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