Mr Moo always has slept in complete darkness but a few months ago he started talking about monsters in his bedroom (I’m not sure where that came from??). I hated the idea of him being frightened in his room and wanted to teach those pesky monsters a lesson so I decided to get a night light for him. There are buckets of night lights to chose from but in the end, as Mr Moo is animal obsessed, I opted for the Elephant Glow Light Mobile (pictured below). Its a really nice set of three accryllic elephants which are lit up by LEDs that slowly change colour. The different colours provide different levels of brightness but I really like the overall effect. They are battery operated (3 AAA batteries) and at £14 are really good value. You can also get a horse, butterfly or fish version.
But if your baba is not an elephant fanatic then there are plenty of other night lights out there to chose from. Here are the ones which made it onto my shortlist:
The Babytec Autofade night light is definitely a function over form option, lets face it, it’s not exactly beautiful. However, while you are unlikely to find it on the pages of a Danish design magazine it is clever. It is a conventional on/off lamp (which is operated by touch) but it also has an automatic fade function. When activated, this fade function gradually dims the lamp over a 15 minute period until it is completely off. I think that this is a really useful feature as it means you can leave the light on at bedtime and allow it to fade while your baba drifts off without you then having to sneak into their bedroom to turn it off (we’ve all woken up our babas trying to sneak into their room after they have dozed off…who leaves those squeaky toys on the floor???). At £21.99 it won’t break the bank so it might be worth giving this one a go.
Twilight Turtle isn’t exactly the cutest sea creature you’ll ever see but his secret is that he looks better in the dark. Once the lights are off, the plastic shell of this turtle projects a starry night sky onto the walls and ceiling of your baba’s room. Who wouldn’t want to go to sleep under the stars? This clever little turtle also has an educational side, amongst his starry projections are 8 actual constellations which you and your child can pick out (don’t worry you don’t have to be Patrick Moore, he comes with an illustrated Twilight Turtle Star Guide!). He comes in at £27.99 and is operated by 3 AAA batteries. Usefully he also has an energy saving time out function.
This Toadstool is the budget buy of the list, at £3.79 it’s the recession-night-light. It is a compact 9cm high and is operated by 3 LR44 batteries which are included. The light itself uses energy efficient LED lights and has an on/off switch on the base. It has no wires which means that you can position it anywhere but it has no fade out function so that does mean the treacherous tiptoe across the bedroom mentioned above.
If cool looks are important to you and you want to go all out, these funky Candeloo Eco Lights are safe low energy night lights which are rechargeable (simply place them back on the base to charge). Their funky looks and tactile design would delight any child, in fact, I’d quite like a set of these myself. Plus they are mobile so they make the perfect companion for any of those scary middle of the night bathroom visits. At £49 they are a little steep but you get a pair of lights for that and the fact that they are rechargeable does mean a saving on batteries…..I can feel my budget-conscious resolve weakening…..
