2 1/2 Yr Old and Nightlight

Hi J.,

My daughter has a nightlight in her room and has been in her "big girl" bed 4+ months now. At first she took it out a few times, but then lost interest and leaves it alone now. She sometimes will take her books to the light to read when she wakes up in the morning, so it even provides a little entertainment! I think technically there is a risk of them sticking their finger in the socket, but once it becomes just a normal, boring part of the room that risk gets very small. Maybe at first you could monitor her in the room with the light to see how she reacts and then leave her alone more as you get comfort she'll do OK. Good luck! - J.

She will play with it. I found my daughter with the night light light bulb in her mouth she had bit into it. Luckily none of the glass cut her. Boy was I freaked out.
She also would unplug and plug it back in.
Follow one of the other ideas.

We live in an area near farms, and there are no streetlights, and thus the dark at night is pitch black, no ambient light coming in from outside, etc. So one could easily stumble and get hurt getting up during the night. We have a dim light on in the kitchen all night, and a small nightlight in the bathroom, all of which lead to the hallway by our bedrooms. But even though we keep our son's door open at night, and with these lights, his room was still too dark, and sleep was more important that whether his room was pitch dark or not. He received a Spongebob lamp with a cord at age 3, that is made of colored yellow plastic with the small night lite bulb up inside the character's body. I can hardly remove the bulb myself, and the cord goes behind the dresser to a plug that he can't reach. He's never shown any desire to play with that. I've seen similar ones for girls as well. I think that age will allow them to outgrow the need for the nightlite. Good luck!

I bought a light and use a 15watt incandescent bulb. I couldn't find a plug in an area that she could see, I had blocked them all so that she couldn't get hurt. The light sits ontop of a high dresser and has a thick shade, and a black towel on part of it.

Hi J.,

I use a plug in night light in my son's room. I started using one when he was a baby, because it allowed me to check in on him without having to turn the room light on. I like the one by Vicks, because it has the blue lights and it doesn't make the room to bright. Also, when has a cold you can use the vapor inserts. I taught him early on that he does not touch the light or the outlets. Before I would remove the light during the day and only put it in when he was ready to go to bed. He is now 3 1/2 years old and doesn't bother it at all. We also use a sensor plug in light that doesn't come on unless it is dark in the living room just so if he does happen to get up to come into our room he doesn't trip over anything in the dark.

Can you get a little battery operated light and set it up high for a night light? AF

They have battery powered night-lights. I would have one in her room, turned off, as a back-up, in case the batteries go on one during the night, she can turn on the other one.

IF she doesn't want a light, she doesn't need one. I purposely kept lights out of my kids' rooms, and they have never asked for them (my oldest is 5 1/2 yrs). I have nightlights in the halls, near the stairs, and in the bathroom because of the falling hazards there. But I feel secure that there are no risks to her getting out of bed and opening her door to come to my room or go potty. I didn't want my kids to rely on anything in particular for sleeping - no nightlights and no blackout curtains, and I feel it lets their internal clock guide their sleep. But certainly if she has some fears, it is probably better to have one for at least awhile.

You could also look at a very small decorative lamp that could be plugged behind furniture and use a low watt bulb. Or get a battery operated light (like the adhesive mount kind) - just keep it out of reach so she can't get to the batteries.

Our daughter does not use a night light but here are a few suggestions....

1. Cloud b Twilight Constellation Night Light - $24.95 (amazon.com). I have this for my daughter and have to say, up until now (I bought this before she was born), I was disappointed in it. It does glow in three different colors, but does not have any 'off' switch. It displays constellations onto the ceiling but to me, it looks just like stars. That being said, my daughter has taken a recent interest in this (she's 2 years 3 months). I let her put it in bed with her and it turns off on it's own. This would eliminate cords and fear of the plug!
2. Target carries (in their toddler/kids room section) these funny shaped nightlights that almost look like blobs but they light up and are safe for kids to hold.

I like that my daughter doesn't have a nightlight because then it's dark in there and she's not tempted to play or anything. She knows her room is for sleeping.

On a different note, I have a few plugs in my daughter's room that do not have the protectors in it and she has never played with them, but they are hidden.

Our kids do not have a night light in their room, but they doo have the lamp and monitor plugged in. I bought and really prefer the automatic closing plug covers for any area that is either used alot like where I plug in the vacume (so that I don't have to constantly remember where I put the cover) or for all plugs that the kids can get to without me seeing them (i.e. thier room, play area). This way if they unplug something the plug gets covered immediately and they cannot play with it. Here is an example but you can get them in stores sometime(cost is higher) or at amazon.com(cost less last time I checked): http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId....

Saftey First makes a nightlight that screws into the wall, and has a childproof outlet cover built in. It also is dimable and programbale to come on only with movement. This was three years ago though. It's worth checking into!

My eldest and middle kid share a room and they don't like being in the dark completely , we don't have night lights but what I do is leave the light on in the closet in the room and leave the doors open a tiny bit so some but not all the light comes out.

We have a "Twilight Turtle" that we sit in the center of my son's room. It puts the constellations onto the ceiling and walls and stays lit for 45 mins.

In the crib, we have a glow seahorse that stays on in 5 min increments.

Otherwise, we don't have a nightlight in his room.

J.,

This is the light we have (although ours doesn't have the dimmer options), and I really like it.

http://www.amazon.com/Safety-1st-48309-Bright-Sensor/dp/B...

At pottery barn, they have soft plastic nightlights that have a soothing color-changing light. My kids each sleep with one and can squeeze it in their hands. You have to recharge them each day, but I just keep the charger plugged in on a high shelf. And they have different animal shapes -- we have a pig and a penguin, and it is a great treat for them to be able to choose which one they want.

night lights are not good for sleep cycles. When my son went through this phase, I put one in the bathroom outside his room, then he could see the light under his door and I could always crack his door as well. I was able to control how much light he got by closing the bathroom door more when we went to bed. He outgrew this need and now at 4.5, he sleeps in the pitch dark. My daughter is 15 months and in the dark. I'm sure she will go through the same thing and I will use the same strategy when she does! Getting the constellation things works too because they shut off. However, if she wakes in the early morning after it is off, you will have the same problem. Good luck!

We put those glow in the dark stars and moon on the ceiling of our son's bedroom. If you leave the light on for a few minutes before bedtime they give off a pretty good glow.

Another option could be one of those lights that are battery powered and you push to turn on. I'm not certain if there are different levels of brightness for those though.

I use a night light that plugs in. We got a child safe one from One Step Ahead but I don't see it on their website. Consider the "Twilight Turtle" (Item #: 14023) for $29.95 from One Step Ahead... or similar items. It runs on batteries and has an auto shut off after 45min. We started with the child safe one (attaches to the outlet so kids can't remove it) and then switched to regular plug in lights when they were a little older. We also have pretty stained glass turtle night lights (used to be sold at Kirklands, not sure anymore) that they love because it gives off a pretty colored glow. My youngest has a light up Frosty snowman that rotates colors and she loves it... but I have to turn it off at night. Good luck.

I've never had any child play with a night light. But i don't use night lights i don't believe children are afraid of the dark i believe giving them a night light is only giving them light to do things at night they have no need doing. I swear I've seen kids with them up playing at night or getting up when they are supposed to be sleeping. But my sister uses reg. night lights and none have ever been played with.

We use the little round battery operated things you stick on the wall. I think they were originally intended for closets without lights. Anyway, it uses 3 AAA batteries and if we remember to turn it off in the morning each set lasts 1-1 1/2 weeks. I put it up high on the door so only mommy and daddy can reach it.

check out the tykelight. we have one and i'm pretty happy with it.

go to leaps and bounds website and search for tykelight.

We leave the bathroom light on with the door open in the hallway so there's a little light that comes into the room; we leave our daughter's door cracked a little..and then she can find the bathroom at night when she needs it as well. Before we go to bed, we make sure the bathroom door is only cracked a little so there's not too much light coming out, but once her eyes get adjusted at night, if she wakes up to use the bathroom she can see it just fine.