When I won my Philips Wake-Up Light at the MADs last autumn, everyone laughed at the idea that a mum short-listed for the best Baby Blog award could possibly need a light to help them wake slowly and peacefully! They were right. There is nothing more effective than a nearly-two-year-old at getting you out of bed. But, don't dismiss the Wake-Up Light yet... it has its uses as a baby gadget!
From the very first week after Lara was born, I have been on the lookout for a lamp for her room that will dim. At first, I wanted one so that I could breastfeed her in the nursery at night with enough light to see what I was doing but remaining dark enough not to make her wide awake. I bought a touch-on, touch-off lamp from ebay which, with three different light levels, has served us pretty well but the only problem with it is, that in order to switch it off, you have to cycle through the light levels, meaning I have to make the room bright, in order to make it fully dark. Silly.
The Philips Wake-Up light came to the rescue and I have been using it in Lara's bedroom ever since we moved house last year. The idea of the light is that you can set it to slowly come on in the morning and bring your room up to a natural light level slowly, over a period of time until the light will eventually wake you up. Ingeniously, it also works the other way around, you can set it to switch off slowly over time and it gradually gets dimmer and dimmer until it switches off. This is what works for us.
When Lara first moved into a bed from the cot, we had real problems getting her to settle in the evenings. We used the light on a nice bright setting to tempt her upstairs to her bedroom and then set it to switch off over a half-hour period as she wound-down for the night. The slow darkening of the room seems to relax Lara and it means that there isn't a sudden moment when Mummy or Daddy switches out the bedroom light (and the inevitable complaints that this used to bring). We've managed to get the bedtime process down to around 15 minutes which is the shortest timer on which you can put the Philips Wake-Up light.
The Wake-Up light also has a traditional alarm and a radio alarm that you can use (Lara clearly doesn't need an alarm clock yet!).
The light from the Philips Wake-Up light is a different kind of light. It is intended to simulate daylight so I find that the light fills the room much more than a traditional lamp. As it dims, I've noticed that the last two minutes can be a bit flickery but it helps me as I know its just about time for me to leave Lara and hope that she falls asleep!
There are a number of different items in the Wake-Up light range. Some with radio, some with USB or Ipod docks. I really like it as a nursery night light but it will be a good few years before I can benefit from it's natural wake-up ability!
From the very first week after Lara was born, I have been on the lookout for a lamp for her room that will dim. At first, I wanted one so that I could breastfeed her in the nursery at night with enough light to see what I was doing but remaining dark enough not to make her wide awake. I bought a touch-on, touch-off lamp from ebay which, with three different light levels, has served us pretty well but the only problem with it is, that in order to switch it off, you have to cycle through the light levels, meaning I have to make the room bright, in order to make it fully dark. Silly.
The Philips Wake-Up light came to the rescue and I have been using it in Lara's bedroom ever since we moved house last year. The idea of the light is that you can set it to slowly come on in the morning and bring your room up to a natural light level slowly, over a period of time until the light will eventually wake you up. Ingeniously, it also works the other way around, you can set it to switch off slowly over time and it gradually gets dimmer and dimmer until it switches off. This is what works for us.
When Lara first moved into a bed from the cot, we had real problems getting her to settle in the evenings. We used the light on a nice bright setting to tempt her upstairs to her bedroom and then set it to switch off over a half-hour period as she wound-down for the night. The slow darkening of the room seems to relax Lara and it means that there isn't a sudden moment when Mummy or Daddy switches out the bedroom light (and the inevitable complaints that this used to bring). We've managed to get the bedtime process down to around 15 minutes which is the shortest timer on which you can put the Philips Wake-Up light.
The Wake-Up light also has a traditional alarm and a radio alarm that you can use (Lara clearly doesn't need an alarm clock yet!).
The light from the Philips Wake-Up light is a different kind of light. It is intended to simulate daylight so I find that the light fills the room much more than a traditional lamp. As it dims, I've noticed that the last two minutes can be a bit flickery but it helps me as I know its just about time for me to leave Lara and hope that she falls asleep!
There are a number of different items in the Wake-Up light range. Some with radio, some with USB or Ipod docks. I really like it as a nursery night light but it will be a good few years before I can benefit from it's natural wake-up ability!
