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“Why in the world would you want me to go in and shut your child’s blinds - he’s already asleep!” I silently scoffed to myself as I headed toward the sleeping child’s room. I’d been a professional nanny for many years but had never understood the obsession with dark rooms. In this particular instance, I had forgotten to close the child’s blinds before nap and he had fallen asleep just fine. But when the child’s mom popped in and checked the monitor, she noticed that his room didn’t look as dark it usually did and she was clearly alarmed. I offered to sneak in and shut the blinds, but to be honest, I was surprised that she took me up on my offer.
A few years later, my own baby girl was sleeping wonderfully in a room that was well-lit even with the beautiful sheer curtains drawn. I patted myself on the back and thought how convenient it would be that she wouldn’t need dark rooms to nap in as she grew. I figured that this would make traveling and days at grandma’s house that much easier. But then my daughter hit the four month sleep regression and everything changed. Her naps were suddenly short. She was only making it through one sleep cycle before she would wake crying. And suddenly I found myself wondering if maybe there really was something to this dark room trend after all.
When I became a sleep consultant, I learned that keeping a child’s room very dark can actually work wonders for sleep! Not only does it increase the body’s natural melatonin production at bedtime, but it also promotes great sleep by creating a consistent sleep environment and limiting distractions during sleep times. It’s actually one of the best childhood sleep tips I can give you.
So how dark should the room be? Very dark. Think cave dark. Even very small amounts of light can inhibit the body’s natural melatonin production, so the darker the better! Room darkening curtains often don’t do the trick but blackout shades usually do. This is because room darkening curtains block 95 to 99% of the light whereas blackout shades use a fabric that blocks 100% of the light - I didn’t even know there was a difference until a few years ago. By the way, blackoutEZ is great product if you are looking for the perfect solution for darkening your child’s room!*
Many parents worry that their babies and toddlers will be scared to sleep in very a dark room, but it’s actually not a problem at all until children begin to develop a fear of the dark during their preschool years. When this happens I recommend that you put a dim night light in your child’s room - bonus points if you use night light that uses red light because it has less negative effects on the body’s natural melatonin production than any other type of light.
As a sleep consultant I often recommend that families make their child’s room as dark as they can. And when I think back on that day when I had to sneak into a child’s room to close the blinds after he’d already fallen asleep, I just chuckle because now I am that crazy mom. But you know what? My daughter is a fantastic sleeper so I have no regrets! ;)