If your toddler is getting out of their bed at night or early in the morning, chances are you have googled about "ok to wake clocks" and discovered there are hundreds of options. I went on the ultimate search for the perfect ok to wake clock for my 4-year-old. I wanted one that showed it was sleeping time without bright lights and then changed at wake up time so that she knew she could come to wake us up. Here is how to use an ok to wake clock and my review of the most popular ones on the market.
How do I use an ok to wake clock?
The concept of an ok to wake clock is to show your child when it is sleeping time and when it is awake time. Once they transition to a big kid bed, they have a lot of new freedom and no concept of time. If they wake in the middle of the night or early morning, it may feel to them as though it is time to wake up and minutes later you'll find them at your bedside ready to go! The ok to wake clock can show your child when it is time to be in their room resting and when they can come out of their room in the morning.
We can't just set up a red and green light with no practice or explanation though. It is very important to talk about the boundaries and rules of the ok to wake clock before expecting it to work. And once you begin using it, you'll need to reinforce it for a few solid weeks or else it will not stick for your child. The best way to introduce the clock is to name the clock together, talk about what it means for sleeping time and awake time, and then role-play over and over again. If they come out of their room during sleeping time, you'll need to walk them back to their room very calmly and remind them they need to wait for the clock to wake up.
The Best OK to Wake Clock:
I tested 7 ok to wake clocks to find what clock would be the simplest to use, distinctly show it is sleeping time or awake time, and not distract or keep my toddler awake with unnecessary lights. Here is my review of the 5 most popular ones so you can find your best match. There are so many out there to choose from and many just have a light with no face. I think the visual of a face sleeping and awake is helpful for toddlers, so I did not review any that did not have that visual other than the hatch I already had been using.
1. Hatch: The hatch is probably the most well-known sleep device that parents know. It has white noise, night lights, and ok to wake functions. We were using the hatch for a while but it did not seem to have much effect on my daughter for the ok to wake function. She does not use a nightlight so we did not have the hatch on all night. Since it was not on all night, she did not wait for the color to turn on in the morning even though she understood the process. It was a bit too out of sight out of mind.
Who it is best for: If you plan to use a dim red light at night and then turn it to green or their favorite color for wake-up time, this is a good option.
Features:
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- Price: $69-89
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Connects via Wifi so you can change it manually if you need to.
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Lots of color options for the child to be involved in setting it up.
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Can dim the lights very low or very bright
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Can set up multiple settings for sleeptime, playtime, wind-down time, wake up time etc.
2. Mella: The Mella is another popular choice for a toddler ok to wake clock. The Mella is simple to use, however, the screen light does not dim very much. Even the dimmest setting is pretty bright. The Mella has 3 main settings: a red sleep setting (you can turn off the red for sleeping time), a yellow playtime setting, and a green ok to wake setting. You can choose between various night light colors too if your child wants a nightlight, however, I would only recommend using a red or amber color and making it very dim. For sleeping time, the face on the clock is asleep and for wake-up time, it is a smiley face so the child may relate more to seeing the sleepy vs awake face than just color. For me, this clock face was too bright. You could try using dimming film on it!
Who it is best for: It is a basic ok to wake clock with a simple sleep or awake face. If your child is not bothered by a light on, this might work! For us, it was too bright and it would distract us from sleep.
Features:
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- Price: $49
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3 settings: sleep, playtime, ok to wake time
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Has a night light option
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Dimmable face, however, the dimmest is still rather bright
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3. Remi: The Remi is an option that comes to the top of an Amazon search and runs on an app. This one was promising with the features at first but the more I used it, the more glitchy and unreliable the wifi capabilities were. Unfortunately, I did not trust this clock to do its job. Many other reviewers complained about the glitchiness, so I knew it was not just me.
Features:
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- Price: $69
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Connects to an app
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Screen dims very low or off
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Can have a night light on
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Ability for lots of various sleep and wake settings.
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4. Antoking OK to Wake Clock: This clock was a great basic option. It is very similar to the Mella, however, the screen dims much more. My daughter slept just fine with the small screen light that was on the night we tested it.
Who it is best for: It is a basic ok to wake clock! The face for sleep vs awake is a little confusing and we did not love that the screen did not turn all the way off so it was not our winner but I do think it was a great option!
Features:
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- Price: $15-39
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2 settings: sleep & ok to wake time
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Has a dimmable night light option
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Dimmable face
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Nap timer
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4. Tommee Tippee GroClock: The clock is different than all the others. It has great visuals to show when it is time to sleep and time to wake and even a "countdown" for the morning based on how many stars are showing. I love that for older kiddos. The screen can be completely dimmed down and off so it does not distract from sleep. You can see the visuals if you turn on a light. We found it is a little confusing to program and you have to activate it each night. We have made that part of our bedtime routine, which seems to help! UPDATE: It appears this clock is now controlled via your phone. I plan to test this one as well, I think this is a great addition since it is a bit annoying to reset. Here is another updated version but without your phone.
Who it is best for: I think this could be great for older kids (4+) who are struggling with staying in their room "because nighttime is sooo long." The stars disappear as it gets closer to wake-up time in the morning. It helps them gain a concept of time.
Features:
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- Price: $40
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2 settings: sleep & ok to wake time
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Dimmable face that can turn all the way off
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Weekend vs Weekday wake up settings
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5. Sharp Owl Clock: I did not think this one would outshine the others, it is simple to use, has the visuals and dims all the way off for sleeping. Some flaws that might not work for everyone were that the red nightlight and the green wake-up lights are VERY bright and not dimmable. The red light can be turned off, and we do not use a nightlight, so it is fine for us. We also have a hatch we could use for a dim red light if needed. The green wake-up light is very bright too, and not sure if it would wake someone up if they were still sleeping.
Who it is best for: Great clock with clear visuals. If you don't need a nightlight option, this is a winner.
Features:
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- Price: $29
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2 settings: sleep & ok to wake time
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Dimmable face that can turn all the way off
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Owl face is clearly awake or asleep
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I hope this was helpful in your research of ok to watch clocks. Overall, the perfect one does not exist, so pick your top features and find the one that meets those requirements.
XOXO,
Nichole @ Little Peach Sleep