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You set different times for different days in the Hatch Sleep app, and its battery keeps it going if the power drops.
The catch: Setting it up and changing its schedules need the app and an internet connection. The touch ring on top turns it on or off and switches between your favorites.
You set different times for different days in the Hatch Sleep app, and its battery keeps it going if the power drops.
The catch
Setting it up and changing its schedules need the app and an internet connection. The touch ring on top turns it on or off and switches between your favorites.
Set it
In the Hatch Sleep app
In a power cut
Keeps running on its battery
Naps and weekends
No nap timer, separate weekend times
Costs extra
Nothing for the light; Hatch+ adds extras
Switching it on
Runs on its schedule, and you can also start it by hand
Where this comes from
Hatch’s own pages and manual (the sources). We have not tested it at home.
An OK-to-wake clock shows a light, face or symbol at the time you set. You give that change its meaning: the morning routine can begin. An alarm is a separate choice if you also want sound.
Keep the clock you already have if it can show the signal you need. Before buying another, show your child the light and explain what happens next. If the meaning is still confusing, begin with the age and readiness guide. A birthday alone does not tell you whether your child can wait for a light.
What the clock cannot do
Treat a later light as a message about the morning, not a promise of more sleep. A clock cannot decide whether your child needs you. Illness, fear, the bathroom and other care needs take priority over waiting for a color.
Agree with the other grown-ups on what the light means and what your child can do before it. Use the same short explanation, then practice the morning together. If sleep is worrying you, talk to your child’s doctor rather than repeatedly moving the light later.
Light or sound? Decide that first
Choose what your child can notice from bed: the light changing, a face opening its eyes or a sound. Ask them to show you what that means. They do not have to recite a color name; pointing or acting it out can help you check what they understood.
For a shared room, first check whether the wake-up signal can stay silent. A sound machine and an alarm sound are different features. Check separately whether the time display can turn off, and whether the light can be dimmed. The Hatch Rest+ and MELLA comparison keeps those controls separate.
Not sure? Let the clock matcher narrow it down
Keep only the features you need. A light that keeps running in a power cut is different from a clock that only remembers its settings.
A pick must do everything its situation needs according to the maker’s own pages and manuals, and be on sale now.
Among those, we choose the clock that fits that household best and say plainly what it does not do.
The same clock can win two situations. Amazon links, commission and photos play no part, and we have not tested
the clocks at home. More on how we compare.
Questions parents ask
What age is an OK-to-wake clock for?
It depends on the clock, and each maker sets its own age: LittleHippo says MELLA’s sleep trainer is best from age 2, and PlayMonster’s Mirari manual says it is not for children under 36 months. Follow the maker’s age warning first; above it, whether your child can wait for a signal matters more than the birthday. Is my child ready? →
Do OK-to-wake clocks work?
A clock cannot make a child sleep longer. It gives you both a signal you agree on, so “is it time yet?” has an answer, and how you introduce it matters more than which clock you buy. How to introduce the clock →
Should the light be red or green?
Most clocks use green or a sun for “you can get up”, and some add a red or orange light at bedtime or just before wake-up; on Hatch clocks you pick the colors yourself. What matters is that the color means the same thing every morning. See each clock’s colors →
How long does the green light stay on?
It depends on the clock: MELLA and NESSI switch the green light off after an hour, the Baby Shark clock keeps it on for an hour, and on Mirari you choose the auto-off time. Each model page says what yours does. If the light goes off too early →
What happens if the power goes out?
Most plug-in clocks stop. Some keep their settings on a coin battery, and only a few keep the light running on batteries, like the power-cut pick above. Battery backup or memory backup? →
Can it handle naps too?
Some clocks have a nap timer you start at nap time; others have a second wake-up time for the afternoon. Which one suits you depends on whether naps start at the same time every day. Nap timers and second wake-up times →
Can grandma or a sitter change it?
On a clock with buttons anyone can, so show them the lock. On an app clock they need their own access in the app, and not every brand says how that works. Sharing a clock with other grown-ups →
When do kids move on to a real alarm clock?
Usually when school mornings start and they can read the time, often around first grade. Many OK-to-wake clocks already have a separate alarm, so you may not need a new clock. Kids alarm clocks and the clocks that do both →
None of these is your situation?
The clock matcher takes your own must-haves and shows every clock that has
them, and why the others drop out. All clocks lists every clock with the same facts side by side.
