Lamp vs Nightlite

We are expecting our first bub in 8 weeks, and are unsure what to do about lighting our nursery for night-time feeding. We have an ordinary light in the ceiling but I don't want to completely wake baby up (or me for that matter) by turning that on in the middle of the night. I have heard mixed things about night lites, but mainly bad things in regards to them being fire hazards etc. One option we thought of was getting a dimmer switch fitted to our light but that ends up a bit expensive. We are probably going to get a nice lamp, but then thinking further ahead I don't know if it's a good thing to have around when baby becomes more inquisitive. What have other people done?

OK, ATM we have a night light in the girls room. As for the fire hazard, they are required by law to only have a low wattage and voltage light globe and they all have transformers. The globes in the girls light are 12volt, 15watt, and they are really really hard to find. In hindsight (which is a wonderful thing ;) ) we should have just gotten a normal lamp and put a low wattage globe in it ( you can get them down to 15watt). We do have a dimmer swtich in the hall light that is between the kids rooms, but Lindsay hates the light on. I am actually more worried about leaving the hall light on all night LOL. As for them getting inquisitive, just make sure you have it up high or turn it off at the powerpoint.

Hi rosey,
When mya was sleeping in the craddle next to mine & DF's bed i used a small dim lamp. But after a few week s i started getting up & laying on a mattress on the lounge room floor & just using the tv as light to feed her. I never used her room or the "nursery" to feed her. But thats just what was comfortable for me at the time.
I'm sure u will find out what works for u.:)
Sorry i couldn't be more of a help

We have a saftey first night light in Ashtons room. It creates a nice glow in the room that makes it bright enough so you can see your way around but not bright enough to wake you up. I think it is "dreambaby" from memory.

Love

I bought a lamp for Jesse's room just before he was born as i didnt want to turn on the big light when putting him to bed or during night feeds and changing his nappy at night. Its up on top of his chest of draws so hes not going to be able to reach it for a long time. He has a night light on his mobile but it doesnt put out enough light to see what youre doing when changing his nappy (if its a pooey one). For me, i think the lamp was a great idea. You can get come cute ones around, we got one with sleeping teddys on it :)

I just have the parent light on the monitor on all night ( Roger Armstrong)...it's dim enough to not disturb Paige, but enough light for me to feed and nappy change.

Have you thought of installing a dimmer switch? Ours is here ready to go...our neighbur just hasnt gotten around to installing it for us..LOL

we have a battery powered night light

I'd just maybe go a lamp for the first few weeks. To be honest, it didn't start making any difference to Jenna's night feeds until she was about 2m old, and then we started turning off the TV, dimming the lights etc to get her into the "night mode".
Now we tend to work off the night light on the monitor, but if she needs a nappy change or something like that, we just turn on the light in the hallway and use that.

we've got two night lights in Charlie's room that turn on automatically when it gets dark - but like others I feed him in the living room and leave the hall light on - I fell asleep all the time whilst feeding when Charlie was little - you could have had a full on torture light beaming in my face and I still would have fallen asleep! I used to turn a small lamp on it never bothered him at all - it just annoyed me having to come back and turn it off after I put him back to bed - I don't even bother with the tele anymore - I do some of my best thinking at 3am!! christmas lists, shopping lists, how to tell SIL she can't come around...... LOL

We also have a battery powered night light and find this works really well. We only turn it on when we need to go in once it's dark to feed him or change nappies. Otherwise F's room is kept dark.

Oh! I never even thought about lighting...hence we have a normal globe. She still settles well after her 3am feed though, doesn't seem to have a problem with it. After she's fed, I leave the light on while I wash my nipple shield adn by the time I'm back she's nearly out to it and then I turn the light off....

I found it wasn't until F was older that the light going on seemed to confuse him into thinking it was "playtime". Probably about the four month mark. xx

we have a safety first nightlight in both the girls rooms. We had the globe ones to start with, but ended up buying so many globes, DH bought a LED one. I like them as day time, they sense it is too light and turn off. Night time they given enough light to do most things (and being older, my kids don't need bum changes at night, but for that, i'd recommend the globe nightlights). Kat has recently started being afraid of the dark (dh watching horror movies alot when she's up prob doesn't help!). So we find the nightlights invaluable! The one night kat didn't have one (she took the globe out and I found her trying to chew on it, so it got taken off her and her bedroom door gets closed as soon as she's up now) she woke up screaming. DH was NOT impressed! (ah the joys of me working nights means he cops some of the bad nights too!). Anyway, that would be my recommendation. Nightlights are great! Well, they work for us!

I have a little rose coloured night light. That with the blinds open provides enough light for night feeds. I have a small reading lamp on the change table for nappy changes.

With your lamp, look into getting a red or blue bulb for it. apprently that helps

Hi Rosy, how exciting with only 8 weeks to go!!! The countdown is really on :D

We actually put a dimmer in our ceiling light instead of a lamp, but between your two choices I'd take a lamp. A nightlight is on all the time, and apparantly it's good for babies to sleep in the dark.

In Joshuas room i have a night light behind his cot so i can see him when i walk past and check up on him, it is great as it is just enough light so i can see what is going on!

What about just a low wattage globe in the normal light socket? Or a low wattage red or blue lightbulb as FJ suggested.

oh look I don't mean to freak anyone out - but I heard that red light globes attract spirits, too late I've already freaked myself out.

I just used a lamp initially in our room, but you get so adept at getting up at night now I don't turn anything on.

In Darcy's room someone gave us a cool nightlight. It's Winnie the Pooh and is battery powered and it turns off after 10 minutes. Good enough to check on bub/find the dummy etc. And it gives her something to look at as she drifts off. It's tied onto the side of the cot out of her reach.

It might be 'dangerous' to suggest this - but we have a great one from Ikea.

If you can be trusted in an Ikea store, then I recommend them. Otherwise, a 'Moonglow' one would be good too.

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oh look I don't mean to freak anyone out - but I heard that red light globes attract spirits, too late I've already freaked myself out.

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Really? Cool, Only good spirits visit me (because I say so lol) so if any wanna come and comfort Isla while I sleep then great!

Thanks everyone for your feedback. We went to Babies Galore today and blew a bit of money!! We found a couple of nice lamps there that we may go back for and just use a low wattage bulb. Otherwise the nightlight that turns itself off sounds good too.

Rosy try Target, it's in the Winnie the Pooh baby section.

I feed DS in his room and just turn on a lamp. I've never had any problems.

We use DH's PDA because its backlight is quite bright... Wow, how geeky does that sound when I write it down?! I guess it's basically about the same as a nightlight, but we already had it so we didn't need to buy a new light when DD was born :)

I have a angel night light and its great. Not to bright like a lamp but just bright enough to see what you are doing!!!!:)

We used the dimmer on the normal light to start with then went through 5 or 6 lamps before coming to something we were happy with! I got a little clock radio from Coles, MTV brand, and it has an analog face that has a blue light behind it. It's just enough to be able to see & Zander loves the ritual of turning on his special light each night.