Kidsleep - How does it work?

Some children - much as they are loved - make parents' life a nightmare because their sleeping patterns mean they often wake early and get their parents up, leaving them sleep-deprived and exhausted.

The Kidsleep product works by showing children in a simple, easy-to-understand way when it is time for them to get up, and when they should be staying in bed. When the child wakes up they simply look at the clock face - and the lit image on it will either show a sleeping animal (time to go back to sleep!) or a wide-awake animal (time to get up!).

As a parent all you need to do is set the clock to the time when you want your child to get up, and show them that when the sleeping picture is lit they should stay in bed. You can get them to play-act sleeping in their bed with the sleeping picture on, and then getting out when the wide-awake picture comes on.

Most children take this on board rapidly as the visual cue is very straightforward, and within a week will be staying in bed (or at least not waking you) until the wide-awake picture lights up. You can reinforce their behaviour with plenty of praise and attention when they don't wake you earlier than they should.

A good tip when you start is to set the waking time near to when your child is getting up normally (eg if your child is waking at 5am, start by setting the clock to change images at 5.15am); once your child is used to the idea, you can then move the time of wake up forward to 5.30am, then 6am, then 6.30am etc.

Do some children resist Kidsleep?

In rare circumstances children may resist.

Don't worry, just keep on reinforcing the message that when the animal is asleep it is sleep time, and when the animal is awake, it is time to get up and come in with Mummy and Daddy. After a couple of days they will be used to their new companion and start getting out of bed when the animal wakes up.