Warm and dim, or dark

The American Academy of Pediatrics says blue light from screens, TVs and even night lights may trick the brain into thinking it is daytime. A clock’s night light does not have to be blue: most let you pick another color, turn it down, or leave it off. Whatever you choose, the bedtime light only needs to be bright enough for your child to read the signal.

What each clock lets you choose

  • NESSI: an optional red light for the whole night (LittleHippo recommends red), and four night light colors.
  • MELLA: a night light that can come on at bedtime or stay off, in six colors.
  • ZAZU Pam: a night light in blue, red, white, pink or changing colors, or off; ZAZU Sam: a night light that switches off 5 to 60 minutes after bedtime, or stays on all night.
  • Mirari: a yellow night light you switch on by hand, which turns off after the time you choose.
  • Light to Rise: a night light in the color and brightness you choose, which comes on at bedtime and goes off an hour later, dimming over the last 5 minutes.
  • Purflo Snoozee: a red light at bedtime and a blue one in the morning, at one of seven brightness levels.
  • Hatch clocks: any color you pick in the app, or no light at all.

The best color on a Hatch for sleep

Hatch itself recommends warm colors for sleep, red or amber, which it says are gentle on the eyes and do not interfere with melatonin. Its sleep blog goes further: darkness is best, and if a light stays on all night, make it one solid red. Hatch Baby files its red and amber shades under “Sleep Lights”, and Hatch suggests starting at about 35% brightness and adjusting for your room.

For the wake-up light, Hatch’s own example is a yellow light with no sound for “stay in bed”, then green when it is time to get up, and it suggests letting your child pick the colors. On Rest 2nd gen and Rest+ 2nd gen you can also put the clock display on a schedule so it is off while your child sleeps, which Hatch recommends; Hatch Baby can hide the time until you tap it.

Keep bedtime and wake-up clearly different

The night light and the wake-up light are two signals, so they should look nothing alike: red or orange at night and green in the morning is the most common pairing. If your clock lets you pick both, avoid a night color close to the wake-up color, or your child will not know which one they are looking at at 5 am.

Turn it down, and switch off the time display

Most clocks let you dim the light, and some let you dim or switch off the bright digits of the time display, which can light a room more than the night light does. The matcher with “Time display can turn off” lists the clocks whose makers say they can.

If your child likes it dark

You can usually leave the night light off and still use the wake-up light: on MELLA and NESSI choose NL:OF when you set the sleep time, and on Hatch clocks choose no light for the bedtime step. The wake-up light then becomes the only light in the room, which makes the morning signal easier to see.

Sources

Details can differ between versions and countries. Dates show when we last checked something that changes, like stock or a recall. Every source we use