Mommy, Is It Time To Get Up Yet?

How about this for a great idea and why didn’t we think of it first? It could mark the end of a timeless and bothersome problem. Here’s the deal: you’ve finally gotten the baby onto a good sleep schedule and are beginning to remember what it feels like to get a semi-full-night’s sleep.

All’s well and you think you’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel. The bags are starting to disappear from under your eyes, you are able to complete full sentences again and life is definitely looking cheerier. But just when you think you’ve got it made, your baby turns into a toddler and next thing you know, it’s time for a big boy/big girl bed.

So you put the crib in the attic, or hand it off to your pregnant sister, and pretty soon your little man is snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug under his Thomas the Train comforter.

But then–horror of horrors–you find yourself back to square one. Once the bars came down, your child realized he could get up whenever he wanted! He was liberated! And even after you convinced him that once he went to bed, he needed to stay put, he’s at your side poking you in the face at 5:00 a.m. because he doesn’t know when “morning time” actually arrives.

So here’s the good news: some brilliant people, parents we are sure, have invented and marketed a clever night light that shows little ones when it’s time to wake up/get up. The light starts out as a moon, blue and dark to indicate sleepy time, and as the morning breaks, turns to a bright yellow sun. You set a timer so “morning time” can be whatever time you feel is appropriate for your little one to get up.

It’s called the Good Nite Light and we think it’s a winner!

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Ellen and Rachel are two old friends and “expert” mamas—one a pediatrician and one a family therapist—with fifty years of parenting experience between them.

One response to “Mommy, Is It Time To Get Up Yet?”

  1. Moving To The Big Girl’s Bed

    [...] work you may need to set up rules and boundaries about when it’s OK to get out of bed. Take a look at this color-coded clock we wrote about awhile back that may [...]

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