Measures Designed to Mollify Children Afraid of the Dark

Gifting baby accessories or other baby presents at a baby shower or birthday is increasingly on the rise. Several factors go into making a decision as to what kid’s gifts you should buy. Babies are hardly at the age where they can appreciate your thoughtfulness or their utter delight at your choice. Hence, expensive gifts do not always make good choices when it comes to baby gift ideas. Firstly, you could end up spending more than is actually needed. Additionally, the gift might be suitable for toddlers or children aged two years or above.

When it comes to finding items to present as gifts for a baby, it is best to consider the parent’s needs. Therefore, opt for something that provides comfort, is attractive to the child and offers immense utility value. Clothes and toys remain evergreen purchases. However, it might be worthwhile going easy on them. Several people might have the same idea as you. Thus, there could be several superfluous gifts, many of which might not come into use until some years later. Therefore, it is worthwhile considering unique items like a baby beanbag, stacking cubes, baby food blenders, self-heating travel bottles etc. Many websites nowadays even offer some innovative products. These could be things like crying baby analysers, bouncing cradles and travelling cribs, which also double up as travel bags.

If it was difficult to find suitable gifts for a baby, it is even more difficult to find children’s gifts for growing toddlers. Again, you could scout to see what is available before making your purchase. However, have you considered one irony? Infants and newborn babies are seldom scared of the dark. They might find it difficult to go to sleep once they wake up in the night. They might even become irritated at finding you away from them. However, they will usually not throw a tantrum because they are scared of the dark. On the other hand, children between 2 – 6 years of age will kick up a fuss at sleeping alone in the dark. You could say that as people grow older their fears multiply. However, psychologists feel that infants consider the darkness similar to their experiences in the womb. Hence, they are more comfortable in the dark then as opposed to some years later, when their imaginations run wild.

Giimmo has brought sleep (and satisfaction) to over three million children since 2006. Our kaleidoscopic baby night lights have made parents sigh with relief too. The calming presence of the gently changing array of lights has made bedtime a more pleasant occasion for all children. However, it has been a great success for children with fertile (and wild) imaginations. The lights remain dim to avoid keeping the kids awake. At the same time, they dispense just enough illumination – not more than common bedside lamps – to keep the darkness (and kid’s fears) at bay. However, having a giimmo kid’s night light around is also useful for parents. It enables them to see where they are going, when they check on their children in the night. For parents, a dim light is far better than stumbling around in the dark.

However, merely having kid’s lamps around will not send your child to a restful slumber. Newborn infants can be especially trying in this regard. Because they have intermittent spells of wakefulness and sleepiness, infants will keep waking up at night. Moreover, because they would have slept during the day, their night-time wakefulness could be for longer stretches of time. Therefore, consider the following measures to help your cherubs sleep better.

• Set in place a daily routine that helps the baby get to sleep
• The routine must not be too long
• A warm bath could be the first part of this night-time routine
• Use rocking chairs, if available, to set a comfortable motion that lets the baby drift off gently and easily
• If needed, sing some lullabies to help the child drift off to sleep
• Avoid sudden movements or jerks to the baby that could result in another spell of wakefulness
• Read bedtime stories as the baby gets older
• Inculcate the habit of putting the baby to sleep when it is drowsy, but awake – this will be useful in helping the baby learn to soothe itself to sleep over time

The signs of a sleeping baby are visible in steady breathing and relaxed arms and legs.

Babies might not be very imaginative of dragons and monsters showing up in the dark. However, older kids are not as easily mollified. In such cases, using giimmo kid’s lamps can be useful aids to helping your child sleep easy. This is not something we say as manufacturers. Even renowned child psychologist, Dr. Anna Cohen from Kids and Co. Clinical Psychology (Sydney), attests to this. With manifold benefits, consider gifting a giimmo night light the next time you have to buy a children’s gift.