By Merel Obermeijer

The search for Pam

As a sleep coach, I was looking for a good sleeptrainer that could support parents in the process of bringing their child to sleep. And that for 16 years already!

All kind of sleeptrainers

And in this period, I have seen almost everything;

Sheeps that open their eyes with such a loud noise that wakes up the child surely, even if you would like the child to sleep a little longer.

A ‘nightlight’ with a ticking clock. (Real story): A dad confessed to me that he had furiously thrown a sleeptrainer in the back of a closet. After 2.5 years of little sleep he did not only become crazy of the lack of sleep but the loud ticking of the clock made him even more insane.

A sleeptrainer with a clock that shows blue light. If you want to help your child building a bio rhythm, you should not have white/blue light in the nursery. And definitely not on the bedside table!

I could go on like this for a while.

Finally I met Pam

That is why I was extreeemely happy to run into Pam the penguin. This sleeptrainer has many advantages. For example the penguin is a wireless speaker, you could connect your smartphone with Pam and play white noise. If your little one has trouble sleeping in, research indicates that white noise can give an extra push in the right direction.

When your child needs a light to comfort him or her during the night, you can set Pam as a nightlight only! For example, amongst other colors, a soft red nightlight can comfort your little one. This is very convenient as it does not negatively influence the production of melatonin.

You can also increase Pam’s nightlight brightness, which is useful when reading bedtime stories. Or perhaps when you have to change diapers in the middle of the night! When your bedroom is not too far away from the penguin, you can use the wireless speaker function to play white noise. Perfect when you little one wakes up in the middle of the night and you can soothe him or her back to sleep from your own bed.

Pam suits all ages

On the bottom of Pam there is a clock which you can only see when lifting the penguin. This is extra convenient for older children who can get frustrated when they are having a hard time sleeping in. No alarm clock or phone on the bedside table that almost instantly tells the time but it works better to have a sleeptrainer where you can optionally see the time.

Pam’s sleeptrainer function works intuitively and is therefore easy to understand for children of all ages. During the night Pam lights up red, meaning it is time to sleep. When a child wakes up and it sees an orange light, this means that there is only half an hour to go before the green light appears!

An idea to overcome that half an hour is to tell your little one to read a book or play with his or her favorite animal. Green means OK to get up! Time to start the day.

How you can use Pam in practice

Waiting is something that children learn during the day. In sleep coaching sessions parents get training how they can help their little ones coping with deferred needs and learning how to wait. Does this work during the day? Bigger chance that waiting during the night or early morning works as well.

Waiting half an hour in the morning before the penguin turns green is something that kids need to learn step by step. When you have an active two-year-old waking up at the crack of dawn, you can use Pam to learn him or her wait.

Together with your little one you wait for three minutes in his or her dark room and play a soothing song through Pam’s wireless speaker. The next day, you extend the waiting time to 4 minutes. You stretch this waiting time until half an hour and then Pam’s color changes to green! A new day begins full of fun and joy.

Finally, this is personal; I really like Pam’s design. It looks good in every nursery and moreover it fits also in a teenage bedroom!

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

Merel Obermeijer – sleep expert, pediatrician and mother of two rascals Noah and Loïs