The Gro Clock Sleep Trainer.

Sleep is so important to our wellbeing. If we consistently don’t get enough sleep, then it can seriously affect our physical and mental wellbeing.

And yet, if you have small children, you will no doubt know how difficult it can be to get enough sleep – and to encourage your little one to get enough sleep!

Gro-clock have a sleep trainer that seems to be a real winner with many parents. This clock helps train children in working out when it’s time to go to sleep, and, more importantly, when it’s time to wake up!

In fact, the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer is so popular, that it is the #3 best selling baby product on amazon.co.uk (as at November 2011). Over 400 people have left their review of this device, and has received a whopping 4.5 stars (out of a total of five). It seems that many a parent is getting their sleep again thanks to this great little device!

N.B. This is my review of the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer. Click HERE if you wish to Compare Prices and Buy Online.

Features of the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer

• The Gro Clock Sleep Trainer is a small mains operated clock (pictured), that you put in your child’s bedroom where they can see it.
• A Glowing screen shows images of stars and sun to communicate sleep and wake up time to children. The children stay in bed until the sun comes up on the clock;
• Stars go out one by one during the night to show the passing of time;
• Key lock option
• Adjustable screen brightness, to ensure the night light doesn’t wake up your child;
• Option to set two different wake-up times night time and day time nap modes;
• Optional digital clock and alarm feature, so that it can be used as a normal clock as the child gets older;
• Gro-clock comes with a ‘Sleepy Farm’ story book, with the story of a very tired pig, that helps children see the importance of getting a good night’s sleep.
• Suitable for children aged 2 years and up (although slightly younger children have had success with it as well).

Here’s a video from the makers of the clock, giving some more useful info:

Important things that you need to know before using the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer

Like any tool, it is only as effective as the person using it. If you want to use it well, then you need to be consistent and determined in it’s use.

It takes time and effort, and if you don’t give up (isn’t that what Winston Churchill said?), then it will more than likely work for your child.

Negative Reviews of the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer

There were a couple of negative reviews for the Gro Clock on amazon.co.uk, but amazingly, the owner of the Gro company (Mr M. Holmes) always gave a reply to the complaint, to the point of putting out his email address (rob@gro.co.uk) and asking the person with the faulty clock to get in touch with him, so that he could sort it out. Now that is fantastic customer service, which I have not yet seen!

Here are some of the complaints that people had about the Gro-clock:

1)      Difficult and counter-intuitive to set the time.  Some people had difficulty with this. In response to their comments, the owner of Gro-clock said that they could contact him direct, and he would talk them through how to do it (!). What a solution.

2)      Some complained about there being no battery power for the clock, but only mains power. This was a problem for people that have a child that likes pulling out the cable (because it couldn’t be put in place far enough away from the child).  In response to this complaint, the founder of the Gro Company (which makes the clock) wrote that ‘The reason the Gro-clock has a mains lead and not batteries is simply due to the power consumption of the LCD screen. We could have had batteries but they would have need changing too often. However we will be looking at a battery option on future versions of the product.’ (as at 17 July 2011).

3)      The clock face was too bright during the night time sleep period. Supposedly the current batch of clocks have a switch that can dim the lights, but for some children it is still too bright. It all depends on your child: my daughter (who’s now 4) needs the door open, with light pouring in from the hallway, for her to sleep well. Prior to that, she had a night light in her room, so it really depends on the child. Having said that, another reviewer responded to the complaint by saying she switches the overnight blue light off, as (for her child), the only thing necessary is for the morning light to come on (at which time the child knows it’s time for getting up).

4)      Observant 2 year olds can change the settings. One reviewer stated that his 2 year old could change the setting of the sun-time (which is the indicator of when to get up). The CEO of Gro clock responded to the comment by saying ‘I have heard of other parents using a star-sticker chart to help reinforce not playing with the setting’. All in all, it seems to be a minority of children that are in this category.

5)      When the device is unplugged, it automatically resets itself. Again, a minority of children did pull the cable out, leading to the Gro-clock resetting, and thus changing the get-up-time indication. This seems to be the devices biggest weakness, as far as I can tell. You have to make sure that your child can’t pull the cable out!!!

Positive Reviews of the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer

As at November 2011, there are over 400 reviews of the sleep clock at amazon.co.uk. The average rating for the clock is a massive 4.5 stars (out of a total of 5). Thus by far the majority of people are happy with the gro clock sleep trainer.

Why?

Basically, because it works.

It really does help children to sleep through the night, and to only get up when the clock tells them to.

As you can see from some of the reviews below, the clock has great potential to transform your child’s sleep pattern for the better, so that everyone can get a decent night’s sleep! What would you be prepared to pay for that to happen?

I’ve put in a couple of more in depth comments from users at amazon.co.uk, so you can see exactly how they used the device.

What other people are saying about the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer

There are a couple of longer reviews here from amazon.co.uk, so that you get a sense of what this clock is capable of.

Review #1:

‘This product totally works, my son is only 22 mths old, but 5 days later it had completely changed his waking times from 4am to 6am! And 9 days in, he’s now consistently waking up between 6.15 – 6.30am. Below is how I did it -

My 22 mth old son has always been a bit of a challenging sleeper, but recently it was just getting ridiculous. 4am starts told me that something needed to be done (not least of all because my husband was away, so I was doing all the early morning starts!) Anyway, I invested in a groclock after a friend recommended one. I have to say, I was a bit dubious, my son is only 22 mths old, and I wondered if he’d actually understand what was going on.

The first day I got it, we read the accompanying book a couple of times, then I spent 3 x 5min sessions with him running through the demo mode, so we saw the sun wink (bye bye Mr Sun!) and turn into the star (Night night! Sleeping time! – we pretended to go to sleep) then into the sun again (Morning Mr Sun! Get up! Get up! – we leapt up and danced around). We did this until it seemed like he understood what was going on. I ambitiously set the sun to come up at 6am, and waited to see how it would go.

Anyway, needless to say, day 1 he woke up at 4am, I went into his room, sat with him, and just kept saying, no, sleeping time, we need to wait until the sun gets up (I’d put some toys in his cot for him to play with, and I encouraged him to do so). After an hour of this, he was beginning to lose the plot, so I subtly changed the clock to the sun, and waited for him to notice. When he did, I made a HUGE fuss of him – yes, yes clever boy, it IS the sun. Let’s get up!!

Day 2, woke up at 4.10am. This time I gave it a bit longer before I went in to sit in his room, then again encouraged him to read his books, play with his cars etc. I talked to him about having to wait for Mr Sun, and didn’t stay in the whole time, went in, reassured, then went out. At no time did I get him out of his cot, I just encouraged him to wait for the sun.

Day 3, woke up at 5.40am. This time, because it was only 20 mins until he had to get up, I didn’t go in at all, just talked to him from outside the door about having to wait for the sun.

Day 4, woke up at 4.55am. I was a bit discouraged, felt like we were going backwards, but this time I didn’t go in, just called out to reassure him, and encourage him to play with his cars, read his books, and wait for the sun. Again, I constantly reassured him if he called out or cried, but I didn’t go in.

Day 5, woke up at 5.45am, and played until the sun came up

Day 6, woke up AFTER THE SUN!! 6.01am!!

Day 7, woke up at 6.35am

Day 8, woke up at 6.16am (I then took the plunge and changed the wakeup time from 6.00am to 6.15am)

Day 9, woke up at 5.40am, but didn’t cry, then put himself back to sleep until 6.20am. He has NEVER put himself back to sleep before.

My top tips for success are

1) Decide you really want to do this before you start. You’ll need an iron will to keep going even when bubs is protesting.

2) Once you really decide you want to do it, do NOT get the child out of bed until ‘Mr Sun’ comes up. I found it was ok to go in and sit with them, encourage them to play in their bed / cot, reassure them etc. If the child really starts to lose it, I would press the button to bring on the sun for the first day, or the second at a real push, but try not to let them see you doing it, otherwise they’ll associate you with the sun – and it’s key they understand the sun comes out independently of Mummy or Daddy coming into their room! Similarly, try not to go in if you can possibly help it.

3) Set the wake up time as their regular wake up time for the first day, then move it by 15 mins each day until you get to your desired time. I didn’t do this, and think it would probably have helped.

4) Think about what you do with your child when they wake up. I thought about it and realised that we were letting him watch telly (mainly because we were so wiped!!), but actually this was reinforcing the early waking, as he was leaping out of bed, so excited about watching Peppa Pig! By not allowing him to watch telly until I was preparing dinner, I removed this association. So now, it’s a cup of milk and independent play until 7am, when he has breakfast.

5) Spend a bit of time each day for the first week running through the demo mode with very exaggerated actions and enthusiasm (e.g. loud snores for sleeping, big leaps for getting up). Make it fun. And do it until your child understands. Reinforce it whenever you’re reading any book, most kids books have pictures of suns or stars somewhere in them – point at it, and say what is this? Child will say ‘sun, stars’ etc – say, yes, it’s the sun, star – what does that mean? Child – wake up, sleep. You – yes, that’s RIGHT. Clever boy/girl – when we see the SUN we WAKE UP!, when we see the STAR we SLEEP.

6) Be consistent – be consistent, be consistent. Don’t do it unless you’re going to see it through, as your child will absolutely test you to see if you’re serious. So this is why it helps to set the wakeup time close to their actual wakeup time to begin with – it’s much easier to reinforce if you don’t have to deal with an hour of protesting to begin with!’(Phoz, amazon.co.uk reviewer).

Review #2:

‘This product is a God send. We have a little girl who has always been a good sleeper at night but tended to get wake up and get out of bed at 5.30am every morning. When we read about this product we thought it would be worth giving a go and WOW what a result. She was 21 months when we started using it with her and she undestood the idea of staying in bed until “Mr Sunshine” turned yellow. She didn’t come into our room until a full hour later. Fantastic product, easy to use, simple but hugely effective. best baby product I have seen to date – FACT!’ (Col, amazon.co.uk reviewer).

Review #3:

‘We bought this for our 3 year old 2 years ago and it is the best thing we’ve bought for our children by far. It has changed our lives for the better. Our littl’n is a good girl but was forever getting shouted at for waking up and coming to us around 6.30am, through no fault of her own as she could not tell the time. We told her she could not leave her room unless the sun was up on her clock and 99% of the time she abides by it. It also give her an indication of how long she has left before the sun comes on the clock and so knows whether to get up and play in her room or try to get back to sleep. She has a potty in her room and paper and pencils etc so she has no excuses and we now get up on the right side of 7.30am pretty much every day.

If your kid is an early riser, buy one and the whole family will be happier and well rested. The price may seem steep but getting a full 8 hours each and every night is priceless. Buy one!!’(Jessica17, amazon.co.uk reviewer)

In Conclusion

With an average rating over 4.5 stars on amazon.co.uk, it seems that the vast majority of parents that try the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer are able to change their child’s sleep routine. If your child is not sleeping well, then it is definitely worth giving the Gro Clock Sleep Trainer a try!

 

(Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to provide accurate and helpful information, the author of this website does receive commissions from the products that he promotes on pages such as the above).