Anyone not use blackout shades?

[Anonymous]

With my first two kids we did blackout shades and they both were awful sleepers and got up at the crack of dawn. With baby three my husband is adamant that we don’t do that again so the baby is used to some light in the room. So we had plantation shutters installed in the nursery- it’s darker in the day but by no means dark. I’m worried that this will keep the baby from napping when she’s older and will cause her to wake up with the sun. Anyone have a baby successfully sleep in a room that wasn’t pitch black?

[Anonymous]

We don't do blackout shades, but ours are fairly thick. She does best with fully dark/blacked out rooms but can still sleep in a darkened but not pitch-dark room. Including at our vacation cabin which is so far north that the sun sets at 9pm.

[Anonymous]

We never had them. 2 kids. No issues. I did not realize it was a thing until I read here about people taping garbage bags over windows on vacation. Maybe it is kid dependent or maybe it is what thy get used it. Certainly if your kids are in daycare they are not napping in a pitch dark room.

[Anonymous]

My kids actually have sheers on their windows. I think tiring them out with play is the more important thing for easy bedtimes. They still wake up around 6am though. I think some kids are just like that.

[Anonymous]

Never used blackout shades. Bed time is tougher around the summer solstice, when it's still clear as day, but we've mostly powered through. We just keep the blinds closed, which dims the room enough to differentiate awake time from sleep time.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t and my kids are great sleepers. I just use normal blinds that let some light in. I actually think it helps them differentiate night vs day and regulates their circadian rhythm for better sleep, but I have NO proof of that.

In general, sleep aides become sleep dependencies so once things like blackout curtains are introduced the kids need them to sleep!

[Anonymous]

We never used them. I agree with PP above that kids can get dependent on everything being a certain way in order to sleep. I also did things like vacuum right outside the baby’s room while he was napping so he was accustomed to sleeping through a bit of noise.

[Anonymous]

We don't use them, as of yet. Neither of my kids seem to have trouble falling asleep when it's light out; even 14 month old DD, whose bedroom window faces northwest and so gets a ton of light during summer evenings as the sun goes down. She's happy to plop down to sleep in a bright room.

[Anonymous]

Never used them and both kids were great sleepers as babies/toddlers.

[Anonymous]

I mean, my spouse prefers to sleep with blackout shades, so we didn't worry that much about it. People sleep better when conditions are good for sleeping; I didn't see the point in worrying that my kids would become dependent on dark and quiet to sleep, when most people prefer to sleep in dark, quiet places. But I also didn't stress about it being pitch black.

We had pretty thick curtains in the baby's room, so it was still fairly dark, but a noticeable amount of light came in when the sun came up.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have them and 2-year old sleeps fine.

[Anonymous]

We use them in our kid's rooms. They have no issues with dependency and sleep fine at grandma's etc.

It's a small thing that can encourage better sleep. It's not going to make or break a good sleeper. Same with white noise. It helps, but it's not going to take a terrible sleeper and turn them into a good sleeper. It's more like a terrible sleeper will be a slightly less terrible sleeper sometimes.

[Anonymous]

We’ve never used them. DD, 3, is used to napping and going to sleep when it’s light out and she’s fine. We have used a white noise machine since day 1 so that’s the crutch

[Anonymous]

DD has been in our room for the first 7 months (bassinet and then crib). We have blackout shades in the room and shes been a good sleeper.

Two weeks ago we moved her to her nursery w/o blackout shades (they are on order but delayed). I was worried it would cause a problem but its been great. She sleep and naps fine and even wakes up 20-30 minutes later in her new room -- I think bc she has her own quiet space.

[Anonymous]

I just have blinds and kid sleeps fine for both nap.and at night.