Nightweaned 2yo needs an objective signal that the Morning Milk Bar is open

[LCBMAX]

We're new in the committed nightweaning process, and for now my rule is that he can nurse again after 4 am. We sleep with white noise and black out curtains, so I can't use daylight or birdsong as the signal for morning.

How do I explain that at 3:36 when he wakes from a dream, wants milk, and he body tells him that it is, essentially, "morning milk time"?

That's what happened this morning, and when snuggles, songs, and boring stories didn't put him back to sleep, I called in daddy to do snuggles and stories in another room. This works well earlier in the night, but since it was so close to the magic 4am feeling, my son wasn't having it. We struggled through til about 4:15, because I was really hoping to have him sleep again before nursing so as not to create a pattern of "if I squall enough, I'll get milkies" but I couldn't hack it. Finally I went to find them with a light up clock and said "Hey, good news, it's morning now, time for nursing again!" Snorts of delight, nursing and another 2 hours of sleep for us all.

I've been thinking about a nightlight on a timer but I dislike the inexactness of those timer clocks.

So, for those who :
nightweaned (mama or child-led) and
allow nursing in the early am when it's too dark to say "Now it's daylight!"

what do you use to signal morning?
Thanks!

[staceychev]

Does he recognize numbers? What about a digital clock? I would think that, even if he isn't great about all numbers, that you could teach him to recognize the number four.

[Katielady]

I'm thinking about this for when (if?) I nightwean:

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/...mSource=Search

Would be good later on too for when she's sleeping in her own bed and needs to know when it's OK to get up.

[LCBMAX]

Doesn't know numbers yet, but yeah - I ordered that clock today! I saw it before and kept thinking of it - now I wish I'd gotten it in advance...

Any other ideas?

[To-Fu]

Originally Posted by Katielady

I'm thinking about this for when (if?) I nightwean:

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/...mSource=Search

Would be good later on too for when she's sleeping in her own bed and needs to know when it's OK to get up.

That is super cool!

So, you can program it to light up either picture at any time of your choosing?

[LCBMAX]

Ya, apparently you can program the awake or asleep pictures to light up at the desired time, and maybe this model even has an additional setting for naps (but any use for that is far in my future - maybe never.) Can also be used more simply as a nightlight. Has to be plugged in, so I'm not sure how that will go with my "must discover how all stuff works" guy, but I'm hoping that unplugging it, and making the bunny disappear will just be a negative feedback mechanism. No idea how to stop him from learning how to reprogram it - he's already figured out how to call daddy's clients on the business line...