Ah, sleep — you beautiful, elusive mistress. From the moment our little ones arrive (and TBH earlier for the woman who carried said little one) we pretty much consigned ourselves to a sleepless life. Although the newborn phase is undoubtedly a painful time for sleep, when they hit the toddler years, other sleep issues crop up — particularly ones that involving toddlers hopping out of bed.
A sleep-deprived parent of a toddler will try literally anything to get the little one to bed, gadgets not excluded.
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This sleep training clock might be worth investing in if your toddler is robbing you of sleep on the regular. The idea is that when the ball the puppy is holding glows a red light, it signifies to your toddler that it is still time to stay in bed and stay asleep. When the light turns green, it’s OK to get up.
Parents set the timers for both nighttime and nap time, and believe it or not — they are swearing it works!
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“Our son was born with a heart defect and while we waited for his second open heart surgery at 9 months old we were told not to let him cry much,” one reviewer wrote. “So obviously he developed terrible sleep habits as a result of us catering to his every need and not being able to let him ‘cry it out.’ Now he is 4 years old and he was waking us up 3 times a night! We tried so many things; melatonin, white noise, a baby gate to keep him in his room … nothing has worked.
“We bought this clock and from night one he has not woke us up at night! We can see him on the video monitor sit up in bed a few times a night, look at his puppy and see the ball is still red and he just lays back down! We are hoping eventually he will finally just stay asleep all night but I till then at least we are sleeping all night!”
This genius little clock has helped a few parents establish a steady nighttime routine for kids as young as 2 years old.
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“We love this! When we turn on the red light at night my daughter (almost 2) knows it’s time to get in bed. We read a final book in bed and say goodnight. She stays in bed all night and waits for the light to turn green at 7:00 am. She even waits for us to come in to get her and then pops out of bed and runs over to turn off the green light, which is something she taught us you could do by pushing the button on the dogs foot (you can only turn off the green light from the front not the red light in case you have kids that like to push boundaries).”
And apparently it keeps even the most “adventurous” kiddo in bed.
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“My toddler used to enter my room at 1am, 3am, and 5am. After buying this, he now stays in his own room! I tell him that when the red light is on, Mr Doggy protects him from monsters and the monsters leave. When the light turns green it’s time to wake up. I was shocked that such a simple concept worked.”
Although there were, of course, some negative reviews (some said the red light just kept their kiddos up), overall, parents were really impressed and are swearing by it for their little ones. Because it’s priced at less than $25 — it’s worth a shot.
Psst: If purchasing an item on this list, CafeMom may receive a small cut. Each item and price is up to date at the time of publication; however, an item may be sold out or the price may be different at a later date.
This article was first published on CafeMom and was republished here with permission.