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Old November 22nd 03, 02:59 AM
ChrisScaife
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Default Light so toddler can look around at night?

My son used to go to sleep with a quiet story.

Then he went thru a phase of being frightened by the dark, so we got him one
of those lava lamps and he would go to sleep watching the endless bubbles
rising and falling. It wasn't very bright, so we just left it on... Mind a
timer switch could have been used.
Thinking about toys OTOH might get a child lively and make them want to get
up and play.

Our boy would sleep in darkness as long as he had a torch handy: Sadly the
teacher had told about rats knawing at people's flesh in the context of
Florence Nightingale and this made him afraid a rat would come in when it
was dark. I think if your child is afraid of the dark you have to let them
grow out of it and not try to force them. It's psychological. Just knowing
that he can switch on light when he wants might be enough.

"Kooky45" wrote in message
om...
Until recently my 2 year old son has been a perfect baby; we put him
to bed at around 8pm and he would sleep quietly right through to 8am.
Now though he's up and restless until nearly 9pm (perhaps we need to
cut out his afternoon nap) and when we put him to bed he lies awake
screaming for about 15 mins before dropping off to sleep. Once asleep
though we don't hear from him again until 8am. I'm not particularly
bothered about this as during the day he really enjoys playing with us
and obviously doesn't like being put to bed now.

My mum however (my son's grandmum) says that as the baby is lying
awake for longer at night, we should put a small light in his room so
he can look around and play with toys in his cot until he goes to
sleep. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. I prefer him to
sleep in darkness if he can and also so that we don't have to disturb
him by going in later and turning the light off.

Who do you think is right? My mum who says we should have a dim light
in the room so my son can see around before going to sleep, or me who
thinks near darkness helps get the baby to sleep and is better during
the night anyway?

Thanks,

Ken