Do any of you use blackout panels for your child's room? We just got back from a 8 day vacation and my son (21 months) hasn't been sleeping well since we arrived back home. He woke up last night (he never does this-ugh!) and as I was sitting in his room, I noticed it seemed so bright in there. He has one window but I could still see fairly well considering it was midnight. I started wondering if blackout panels may help? His bedding is from Pottery Barn and I have been looking at the panel that matches. I guess my question is, if you have them, do you feel it helps? Can you see a big difference?
Re: Blackout Panels
We do - we have some from PBK and they are great. While I definitely want DS to be able to sleep/take naps in different light and not rely on a dark room to sleep (and he generally can nap in a bright room), his bedroom is east facing and the sun would be blaring at him through the window in the morning so I close the curtain on that one window but leave the other one partially open so he gets some morning light. It does the trick and keeps him from (knock on wood!) waking up at the crack of dawn everyday.
Yes and we love them. For her new room we also have blinds but they let in a lot of light around the edges. I bought blackout panels from Pottery Barn Kids (one per window they are small windows). They were pricey but worth it. My little miss is an early riser and we can't have her waking at 4am with the sun in the summer. I don't use them for naps since she naps fine with light. And there is still some light as she can't sleep in pitch black and neither could I.
When we travel she sleeps in rooms with more light and does OK. Once we move to a toddler bed we'll probably lose them all together so she's used to it all at once.
I actually think many kids are more adaptable than we give them credit for and get used to things being one way at home or another way somewhere else.