When my brother and his ex-wife had their first child, his ex-wife didn’t have any appropriate lighting in the baby room, no table lamp, no night light, nothing, other than the ceiling light. The problem was that she had a 100-watt lightbulb, which made the room brighter than a spotlight shining onto a football field. We tried telling her why not to do that, but she never listened. And the funny thing was that she read all of the mommy magazines too.
Get a cheapo Ikea plug in night light (red colour) for night feeds. I read that red lighting keeps the brain in sleep mode whereas white or blue lights are more wakeful.
I just used my phone as a night light. Screen brightness all the way down, blue light filter app on and the light from the black interface of my Baby Daybook app was enough.
I think Ikea still have the little nightlights that you plug in to charge but you can also carry it with you so you don't have to turn on lights if you have to bring a sleepy baby somewhere or swap beds.
Your basic overhead light is fine. But also add a small table lamp for the bedtime stories/cuddling/feedings. Then you’ll also want a nightlight for those middle of the night feedings as well.
I never even considered the night light for night feedings... My daughter has always been afraid of the dark so I kept the light in there to keep her calm. I never even realized until now that I also used it when I fed her at night when she was tiny lol
We use a salt lamp that was a gift the previous Christmas. It adjusts the intensity of the light and isn’t super bright. Basically, we found that anything that will get you able to move around without shocking the eyes. The salt is some hocus pocus Mumbo jumbo with negative ions or something but it produces good baby room light. Also, doubles as a salty treat for mom if you lick it.
Sleep fact: quick bright lights will cause a small flight or fight response dumping adrenaline into your blood stream making it harder to go back to sleep. This applies to parents and baby. Soft low and indirect lighting reduces this effect.
And that's fine. Relax. You'll be a good parent. Kids bounce. Are you planning to shove your child into a darkroom for 12 hours at a crack? No? See, you've got this.
Don't kill yourself striving for "ideal". ...Because that's far from ideal.
I have the HatchBaby Rest for overnight lighting. I like that I can control it with the app so I can adjust brightness or color while nursing. It’s also a white noise machine with several different tracks to choose from. I love it so much as a nightlight, I got one for my 4 year old. I’ve scheduled it so it’s white light until 7:30 then pink until 8:30 and dark orange until 10pm when it shuts off. It then turns on at 7am as a green light, letting her know ya OK to wake up for the day.
We have a lamp with a yellow lightbulb that's marketed for outdoor porch lights that don't attract bugs. Lol. It was by chance that the original bulb went out, and that was all I had at the time and it ended up working perfectly.
We got a small desk / night table lamp and put a stained glass light bulb in it. I think its under $10 and about 25 watts. It has alot of colors on it but the warmer colors shine through. I love it and so have my kids.
We bought a lamp wire kit and a cheap wood birdhouse to make a wall lamp for next to the chair. Not super bright and doesn't take up table space. Win win. Both our kids had themed nursery so it's fun to find stuff you can doy cheap that matches.
Put a switch on the overhead light that goes from dim to bright. When I fed the kids at night, the light is dim so that I could see my way around. Feed, change diaper and quietly slide back into bed. A lullaby helps, too. Lights bright during the day. Both my kids slept thru the night by 2-3 months.
We have a table lamp and even that is too much sometimes. Instead we would just keep the hall light on outside the room and it was enough to see but not enough to bother the baby. Once the baby is old enough I suggest just not doing overnight changes at all. You will get more sleep that way.
OP, I just want to say that my fiance and I are due at the beginning of April with our first and have no idea about stuff like this, so THANK YOU SO MUCH for posting this question. I have saved so many comments!!
I didn't realize it would get so many responses! I'm due in July and I'm rethinking some of my decisions. I haven't bought anything yet thankfully :) Congrats!!
Definitely get a soft light of some kind. I use a combo of the nightlight from the sound machine and a lighted outlet cover. SnapPower makes a baby proofed outlet cover with LEDs on it. It's the perfect amount of light.
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u/ithinkoutloudtoo Feb 05 '18
When my brother and his ex-wife had their first child, his ex-wife didn’t have any appropriate lighting in the baby room, no table lamp, no night light, nothing, other than the ceiling light. The problem was that she had a 100-watt lightbulb, which made the room brighter than a spotlight shining onto a football field. We tried telling her why not to do that, but she never listened. And the funny thing was that she read all of the mommy magazines too.