Keeping a Glow with Nightlights

Children often find it comforting to have a dim light on throughout the night to help them orientate themselves should they wake at night.  There are lots of fun night lights available, either as special lamps or dedicated low light bulbs.  Here are some considerations that you should take into account when choosing a nightlight:-

• Research shows that leaving a light on during the night might increase the risk of developing short-sight in later life, keep light levels as low as possible, and indirect whenever possible
• It is better to place a nightlight outside your child's bedroom rather than inside if possible
• Try not to introduce a nightlight at all, leave it for your children to request one if they desire
• Don't turn lights on if you go in to comfort your children at night - they will begin to associate light with security and this encourage them to want ambient light overnight later on
• Look for LED based nightlights which consume less power and are cheaper to run

With rising electricity costs and better environmental awareness, you will want to choose as efficient a light as possible - look for the lowest wattage in a light that suits your needs.  Old fashioned filament bulbs at 15 - 25W are fairly dim but also inefficient.  LED based lights will give you a much lower wattage, less than 5W.  We particularly like Osram's 'Duled' range of bulbs.  These offer a compact fluroescent bulb with a tiny inset LED bulb.  Switch the light on and the CF bulb lights at 8 - 15W (depending on model), but turn the light off and on again and it switches from the CF bulb to the LED bulb - a cluster of two LED's consuming just 0.3W energy.  What a bright idea!