7 Best Kids' Night Lights for a Restful Night's Sleep

Night lights have been around for nearly a century, and they aren’t just for calming kids’ nighttime scaries. When you first bring baby home, you’ll be feeding and changing your newborn around the clock. That’s tough enough on your sleep schedule, but switching on a bright light to take care of business late at night is not only disorienting, it can disrupt your entire sleep cycle. Enter: night lights for kids, which illuminate the room with a soft, gentle glow to let you see what you’re doing without straining your eyes in the night.

Fast forward a few years, and you might find that your little one is stumbling around—either to go potty, grab a drink of water or climb into your bed if they’re feeling afraid of the dark. Thankfully, monsters in the closet or under the bed are no match for a comforting kids’ night light. Keep reading for expert advice on what to look for in a kids night light, as well as some of our favorite picks on the market.

What to Look For in a Night Light for Kids

There are tons of kids’ night lights on the market today, but before segueing into our recommendations for the best of the best, we wanted to offer some quick tips for navigating night light purchases from Aubrie DeBear, PsyD, a pediatric sleep consultant, doctor of clinical and forensic psychology and soon-to-be mom of three.

“As a sleep consultant, I recommend complete darkness for the best, most restful sleep,” explains DeBear. “Bright lights are more disruptive than helpful, and artificial lights can interfere with the natural production of melatonin. So, I always recommend staying away from night lights for sleep, especially for babies!” That being said, when the toddler years come around, fears associated with the dark can materialize, and if your child asks for a night light to help assuage their concerns, it could very well be a good idea.

Just be sure you’re not using a night light as a crutch to fix the problem temporarily. “Again, if a child is afraid of the dark and asks for a night light, then go for it!” says DeBear. “But figuring out the root of the fear and talking through worries and concerns are usually more helpful next steps because it helps us to better understand what our kids are actually fearful of (maybe it’s a show they’ve watched or book they’ve read).” This goes for separation anxiety, as well, which can crop a lot sooner than the nighttime fears—sometimes in repeated episodes after they reach 9 months of age, says DeBear. Fostering a consistent wind-down ritual (a bath, bedtime story, lullaby, rocking, etc.) and keeping their environment mellow and nocturnal usually goes a long way to pacifying separation anxiety in babies, though. In other words, approach the necessity for a night light with caution.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind if you want to add a kids’ night light to their bedtime routine. The night light should be:

• Safe. Safety is always important, but especially “if your child is out of the crib,” cautions DeBear. “The entire room—and house—should be toddler-proofed now that they have full access.” So when it comes to a night light, you’ll definitely want to keep cords (which present the risk of strangulation, or injury if pulled down) and heat in mind. The best options are cordless and wireless, as well as temperature-neutral to the touch.
• Conducive to sleep. When DeBear meets with new parents who want better, more substantial sleep, she’s quick to say that “newborns will sleep (and wake) regardless of whether there’s a nightlight, but it can really interfere with parents getting those restful chunks of sleep when possible.” Understandably, for those exhausting, sleep-deprived first few months, she recommends getting a portable night light that can be tapped on, offering soothing luminance when it’s needed (like during nighttime feeds or diaper changes) and turned off when it’s not.
• Well-positioned: The “point of the nightlight is to provide some illumination for a child who might be afraid of the dark, so we don’t want it to be somewhere that would actually wake them out of a sleep cycle,” says DeBear, That means it shouldn’t be placed/positioned anywhere that it would be shining directly into their eyes or rousing them from a sound sleep.
• Sense-calming (not stimulating). Red and dark yellow bulbs that don’t disrupt our natural melatonin production (the hormone that regulates our sleep-wake cycles) are best, while blue and green light are extremely disruptive, notes DeBear. And you’ll want to “keep the light dim, because when any of us are in light sleep and transitioning into a new sleep cycle, we don’t want lights pulling us out of that transition.”

Should you buy a night light projector?

If the night light is being used to allay fears of the dark, it “should not be the focal point of the room and should not add stimulation to the bedtime process,” notes DeBear. She recommends refraining from twinkly lights or stars that are projected onto the ceiling, because the distraction/stimulation can keep your little one awake even longer, or even worse, “kids can fixate on what they see in the dark, and shadows can cause even more distress or worry.”

On the other hand, a great 2-in-1 product that combines a soft, non-jarring glow with white/brown noise to “keep distracting noises out of the room so your little one can stay asleep” can be game changing.

Best Kids’ Night Lights

While DeBear isn’t convinced that kids’ night lights are always “the best final answer,” she does think they can be a bright idea if your child is asking for one and wants to give it a try! We’ve rounded up some of our favorites to align with her pediatric sleep best practices. Whether you need one to help you maneuver in the middle of the night or to relax your little rugrat if they’re resisting some shut-eye, these picks are cute, innovative and sleep-supportive. Your entire family is about to get the best rest ever—in style, of course!

How We Chose the Best Kids’ Night Lights

These days, there are so many toys, stuffed animals and sleep solutions marketed as “comfort items” for young children that it can be a real challenge choosing what among them are the best—the real deal when it comes to calming their nerves and promoting the best, healthiest sleep patterns possible. To streamline your purchasing decisions with kids’ night lights, we do the bulk of the research for you, so you don’t have to spend hours scrolling through online retailers. We considered size, portability, light color, sound offerings, price and, most importantly, safety of each luminous contender and compared notes with a pediatric sleep expert. We also read user reviews to get the lowdown on how these night lights work for families, never considering anything less than an average four-star rating.

Interested in learning more about our editorial process? Read about how our team develops and reviews all articles here.

Plus, more from The Bump:
Serenity Now! How to Sleep Train Baby
Toddler Sleep 101: Schedules, Problems and Solutions
Tips for How to Get Baby to Sleep