Cot mobiles and projectors.
These might be great for entertaining and distracting your little one. But having it moving around above them as they’re trying to nod off can be overstimulating, and actually delay the onset of sleep. Plus, you want your baby to start to associate their cot with sleep and not play time as early as possible. That way the cot itself becomes a great sleepy cue, and helps them to start winding down easier and quicker each time they’re placed there.
Not sure what to do with that adorable cot mobile? Place it over your changing table, a place that you do want to keep your baby distracted and entertained!
Lullabies and music.
Music, singing, and lullabies can be fantastic as a part of a pre-sleep ritual, and when used as a part of a consistent bedtime routine can help signal to your baby that they’re approaching sleep time. But I don’t recommend playing while they’re falling asleep, or during sleep. As the change in rhythm and tones in a song can actually disrupt their sleep, and wake them fully from a lighter sleep phase.
Red night lights.
It’s true that red based lights don’t block the production of melatonin (a sleep hormone that can usually only be produced in the dark). So red night lights can be great for overnight feeds or nappy changes when you need a bit of light. But it’s best to turn these off at settling and sleep times. If you’re trying to help settle your baby to sleep in their cot and they can see you, it can end up overstimulating them more. Plus having any light on overnight means that when they stir between sleep cycles they will wake fully if anything in the room catches their eye. Young babies will find the dark particularly soothing, and children won’t begin to be afraid of the dark (if at all) until after 2 years old.
Did any of these surprise you?
