Making Baby's Room {Super} Dark: A Few Ideas

I'd realized that Lila's room needed to be super dark for her to sleep well (which was of my own accidental doing, yes). I'd also realized that the black guitar blanket, though effective at blocking out the light, wasn't doing the décor in Lila's room any favors. So I started researching my room-darkening options.

Option 1: Blackout Curtains (Purchased or DIY'ed)
Perhaps the most obvious option, no? I found several options available, like these curtains at Target. But, honestly, I couldn't find any I loved that looked okay with what I already had going on in Lila's room (not that the black quilt did)--and I didn't want to shell out the $$ for something I didn't really like.

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I did find this tutorial to make your own blackout curtains--and then was super disappointed when I found out Joann's no longer carried the fabric line my mom had used to make Lila's bedding. Sad day for me, yes. If I find a coordinating fabric, I still may make curtains. You know, in all my free time.

Option 2: Window Film
I didn't know window film was a thing (beside window tinting for cars) but apparently it is. Ryan, my go-to resource for researching any purchase, found mainly really good reviews: the film blocked out light well, reduced heat, etc. Home Depot and Wal-Mart both carried a 3 ft. x 6.5 ft. roll for only $16.87, so we decided to give it a go. We purchased a roll of Gila 3 ft. x 6.5 ft. Black Privacy Window Film. The film is simple yet somewhat annoying to hang up. First we cleaned the window (easy). Then we cut the film to size (easy again). We sprayed the window with water (use A LOT) (and easy again), then stuck the film on (easy). The difficult part came when we tried to smooth all the bubbles out of the film. Yikes. There are still bubbles, but luckily, the blinds in the room cover the bubbles so I don't have to look at them every day.

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We hung the film at night, so had to wait until the next morning to see how well it worked. The picture below is a pretty accurate portrayal of light levels, though somewhat deceiving due to my lack of photography skills (picture Lila's room just a touch lighter). The office and Lila's face the same way and have the same blinds installed--the only difference is the window film. Impressive, no? The film did help with heat reduction, as well. (By the way, don't mind the messy office. Who has time to clean their office just for a picture of lightness levels? Not this girl.)

The next day, though, Lila's naps were horrible. And the day after that. And the day after that. I held strong for a while, knowing that it takes time to break habits--but finally I gave up. Ryan hung a blanket between the window and the blinds and guess what? Long naps once again. At least you can't really see the blanket now! I do think that if Lila weren't used to such a dark room, the film would have darkened the room sufficiently for her to nap well. Note to self: next time, darken the room with film, not a blanket, from the beginning.

Option 3: Whatever you have on hand

You may not want to invest any money into darkening the room, especially if you aren't sure a dark room is the reason behind your child's sleep problems. I have heard (sorry, no first hand experience) that tinfoil and cardboard are both excellent at blocking light. Or you could go with the blanket over the window method, like me. Maybe that will become a trend, right?

Hopefully reducing the light in your child's room will help him or her sleep longer--it certainly worked for me!

What Worked for Me: Making the Baby's Room (SUPER) Dark

To start this post off, let me direct you to My Baby Sleep Guide's Top Sleep Tips Post. This post is seriously life changing--or at least it was for me.

Sleeping Reed, three days old

Two weeks after Lila was born, we moved (great timing, I know). The house we moved into had zero window coverings and, well, we live in the desert so it's essentially bright all day long. Lila's room was one of the worst as far as brightness-factor goes. Ryan was at the beginning of busy season (he's a tax guy) and I was two weeks postpartum and trying to keep three small children alive, so window coverings were not extremely high on our priority list. So we did what anyone would do: we nailed a blanket over Lila's window. Her room was instantly uber-dark.

A full month later, we had family coming in town who were kind enough to help Ryan install the blinds we purchased the day before they came. Blanket down, blinds up, check. That weekend, there were a lot of people who wanted to hold Lila (of course)--they were meeting her for the first time. So when her naps started to be an issue after everyone left, I just assumed she was used to being held. However, despite my best efforts, her naps kept getting shorter and shorter until she was only napping for 30 minutes at a time. I tried everything, to no avail.

I read My Baby Sleep Guide's Top Sleep Tips Post yet again and the part that explains creating a good sleep environment--including a dark room--slapped me in the face, essentially. The new blinds? Yes, they blocked out light, but not nearly as effectively as the blanket had. Ryan re-hung the blanket over the blinds when he got home that night. The next day, each of Lila's naps were at least 1.5 hours long. Hallelujah.

So there you have it. Perhaps it's a little ridiculous, but I'm willing to make the room super dark to get my baby to sleep. Have you tried anything crazy to get your baby to sleep? Does your baby need a dungeon-like darkness to stay asleep?

Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll highlight a few slightly less ghetto options to help darken the room.

What Worked for Me: Noise maker (or that time I realized I had been wrong all along)

Before we had kids, Ryan and I thought that noise makers were a little bit weird and a lot annoying. So with Reed, we didn't buy a noise maker. When Reed was about eight months old, I happened to mention that I thought Reed would like one of those light-up things that plays music for 15 minutes or so, then turned off. Ryan's mom was on her way to the store and happened to pick one up for me. She's awesome like that (Seriously, I wasn't looking for her to buy it for me--she just knew I wanted one and got one for us!) Reed's "fishie songs," as they were lovingly referred to, were our only form of noise maker.

When Asher came along, we didn't pull out the "fishie songs" right away. We did around 7-8 months, and he liked them well enough. We do happen to live in the desert, so once summer hit, we put a box fan in his upstairs room so he wouldn't melt during nap time. Fast forward a few months to late fall, when we took the box fan out. Asher suddenly started napping poorly. And I realized that I had inadvertently turned his box fan into a noise maker. I didn't want a fan blowing air around his room in winter, so we weaned him off the noise--by first putting the fan in the doorway, with the door ajar, then in the hall right outside the door, with the door shut, to finally a little down the hall from his room, and then turned it off all together.

When Lila was born, I again didn't want to buy the noise maker. But when she started napping poorly and I started trouble-shooting, one thing that I concluded was that perhaps a noise maker would help her. He brothers are not exactly quiet. First we tried the "fishie songs"--in addition to playing songs, they play a water-like white noise. But once the white noise turned off, she immediately woke up. I tried downloading a white noise app on my phone and it actually helped--but I was tired of having my phone with her during every nap. So I gave in. We bought a noise maker and put it in Lila's room. (Side note: A white noise machine is also one of My Baby Sleep Guide's Top Sleep Tips.) And guess what? That noise maker, coupled with a darker room, helped Lila start taking longer naps.

So I was wrong. A noise maker for baby? Not weird. And actually not too annoying--the noise maker has helped me sleep better, too, even hearing it through the monitor. Who knew?

Sleep Props (or that time we quit the pacifier cold turkey)

I've got three different scenarios for you--have you experienced anything similar?

Scenario 1: Lila, age six months, is falling to sleep calmly in her bed, happily sucking away on her pacifier. As she eases into a deeper sleep, her sucking slows until...out pops the pacifier. All is well for a few minutes until she stirs, doesn't have the pacifier, and wakes up. Soon she starts crying and won't fall asleep again until I reinsert the pacifier--at which point she (generally falls right back to sleep). Repeat five times. In the middle of the night.

Scenario 2: I'm rocking Asher, age four months, to sleep--he won't fall asleep by himself in bed yet. He soon falls asleep, but I keep rocking because if I quit too soon, he'll soon be awake again. About fifteen minutes later, when I'm positive he's completely out, I slowly walk toward his bed, still rocking, but slowing down a little. I carefully lower him into his crib, careful not to make any quick movements or loud noises (or noises at all), and...success. I turn around to leave the room and am just reaching for the door handle when he starts crying. And won't stop until I pick him up again, spend fifteen minutes calming him down, fifteen more getting him to sleep, and fifteen more deciding if I should try putting him in bed again.

Scenario 3: Reed, age two months, has fallen asleep at the end of a nursing session (as planned). When I'm sure he's asleep, I carefully break his latch, give him the pacifier when he fusses, then put him into his crib. Within five minutes he's awake again and won't go back to sleep until I give in and re-latch him. At which point he falls asleep...until we break the latch again.

What do these scenarios have in common (beside a frustrated mom)? All three babies (yes, all mine) are relying on a sleep prop to get them to sleep.

What is a sleep prop?
Ah, sleep props. Truthfully, I hadn't heard the term "sleep prop" until my third baby came along. So what is a sleep prop? A sleep prop is something a baby uses to fall asleep that she isn't able to provide for herself. Some common sleep props are nursing to sleep, rocking, bouncing, driving in the car, etc. Sleep props can be any number of things, though. What's the problem with sleep props? A sleep prop will help a baby to fall asleep initially but, generally, the baby will wake up soon after the sleep prop is removed and will be unable to fall asleep by herself.

Using a sleep prop is an easy habit to fall into and may not seem like a problem at first. You may be able to use the sleep prop for a few days or even weeks without a problem. But, with the majority of babies, sleep props become a detriment to sleep and don't tend to improve without assistance.

Transitioning away from sleep props
What becomes a sleep prop for one baby might not be a problem for another. For example, Reed and Asher both used pacifiers to fall asleep, but were (generally) fine once they spit the pacifier out. I remember going to give each boy his pacifier in bed maybe a handful of times, total. Lila, on the other hand, refused to fall back to sleep if she didn't have her pacifier. One night she woke up literally every hour through the night, in need of her pacifier. The next day, we decided we were bidding the pacifier farewell. We went cold turkey, because I couldn't think of an effective "gentle" way to lose the sleep prop (if I let her use the pacifier while I rocked her, then took it away before putting her into her bed to fall asleep, things would turn ugly--fast). I was surprised to find that though Lila took a while to fall asleep the first night sans-pacifier, once she did fall asleep she slept through the night. For the first time, ever. She took a little longer to fall asleep for her naps the next day (about 15-20 minutes as opposed to about 5), but the second night she slept through the night, again. The second day for naps was a little better, and by the third day she was falling asleep within about 10 minutes. We took the pacifier away three weeks ago and Lila has slept through the night every night since then. Pretty good for a baby who previously woke at least 2-3 times a night!

There are other, more gentle ways to transition away from sleep props. If your baby is used to being rocked or bounced to sleep, you could try rocking or bouncing him until he is very drowsy, but not asleep, then putting him into bed. You could decrease the amount of rocking time each night, until you are only briefly rocking before putting him into bed and he is falling asleep by himself.

Transitioning away from sleep props will likely require some kind of sleep training. Your baby won't just suddenly start falling to sleep and staying that way by herself! There are many approaches to sleep training--and no, not all of them involve crying. Cry-It-Out Methods include Ferber (Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems) and Ezzo (On Becoming Babywise), among others. A few gentle methods include Hogg (The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer) and  Pantley (The No-Cry Sleep Solution). There are, of course, many different methods of sleep training, so you should choose whatever works best for your family. Know that while you are working to remove sleep props, you are in for a rough 3-5 days--but it will be worth it in the end!

Transitional Objects
A great alternative to sleep props for older babies is a "transitional object" such as a small stuffed animal or a blanket. The object stays in bed with baby, so if he wakes up during the night he can easily find the object and use it to soothe himself back to sleep. (Please note that young babies should not have anything in the crib because of suffocation hazards.)

The Baby Whisperer's "Four S" Pre-nap Routine: What it Looks Like for Me

(Sleeping Lila, 5 Months Old)

Have you heard of the "Baby Whisperer"? Before I had my third baby, I had heard nary a whisper of her. But when the term "Baby Whisperer" started popping up on my two favorite baby sleep blogs, I knew I needed to find out who this Baby Whisperer was and to read her book so I could understand her full method. The Baby Whisperer is a woman named Tracy Hogg who knows a lot about baby sleep. (You can find her two books here and here.) I really liked both books but, honestly, they are a little bit wordy, so I will summarize a few of my favorite Baby Whisperer methods in the next few posts.

One of the best things I got from the Baby Whisperer was the Four S pre-nap routine. I know that everyone has a different pre-nap routine that they swear by, but this routine is a great general routine that could be personalized by pretty much anyone. Here are the basics:

1. Set the Stage: Setting the stage essentially means giving baby cues that bedtime or nap time is coming. If you use the same cues every time, baby will associate those cues with nap time and when those cues come will start preparing to sleep and won't be surprised to find herself in her crib. How do I set the stage? I'm glad you asked. I take Lila into her room, turn on her noise maker, and turn off the light. Boom. Stage set.

2. Swaddle: Lila girl loves her swaddle. After the stage is set, I swaddle her tightly. My current favorite swaddler is the SwaddleMe. The SwaddleMe is perfect for summer because it's so lightweight, and Lila generally can't unwrap herself super quickly, enabling her to fall asleep more easily.

3. Sit: This step was confusing to me when I read a summary of the step on a sleep blog. At first, I thought Hogg meant to have the baby sit on your lap and just kind of hang out--which seemed weird. After reading the books and other sleep blogs, though, I realized that "sitting" was referring to me. I sit in my rocking chair with Lila and pat her back. I usually get a burp out of her, which is good because I know gas won't bother her as much during her nap. Some babies like to be held upright during this step (like you are burping them up at your shoulder), but Lila likes to be held cradle-style. You don't want to rock, bounce, or sway with your baby during this step--which is super counter-intuitive, I know. The idea is for them to relax, not to fall asleep. And bouncing/rocking can actually overstimulate a baby--which is also counter-intuitive, right? Hogg suggests sitting for up to 10-15 minutes, until baby is very relaxed. Honestly, now that we've been doing the Four S routine for a while, Lila and I usually only sit for about 2-5 minutes before she is starting to fall asleep.

4. Shush-pat: Hogg's shush-pat method is one key she talks about repeatedly. The idea is that your baby can only focus on two things at a time; so if you are shushing (pretty loudly) and patting firmly, your baby doesn't have enough focus left to think about crying. However, I have found that shush-pat is not ideal for us. After several days of shush-patting (and nearly passing out because I was so out of breath from all the shushing), I realized that for Lila, at least, shush-patting was actually winding her up more and making her cry harder. So I pat her during step three (sit), then I put her in her bed. I leave my hand on her chest for 30 seconds or so, then I let the noise maker do the shushing for me. She is usually asleep in about five minutes. Some babies love the shush-pat, and will need to be patted after put in bed--experiment and see what works for you!

So there you have it: my version of the Four S routine. This routine takes about 5-10 minutes and has worked wonders for me--I hope it helps you, too! I started using this routine when Lila was about one month old and by two-and-a-half months she was falling asleep in her bed by herself within 5-10 minutes of putting her down! Please feel free to leave questions in the comment section below.