By Lisa from @liesskb

Sleeping was a nightmare

Hanna and sleeping was a disaster from the moment she was born, she cried every 1.5 hour. Luckily, after a while she started crying less and less but sleep remains an interesting topic for us.

BEDTIME RITUAL

We tried skipping naptime but believe me, this was not a success at all! From 4pm onwards I have a child that cries with every small trifle. In the other hand, when we do a nap, she does not want to go to bed at 7pm and wakes up the next morning around 05.30am…

429 times going to the toilet, 169 sips of water (that mama needs to give, despite it’s in a bottle next to her bed) and saying 25 times in the exact order ‘good night, I love you’. This ritual makes sure that she sometimes sleeps for 8 hours straight, or even 9 or 10 hours! And then Hanna wakes up around 05.30am, 06.00am or 06.30am. Her wake up times stand apart from her bedtimes. Every sound could wake her up. Morning showers are out of the question…

Something had to change. I needed a product that showed Hanna in a playful way that she had to sleep NOW. And so Sam of ZAZU entered the house.

First encounter with Sam

Hanna was not quite sure what to think of Sam, the sheep opened and closed his eyes himself which she found a little bit strange. I explained to her that she should start sleeping when Sam’s belly turns red and his eyes are closed. And when Sam is orange, she could read a book or play in a room for 30 minutes until Sam turns green and he opens his eyes. Then she is allowed to come to mommy and daddy!

One of the first mornings she entered our room way to early… ‘The sheep opened his eyes’according to Hanna. I checked my watch and I thought I would lose it. Indeed, Sam’s eyes were open. I asked daddy, who setup the sheep, if he was crazy! Side note, Sam is also a nightlight.

On a certain morning we watched together when Sam turned green and opened his eyes. That made Hanna understand how it works and slowly she is starting to listen to Sam. If she does not want to go to sleep, I say ‘did you have a look at Sam?’. He is sleeping, so you should sleep as well! Still the bedtime ritual is a nightmare, but the mornings are getting better and better!

I haven’t seen Hanna before 7am for a while. Often at 07.01am she comes barging in with a loud good morning, but that is fine. It means she understands the concept.

Sam’s final verdict

Hanna is almost 3 years old and did not understand Sam immediately. It took around 3 weeks before she understood the concept and, in the beginning, you must invest time and effort.

Now Hanna knows that she cannot enter our room before 7am (she does go to her little brother’s room a few minutes before 7am, being awake together is more fun than being awake alone, right?!).

Going to bed is still a drama, but the morning ritual has improved so much. We (daddy and especially mommy) are very happy with the introduction of sir Sheep.

Sam is also suitable for naptimes during the day as you can set a bedtime for the evening and a nap time for the afternoon. Our little dancing queen also liked the fact that Sam has an actual alarm with melodies.

A real recommendation!

Love,

Lisa – @liesskb

Disclaimer: The product has been sent to me, but all thoughts and opinions are mine and are not influenced by ZAZU Kids

By Andrea and Julia from Apfelbäckchen

Playtime and bedtime with Gina

Let’s be honest: there is hardly any child who is not fascinated by flashlights and beautiful lights in general, right? With a torch or light in their hands, kids are ready for adventures in their room within self-made tents or piles of pillows and blankets.

Gina the giraffe

Our boy tested a new light, but it’s more than just a light. It is nightlight and flashlight in one! Because we find the giraffe so cute and useful, we would like to share this with you.

Gina is from the Dutch company ZAZU, of which we already have two other great products: Bobby and Lou. The giraffe is suitable for kids from 3 years and older.

How does it work?

Gina has a rechargeable battery and comes with an USB cable. The product lies very comfortable in the hand and the soft material makes is easy to use. When you press the button shortly, you enable the torch light. The auto shut-off feature ensures the torch goes out after ten minutes. That is smart as, with so many things, the torch is forgotten while playing and it will drain batteries otherwise.

But the giraffe is also a nightlight. The nightlight feature shows 7 different soft colors such as yellow, orange, red, pink, blue, turquoise and green. All you need to do is press the same button as the torch, but then a little bit longer. Hold the button to change the nightlight colors. The nightlight also shuts off automatically, after 30 minutes.

When you plug in the USB cable, the nightlight does not go out automatically but stays on.

All in all

We believe that Gina is magical. Especially the design and high-quality manufacturing stands out. If you have a toddler that could use a night light and a torch, for example for toilet visits in the middle of the night, Gina is a great recommendation. The giraffe comes in grey, blue and pink.  Even when the light is out, the giraffe makes every nursery better-looking.

Have a wonderful day,

Andrea, Julia and their little boy

@Apfelbäckchen

Disclaimer: The product has been sent to me, but all thoughts and opinions are mine and are not influenced by ZAZU Kids.

By Femke Dam

Sam the sleeptrainer: a miracle or disaster

Anyone with a toddler knows that life is all about making compromises and having patience. At least we could use a bit of sleep… Recently clocks changed one hour backwards and that is not really in our favor.  Coming period will probably result in earlier mornings. Nevertheless, does a sleeptrainer work for a two-year-old…?

I am awake!

When our littlest one, Jonas, decided to sleep for a sufficient time, Tijmen decided it was a good plan to wake up every morning at 5am and stand in our bedroom saying loud and clear: ‘I am awake! Are you also awake mama?’ A little bit yes..  But I would prefer to sleep for another 1.5 – 2 hours. Deal? Time to come into action! Tijmen is 2 years and three months and around this age a sleeptrainer might be a bit too early. Would he understand the concept? We decided to try and for the past couple of months we tested Sam the lamb, a sleeptrainer from ZAZU. Read more in this blog how it went.

Sam’s arrival

A parcel was delivered and as always this was welcomed with a lot of enthusiasm. Tijmen beliefs each parcel is addressed to him. To be honest, this is often the case. Time to unwrap the gift! Oh, a lamb! Moreover, a very special lamb. Tijmen was immediately fascinated by Sam, so we started to use Sam from the first day.

Lamb is green!

‘Mom! Mom! Sam is awake!’ That is how I woke up the next morning… Proud as a peacock Tijmen showed us Sam, eyes open and a green belly. Actually it is still at the crack of dawn but that is our mistake as we set the wake up time way too early. But the first 40 minutes of extra sleep is a fact! The days after Tijmen is starting to understand the concept of the sleeptrainer: ‘when Sam is green it is OK to wake up, orange means wait a little longer and red I should be sleeping’. Easy peasy. Every day we set the wake up time 5 minutes longer en gradually we are making progress. It seems to work and we are getting the extra sleep we desperately needed – all parents know that sleep is so valuable.

Back to square one

Unfortunately Tijmen had enough of Sam after a week of 2 or 3. He knows exactly what Sam does but refuses to behave accordingly. Bags under our eyes are starting to grow again, frustrating! How tired can someone be… When we explain to him that he can only come to us when Sam turned green he just starts crying really loud. And that is not really appreciated as he sleeps in one room with Jonas who then also wakes up. It feels like we are back where we started.

Now he can lie with us in our bed, sleep a little bit and when Sam is green he can watch a movie. Slowly this ritual goes better. At the beginning he sat straight in our bed saying ‘I can’t sleep anymore’. But, we persisted and it is working. Sometimes Tijmen even sleeps until Sam turns green! This is extraordinary but when it happens he is very proud.

Currently everything is going pretty well, when Tijmen is awake he enters our bedroom with his favorite toys (monkey, rabby, Boris), nightlight and Sam. Without saying much he nestles between us en continues sleeping for a little while. When the sleeptrainer indicates it is OK to wake up Tijmen does not hesitate to let us know this fact: ‘Sam is awake! He is green!’ We are satisfied with this solution as we are getting extra sleep and Jonas too.

Is Sam the sleeptrainer a good product?

Yes, it is definitely a good sleeptrainer. It is easy to understand for a child, to me that is the most important feature. The screen shows a comfortable brightness and you can optionally select an automatic one of the buttons the light goes on again.

In general I sometimes have difficulties setting up the alarm. The menu locks itself after you finish setting it up. The key lock is designed to prevent your child from changing the settings. Nevertheless, Tijmen found out how to unlock the menu and mixed up the settings multiple times, which resulted in keeping an eye on the settings from time to time.

Regarding the design I think it is a missed opportunity that Sam is made of hard plastic. According to me it would have been better if Sam was made of softer materials. Such as Pam the penguin, this is another sleeptrainer from ZAZU. Perhaps it is more toddler proof in case the product falls on the ground. But, it is a sleeptrainer, not a toy as Tijmen thinks.

A useful addition to your nursery

Conclusive, we all think Sam is a great addition to our family. When we were on a holiday Tijmen even asked several times where Sam was: ‘is Sam awake already?’ It was unexpected that we were talking about Sam on such a distance from home. For our two-year-old a sleeptrainer definitely works up to a certain level! We are getting more and more sleep. Tijmen is an early bird, which is clear.

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way by ZAZU Kids.

Femke,

Thethingswelike.nl

By Clare Fahey, Paediatric Sleep Consultant

Imagination

If you have a child aged 2-5 years you will know that during this time frame their imagination kicks into overdrive. This is what makes dinosaur hunts, camping under the dining table, and fishing with a twig so much fun. It is also unfortunately the reason why nightmares become so prevalent during this time.

Lou the Nightlight

If your child is scared of the dark or thinks there are monsters under the bed you may have been thinking about purchasing a nightlight.

I have had the pleasure of trialling a nightlight called Lou the Owl from ZAZU Kids. This is a cute looking owl perched inside a glowing circle. The circle and the owl are able to be turned on and off separately from each other as well as the lights having a dimming switch. One function of this light that I really like is that it is on a timer that turns off after 30 or 60 minutes, it is also noise activated which means that if your child has a nightmare and cries out during the night, the light will turn back on to its last setting.

Melatonin

Unfortunately the light that I have been trialling has a white outer circle and a grey owl. These colours aren’t ideal for encouraging sleep as they block the bodies production of melatonin (a sleep hormone) This would also be the problem for one of the other colour options which has a blue owl. Better colours for melatonin production are warmer colours like red and orange. There is a pink owl available which would be a better choice.

If I was to use this light for children I would probably only have the owl light turned on at the dimmest setting, as in a dark room this is still quite bright. In saying that though, the outer circle could be used instead of the main bedroom light for getting ready for bed.

If you want a nightlight that will come on if your child wakes up crying, read up on ZAZU Kids’ nightlights.

Not only Lou,  but also Fin and Max, Bo & Katie could come to the rescue!

Disclaimer: ZAZU Kids have sent this product free of charge, but all thoughts and opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way by ZAZU Kids.

Clare Fahey
Paediatric Sleep Consultant
Sleep Harmony NZ Ltd

By Laura van Heuven, mum of 3 and founder of Mommoiselle

Inconsistent sleep rhythm

By the time Phoebe finally falls asleep, she wakes up around 45 minutes later and it’s very difficult to get her back to sleep again. I wondered if white noise could be the answer, so we tried out ZAZU’s Suzy, a portable baby soother.

Third time’s a charm?

When our little Phoebe slept so well in her first couple of months, we thought we had hit the jackpot. Of course she woke up at night to feed, but it was easy to put her back to sleep. This was new to us after Elliot (who hardly slept) and Amelia (who appeared to be lactose intolerant). Then the 4-month sleep regression came knocking; our bedtime routine went out the window, and Phoebe didn’t want to go to bed anymore. Experience told us that this would pass, but two months later it only got worse and even daytime naps became impossible.

FOMO-baby

Phoebe did not want to sleep. At all. Not in the car, not in the stroller, not in the carrier and not even on my chest after feeding. The only place she could fall asleep was in her own crib, for short intervals and only when I was sitting next to her. If we didn’t ‘force’ her to sleep, she would not fall asleep until midnight. Of course she would then become overtired and be unsettled for the rest of the night. Simply put, she wanted to be with us all the time and not miss out on any of the action. That is why we, jokingly, called her a FOMO-baby, because of her Fear Of Missing Out.

That I couldn’t sleep for a few consecutive hours was not the biggest issue, it was the fact that we had no evening and no night. So, it felt like the right time to try something different, and after some research we opted for white noise. Now that we have a white noise machine, I cannot imagine why we never tried it before!

Meet Suzy the portable baby soother

When Phoebe was 8 months, we welcomed a new member into the family: ZAZU’s Suzy.

It was not easy to find a white noise machine that would fit our standards. Dutch brand ZAZU has a wide range of sleep related products with different variations. We were looking for a product that would not stand out too much in the crib and was also not a soft toy. Because I feel that Phoebe is quite oversensitive, the less the machine would grab her attention, the better. She also already has many soft toys! So we chose Suzy, a portable soother with a velcro strap.

Suzy plays six different relaxing sounds such as ‘shushing’ (ssshhh, ssshhh), white noise, a heartbeat sound, ocean sounds, lounge and lullabies. The machine itself is compact and easy to operate. After 20 minutes each sound stops automatically, but Suzy has a cry sensor which restarts the last played sound when your little one is unsettled and starts crying. Its compact size and velcro strap meant it’s convenient to take with you wherever you go.

Suzy goes on holiday

Phoebe’s sleep rhythm is pretty extreme, so Suzy has not performed any miracles yet. That being said, we could also not be without Suzy. If we left for a holiday on the beach and forgot to bring Suzy with, I would drive back home to get it! This is mainly because Suzy helps with our nighttime routine and putting Phoebe to bed. We turn on the white noise together in a darkened room and I nurse her. The sounds mask the creaking floor when I put her to bed and help her to stay asleep (you should have seen my ninja-like skills sneaking out the bedroom before). In addition, Suzy helps with joining together shorter sleep cycles. Sometimes when I am downstairs, I hear the baby soother turn on and I expect Phoebe’s cry, but then she falls asleep again. Unfortunately, Phoebe still wakes up frequently during the night.

White noise is a must-try

I strongly believe that for kids with less deep-rooted sleep issues, Suzy could be a big relief! For us Suzy has become part of a bedtime routine. Phoebe recognizes the white noise or heartbeat sounds and knows it is time to go to sleep. For us that is already a major victory, because before Suzy, Phoebe never fell asleep by herself and was unsettled all evening, so we are already very happy with it! One could start using white noise from birth, as it reminds newborns of the sounds in the womb. You might have noticed that your little one likes the sound of the vacuum cleaner or hair dryer.

You can find more about this topic under ‘mombie life’ on my website and my highlights on Instagram. You’ve got this!

With love,

Laura

Written by Laura van Heuven, mum of 3 and founder of Mommoiselle

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are mine and are not influenced by ZAZU Kids.

By Andrea and Julia,

Weekend! Or not…

Do you know the feeling at the weekend when you would like just a few more minutes sleep, and your little one comes running into your room even before the sun has risen, jumping on your bed and begging for instant attention? Fortunately, that did not happen (and does not happen) very often with us. But I know such stories from many friends where it happens day after day, especially on the weekends. And they are by no means alone.

Afternoon nap

For us, when it comes to the topic of sleep, afternoon naps are the focus. Because so often we would like to do without them. Which theoretically would not be so bad, if our little one wouldn’t fall asleep randomly somewhere before dinner. In some cases, however, we also have the problem that the young man likes to play at midnight. Otherwise, the topic of night sleep for us has never been a problem. To make afternoon naps not only relaxing in kindergarten, but also more pleasant at home, we were looking for a suitable children’s clock, which could help give us a bit more of a break! Especially at home, the temptation is so huge to stay out and play, instead of crawling into bed with the most beautiful sunshine outside.

Bobby the bear

So, together with our little one we picked out the cute sleep trainer and alarm clock in a teddy bear design called “Bobby” (from the Dutch brand ZAZU, of which we already use the cute owl night light “Lou”). Since our little one lately also has a great interest in clocks, times of day and numbers, we found the idea of trying a child-friendly alarm clock perfect. Bobby helps little ones recognize when it is time to go to bed and get up again. As a sleep coach for little early birds or as an alarm clock for schoolchildren Bobby is a really great help.

Easy to understand

Nevertheless, Bobby is also “sent to bed” in the evening, closing his eyes to signal that bed time has arrived. Although not necessary for bedtime learning, giving Bobby to our little one after his bedtime story has become part of the everyday ritual. For both the sleep and wake up times, you can program the digital clock – thus determining when Bobby closes his eyes and reopens them for morning. In addition, you can switch the alarm on or off and the analogue screen lights up when the alarm beeps or the snooze button is pressed – helping little ones learn the correct time to wake up and sleep.

If Bobby closes his eyes, your child will know this means stay in bed and cuddle something. If Bobby opens his eyes, then parents may be happily thrown out of bed (after all you choose the times yourself…) Of course, there were a few problems to start with, especially with his afternoon naps. My little one for example, kept putting Bobby in the closet and therefore could not see that he had his eyes closed. Honestly, it must be mentioned that it was not love at first sight, Bobby’s closed eyes were not making a difference in the beginning.

We are getting there

Since then however, with both Bobby and Lou the spark has been lit and as a pack, the two are finally accepted and loved. The afternoon nap works better again, not always as good as in kindergarten, but it will be with time! From time to time we find the little bear hiding under the cushions in the tepee, where he likes to sleep on his own according to our little one! When Bobby opens his eyes again they resume being “big buddies”.

Sleeping at the right time is not only a process that works from one day to the next, and so it makes sense for us that we use sleep trainers only in later infancy, so from approximately three years onwards.

If Bobby becomes an integral part of the sleeping and waking routine, then he also can be the perfect children’s alarm clock when they begin preschool. It is also a great gift for children who start going to school.

Disclaimer: All thoughts and opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way by ZAZU Kids.

Apfelbäckchen Familienblog