By Clare Fahey, Paediatric Sleep Consultant

Imagination

If you have a child aged 2-5 years you will know that during this time frame their imagination kicks into overdrive. This is what makes dinosaur hunts, camping under the dining table, and fishing with a twig so much fun. It is also unfortunately the reason why nightmares become so prevalent during this time.

Lou the Nightlight

If your child is scared of the dark or thinks there are monsters under the bed you may have been thinking about purchasing a nightlight.

I have had the pleasure of trialling a nightlight called Lou the Owl from ZAZU Kids. This is a cute looking owl perched inside a glowing circle. The circle and the owl are able to be turned on and off separately from each other as well as the lights having a dimming switch. One function of this light that I really like is that it is on a timer that turns off after 30 or 60 minutes, it is also noise activated which means that if your child has a nightmare and cries out during the night, the light will turn back on to its last setting.

Melatonin

Unfortunately the light that I have been trialling has a white outer circle and a grey owl. These colours aren’t ideal for encouraging sleep as they block the bodies production of melatonin (a sleep hormone) This would also be the problem for one of the other colour options which has a blue owl. Better colours for melatonin production are warmer colours like red and orange. There is a pink owl available which would be a better choice.

If I was to use this light for children I would probably only have the owl light turned on at the dimmest setting, as in a dark room this is still quite bright. In saying that though, the outer circle could be used instead of the main bedroom light for getting ready for bed.

If you want a nightlight that will come on if your child wakes up crying, read up on ZAZU Kids’ nightlights.

Not only Lou,  but also Fin and Max, Bo & Katie could come to the rescue!

Disclaimer: ZAZU Kids have sent this product free of charge, but all thoughts and opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way by ZAZU Kids.

Clare Fahey
Paediatric Sleep Consultant
Sleep Harmony NZ Ltd