How dark should my baby's room be?
15th May 2023
You’ve probably heard about how important a dark room is for your child’s sleep. But do you know how dark is dark enough? And why?
Lets get into it!
As a rule about 8/10 darkness is ideal for most sleep environments. That’s dark enough that you can see your hand in front of your face once your eyes adjust.
What’s crucial is stopping the OUTSIDE light from creeping in during the early hours; THATS what signals our body to stop producing melatonin, (which tells us to stay asleep) and start producing cortisol (which tells us to wake up).
Black out blinds are great for blocking out daylight. I mean the type that stop ANY light coming in around the corners. So think; roller blind PLUS curtains. PLUS potentially blackout film that you can stick on the glass such as this.
Here’s some more age specific info to help you navigate through the darkness and into the light when it comes to this topic!
Newborns:
For Newborns, who don’t yet have a body clock, having darkness at night is key to helping them start to tell night from day. What may surprise you is that a lighter room for naps is also good for teaching their body night from day; naps aren’t driven by body clock but by a need to sleep (called “sleep pressure” to be precise) so total darkness isn’t necessary. Lighter rooms for naps actually help the cause of differentiating day and night!
Older babies and toddlers:
All the above still holds true EXCEPT your little one is getting curious and easily distracted. This is why you sometimes hear advice to have a very dark room for naps for this age group. Its more to help block out visibility of exciting and distracting things than for any other reason! So whilst not absolutely necessary for sleep, a dark room for naps is certainly beneficial if your little bundle is excited by their environment!
Toddlers and Children;
As your child gets older, they develop really active imaginations and with that comes fear of the dark, nightmares and separation anxieties. To help with these things, a nightlight can be really useful. Look at red / amber colours like this as these are more conducive to sleep. Blue and white lights are too close to daylight and therefore can actually signal to your baby to wake up!
I hope you found these little snippets of info useful. If you struggle with early risers and nap resisters or newborns who just don't know night from day yet, making adjustments to the lighting could be the very thing needed to help get them sleeping more soundly!
Let me know if you put any of this advice into practice and if it works for you! And if it doesn't, you can always book in a discovery call with me and we can look at what might be causing your child difficulties with their sleep!
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