"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?



There are reports of studies where they show that the use of lights in the
sleeping rooms of very young children [I think it was up to age three]
damages their vision. I don't recall the details off-hand, but someone here
with a few more minutes than I have tonight might. Due to that the
researchers were recommending very low light levels in infant and toddler
bed rooms and, if needed, use of lights on timers and low settings so that
they would not stay on for long periods.

Kids do go through various stages where they may want lights on at night.
My DS is one of those. I learned that using colored light bulbs, such as
dark green and dark blue, were fun for him and gave very low light levels
that still met his need to scare away the monsters. Another possible
alternative, depending on how your house is set up, is to leave the hallway
light on with the child's door somewhat open, allowing some light to spill
into the room. If it doesn't fall onto his face/bed, it will certainly be
enough light to address monsters.

your child, otoh, appears to be just learning to fall to sleep without
assistance. Use of a night light may not be indicated at this time. I
don't think I'd add a light unless the child were actively expressing fears
of the dark or starting night time toilet training.

-Aula
--
see my creative works on ebay under aulame123