaps and wake at the crack of dawn, like you i have also been criticised by family and friends but i figure if she is to have longer naps etc in a dark room compared with catnaps in a light room leading to an extremely grumpy baby then i know would i choose. 

[KellyC]

We too have blackout blinds behind the curtains as well as a blanket hung up but it's still not that dark.  Let us know if you find a tidy solution!  Psmum, I can't believe you've been criticised for letting your LO sleep in a dark room - think of all the other awful things you could be doing?!!

Kelly x

[katriona]

We've used tinfoil before, but it doesn't look that tidy. When we moved into our new house in January though, I really didn't care what the neighbours thought, and even covered the windows of our "camp-out" room with plain old cardboard.

At the moment we have curtains made with a blackout lining (thanks Grandma!), but even that wasn't enough. So I went to Office Depot and bought pieces of black foamboard, like kids use for their school projects and presentations, and carefully cut that to the size of our window panes. It was a little finicky, but does block out most of the sunlight. The fit is so snug that they stay in by themselves, but I do have a couple of pieces of reinforcing sellotape, as a couple of pieces fell down mid-nap. (I heard them fall on the monitor, but surprisingly DS didn't awake!)

The Brits need to speak to their Mums and Grandmas. What did they do during the blitz? They had to black out their windows completely then!

Katriona

[Baby Nanny]

I'm probably worrying for nothing at the moment - Typical lol.  it's just that studies have shown that children sleep much better and enter a proper deep sleep in darkness (the brain produces melatonin in the dark only which causes people to sleep properly)  I agree about being able to sleep in light rooms, totally understand the reasoning behind that.  I'll see how it goes anyway, nothing much I can do about it at the moment 

[taylorbean]

Hi Baby Nanny!

My touchy baby naps in a light room, it doesn't bother her for naps but it does for bedtime since the days have become longer. She has a light blankie that she sleeps with and she ends up pulling that over her face to block out her visual stimulation on her own and has nice long sleeps.

I think it could go either way, it's nice to have a dark room to sleep in, on the other hand, it may help the baby to distinguish nap time from nighttime, I guess you have to go with what works for the lo.