Gro-Clocks an honest review from parents of a child who has always hated sleep (3.5ys), a serious case of F.O.M.O. and the stubbornness of a donkey.
The short answer: Yes. Mostly but it's not a magic bullet.
The long answer:
Firstly let's cover how it works. You read a poorly written little book and send the character on the clock to sleep. That character will wake up at a preset time and your child knows that they need to stay in bed till the character does. There are stars and hearts round the edge to help your little darling gauge how much more night time there is left so feel more relaxed and in control of the process 🤨
If there's one thing I've learnt in the month since "Ollie the Owly" (the newer version of the clock has an owl but older versions have a star. Both are wildly illogical because both are normally awake at night so a Bella Bunny or even Paul the Potato would make more sense but I digress), it is that the short term effectiveness of it depends on your tots wildly osscilating compliance level. This appears to be based on a complex venn diagram of hunger, boredom, bladder fullness, genuine tiredness, what type of dream they had before they woke up and cheekiness that plagues tot daily life.
When it works it works brilliantly, when it doesn't work you and your toddler are going to want to throw the damned thing out if the window. So let's examine the two scenarios
Good night: I will wake up if a pin is dropped in the next room and the child has sleep trained ME well enough that I sleep even more lightly at 12, 4 and 5 am. Almost every night at those times I'll hear her fidget and brace myself to be sharing the bed with a sweaty fidget monster who will not go back to sleep. With the clock on a good night I'll hear her wake up say 'oh it's still night time', have a drink, count the stars, talk to her toys for 5 mins and then blissful silence. If I've heard a lot of fidgeting it's prudent to go in and sort her duvet out once all is quiet or the cries of 'I'm cold!' will ring though the house in 10mins and the battle for sleep lost. She'll often sleep till 6.30 (clock is set to 6am) on these days which is magical given that 4.30am was more common. She exclaims 'yey it's morning!' and the cries of 'Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! It's morning!' will get increasingly loud.
Bad night: The first you'll know about it is the screaming. You're in the bad zone of the Venn diagram. There are tears before you've even woken up usually. She will not care about the effing clock. She wants to get up\eat food\go outside and play on the trampoline (at 2am FFS!). She hates the owl, she wants him to go in the bin. There is screaming. You the parent are half asleep, pissed off and not budging because if you budge this whole enterprise was for naught. The idea of 3hrs unbroken sleep followed by a pleasant day of playdough and baking cookies without tiredness tantrums is singing to you like an angel. It is the only reason yor haven't yeeted child and clock out of the window. You spend hours sitting chilly on your childs floor alternating between singing, crying yourself, comforting, begging and threats. But the little terror is still not asleep.
The good news: In the course of the last month we've had both types of night and everything in between. The number of bad nights has been going down. We've had to accept that if she is AWAKE at 5.30am she is not going to go back to sleep. So she has books with mummy or daddy in her room for half an hour until the clock wakes up. It's a good compromise. It seems to have stopped the most extreme arguments. If she's had a nightmare it's easier to just let her sleep in our bed to get the sleep. But she still has to check the clock to be allowed down stairs so that can't be used as an excuse and she has once gone back to sleep in her own bed after going to check which I count as a serious win.
Conclusions: it's a useful tool that requires stubbornness, tenacity and tag team parenting to ensure everyone gets some sleep in the early days but calm consistency is the key message.
Is it worth the money? Honestly it's a highly overpriced bit of ugly tat. Also as a zero\low waste household how much packaging does it bloody need! We have a new once because we were too tired and desperate to think to ask around (I am convinced that is how most of these things are sold). I can guarantee that one of your parent friends is giving one away or you can grab once on a market place for £5. Most won't have the book but a concussed squirrel could come up with a suitable story to tell the child about the clock so you don't need it. But if you want to start now! Have it primed to your door and start your love hate relationship with the ugliest clock I have ever owned.
1 YEAR-ish UPDATE: combined with a sticker chart and child now being 4yo I've had 2 weeks of blissful, magical 6 hours uninterrupted sleep! Colours seem brighter, coffee tastes better, heck my mother has finally agreed to take the child off me for a night (are we planning a wild evening and dinner? No we're going to sit in bed, watch netflix and not get up in the morning). So she still wakes up between 5 and 5.30am, has a wee comes in and asks for her tablet then sits in bed and entertains herself until the owl wakes up. She has the odd nightmare and needs a cuddle but let's face it, she's 4 and that's fine.
Another update! Jan 2022 6ish months after the last update: it's happened, she took herself for a wee at 4am and went back to bed and didn't wake up till 6.30am! Then she played in her room till 7am! And then came in and said an inch from my nose, 'mummy you know owly has been awake for a really long time and daddy snores a lot!' It went down hill for a week after that but parents, the is light at the end of the tunnel!
| Model Number | 499055 |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 8.5 x 16 x 18.6 cm; 253 Grams |
| Item model number | 499055 |
| Material Type | Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene |
| Material composition | Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene |
| Additional product features | Adjustable Brightness, Alarm |
| Number Of Items | 1 |
| Style | USB plug |
| Power source | Corded Electric |
| Pump type | Electrical |
| Batteries required | No |
| Display type | Digital |
| Frustration-free packaging | Frustation-Free Packaging |
| Item Weight | 253 g |
