LittleHippo Mella: Ready to Rise Children's Sleep Trainer,...

Content: Short version: We are very happy with this purchase and would highly recommend this product. We use it as intended for bedtime and “quiet time” (independent play in bedroom instead of nap time) for our three year old. Mella boasts many useful features and is easy to set up. Once you train your child on Mella’s cues, this product could give you back hours of sleep. Want more info? Read on. :) As expected, we needed to teach our child how to respond to Mella’s cues, but once he understood that and we reinforced our expectations through reward and consequence, our son stopped waking us up at ridiculously early hours in the morning. Training our pretty stubborn and resistant-to-change son to use Mella took around three weeks or so, but it has been so worth it. In addition to waking later, he has mostly stopped the middle of the night wakes, which is great! Mella is also such a nice clock to keep him in his room for his post-lunch quiet time. It works like a charm! In order for the transition to go smoothly, we started the Mella wake time close to the time he was already waking and then slowly and incrementally made that time later to our desired wake time. After that, we taught our son about the “play time” feature which automatically turns on for thirty minutes before the green light, if you select that feature. Our son went from waking us around 5:30 AM to now waking at 7:00 with Mella and then playing quietly and independently in his room until 7:30 AM. AAAND because we use the setting with a quiet light cue (turns green), sometimes our son is so busy that he doesn’t even notice and keeps playing, allowing us even more extra sleep (or extra time with baby). We recently were away from home and didn’t bring Mella, and boy, did we regret it! We didn’t realize how often our son wakes at night, but looks at Mella and goes back to sleep. It gives him security and fosters independence through the “okay to wake” cues. Without Mella, he runs to us in the dead of night desperately asking if it is morning time yet (can’t rely on daylight because of our latitude and gloomy climate). We will be buying an extra cord (since we affixed the provided cord to the wall for safety) so we can bring Mella with us on trips. You can buy an extra cord on LittleHippo’s website for around $7 after shipping. All of the features are very useful and set up is intuitive. You can choose from quite a few nightlight colors, and the set colors that Mella uses are yellow for play time and green for “okay to wake/leave room.” We personally use red at night because it is a more sleep-friendly color and we can say, “red means stay in bed.” Mella has both audible and visual (green light) alarms (you can select either), various sound machine-type white noise sounds, and nap time features, as well as a child lock. Our son would easily switch off the lock though, so we just put Mella out of reach. Our son loves that “Mella” (we call it by its product name) has a face and a personality of sorts. Mella is happy when awake, playful during playtime, and asleep during bedtime. It is an endearing little clock that our son loves. We plan on using it for years to come and changing the settings as our son’s needs change. Maybe he’ll eventually need an alarm to wake him up? It is important to note that although this clock comes with batteries, they are only present to save your settings in the case of the clock losing its power supply (power outage or unplugged). Because of all the features it boasts, Mella needs to be plugged in at all times to work. I found this was the case in the majority of “okay to wake” clocks. Because our son is very curious and will not leave electronics alone, we placed Mella on a floating shelf and covered the cord with a cord protector (see pics). We have no complaints about this clock, and are so thankful that it exists. Our only suggestion would be that LittleHippo consider making a wall mounted clock that can run on rechargeable batteries (charge via USB-type cable). It could attach to the wall via magnets so it’s easy to take down and recharge every couple/few days. Perhaps it could have a simpler design so that it doesn’t use as much energy to run? Thank you, LittleHippo, for such a quality product! You’ve made our lives so much easier. :)

Content: My 3 year old was having some sleep regression and we didn’t want him getting up whenever and sound whatever. So we got this alarm sleep trainer. It’s absolutely fantastic. You can clearly tell the company that made this put a ton of thought into its design and function and then executed the product perfectly. Easy to set up. Super functional. High quality. Cute. Tons of features. Son loves it. It’s very easy to setup. I was able to get the time set, sleep times set, and custom options I wanted set in a matter of a few minutes. Very easy. Just follow the clear directions that come with it the first time and you’ll remember how to do it going forward. Make sure you pull the clear battery protector out. I didn’t the first night and accidentally unplugged it and had to reprogram it. Not a big deal but just make sure you pull the clear tab out. I love the functionality and custom options. You can set the times you want, choose different light colors and when/if they turn on and when. You can set alarms or leave them off. It’s just a wonderful product that covers all your needs. Her name is Mella and from night 1 my son loves her and follows her “glow color” to know when it’s bed time, play time, and awake time. HIGHLY recommend this product. It’s worth every cent.

Content: For my concise opinion scroll to the last paragraph. Otherwise, I have a very in depth review of how we used this machine. I purchased this light alarm clock for my daughter (who turned 2 in August) in November. A little background on my toddler. She is very stubborn and strong willed. Has big emotions and very clingy to me (mom). I was having issues with her throwing huge fits and wanting out of her crib early in the morning. She would scream nonstop “get me out” until I would come and get her. Needless to say, I was not about to let her get up that early or allow her to “scream me into submission.” First transition: sleep function set for desired “time to get out of crib.” The first morning we used this she woke up early and was yelling to get out. I told her over our camera microphone to look at “Mella” (we just kept the cute name of the clock). I told her, “Mella is YELLOW. That means ALMOST time to get out. When Mella is GREEN, mom will come get you.” The clock stays yellow for a total of 30 minutes, but she had to wait about 15 for it to turn green. I had to remind her, “mom will come when Mella is green” a few more times over the camera, but when it turned green I opened the door and exclaimed, “Mella is GREEN! It’s time to get out!” I acted very excited and kept reinforcing that GREEN means time to get out. That system worked SEAMLESSLY for the next few months. If she woke up before the clock turned green she would wait quietly until it turned. Once it turned green she would yell, “Mom, Mella’s green!” The clock stays green for one hour after turning on, which was great for when she slept in. Fast forward to January. We transitioned her to a new room and “big kid bed.” I was very nervous about her staying in bed/her room. Second transition: keeping her in her ROOM until the light turned green. Since she was already used to the “Mom will get me when the light turns green” method, the transition was a BREEZE. She would play happily in her room until the light turned green and then would knock on her door and tell me it was time for her to get out. So great! Then, about a week later she started getting out of bed at night, turning on her lamp and playing when she was supposed to be in bed. It was a struggle. Third transition: keeping her in bed for bedtime. We used the red light function as a night light and told her, “When Mella’s red, stay in bed.” I told her over and over at bed time and had her repeat it after me. After I left the room I watched her on our camera. She went to the end of the bed, but did not get out, looked at the light for a little bit and laid back down. I WAS SHOCKED! Especially after such nighttime battles before! Our most recent transition: we now use the clock for “rest time.” Since transitioning out of a crib, it was difficult to get her to take naps. She quickly figured out how easy it was to get out and play. I had to accept that maybe she wouldn’t nap anymore, but wanted her to have a “quiet time” for an hour in her room. She can nap or play, but she needs to stay in her room. So, I used the nap function. I set the light to blue and again tell her that, “When Mella’s green mom will come get you.” Sometimes she naps, sometimes she plays during that time. But the best part is that I get a break and she has a physical indicator of when mom will be back. Overall I have absolutely LOVED this method for my toddler. I was shocked that given her strong personality it would be a long struggle to get her to cooperate. But it honestly worked so great! So lastly, I want to talk about why I gave 4 stars instead of 5. I wish I could give this machine a 4.5. Here is why: - light functions: 5 - light brightness: 4 (A little too bright in my opinion, but doesn’t seem to be an issue for our child) - sleep mode: 5 - nap mode: 5 - child lock: 5 (my toddler did figure out how to unlock it, but we just put it on a high dresser so she can’t mess with it. I give it a 5 because it’s there and isn’t glaringly obvious to operate to a toddler) - set up: 5 (super easy, didn’t even read directions, very intuitive) - cuteness: 5 (my daughter loves the little face. Especially when it “blinks”!) - Sound alarm: N/A (We haven’t used this, yet) - Noise functions: 2, at best So this would be my only truly negative opinion on this machine. The noise is very quiet and not very pleasant sounding. It’s not a huge deal for us though because we just use a different white noise machine for our daughter. If you‘ve read all the way to this point, congrats! The last paragraph is a short summary of how I feel about the machine overall. Overall, this light clock method worked WONDERS for my stubborn, emotional, wonderful 2 year old daughter. Great for naps/playtime and bedtime. Lights are a little on the bright side (which may or not be good for your child) and the white noise/soothing sounds function is subpar. Would recommend to others!

Content: Mi hija esta feliz con su reloj. Y ha aprendido a quedarse en su cama hasta que el reloj le avisa que es hora de levantarse. Lo mismo para la hora de dormir.

Content: This clock is amazing. Yes, it's pricey, but it has been worth it for us. My three year old had started waking up one to two hours earlier than normal and yelling for me to wake up. I finally bought this to get some sleep! It works so well. She loved it instantly, and refers to Mella as "her." She's her friend who helps her to know when it's morning time and when it's sleeping time. My daughter loves that Mella has a cute face! Of course it takes a few nights to get her to respect Mella and know that green means she can be up, but it really only took a couple and she's been so good at staying in her room and playing quietly. It has helped with nighttime wakings as well - sometimes she wakes in the night, but unless she's had a nightmare or something where she really needs me, she seems to realize Mella is still "sleeping" and goes back to sleep on her own. We don't use the alarm feature yet, but have tested it, and it seems to work well. We've used the nap timer a couple of times - my daughter doesn't really nap, but it works for quiet time as well. It doesn't work as well for that for our daughter, but I think that's largely because I haven't put as much effort into training her to have a good quiet time now that she's stopped napping. I love that Mella displays the actual time, too - for one thing, it's a handy reference when I'm in my daughter's room, and also it will be good as my daughter grows to understand the actual time and not just the colours. The one CON I have for Mella is a small one, the nightlight seems to cycle through colours although there are only a few options to leave it on, so there is a moment where it's this bright pink colour which you can't get it to stay on, and my daughter inevitably wants it to be pink (her favourite colour).... she settles for the purple-pink, and I've learned to have it facing me while I switch it when she decides she wants a different colour, so we've made it work, but it is a minor annoyance. We don't use the songs or the white noise - we have a separate white noise machine we've been using for her since she was a baby. They do work though, and occasionally my daughter turns on the songs for her animals (she doesn't like it when she sleeps, but sometimes her stuffies want it when she's awake but they're still resting, haha). I am really looking forward to the fact that this will help my daughter stop yelling for me at all hours of the night and morning, especially as we have another child on the way. I would highly recommend this clock!! I expect my daughter to continue using it for several years yet, as the alarm and digital clock features mean it can grow with her, and it's got a lovely design that's fun and cute without being too baby-ish.

Content: The media could not be loaded. This is a super cute sleep trainer. Bought as an upgrade to the grow clock which my 3 and half year old daughter learnt how to hack in a day. This is great as the buttons are on the bottom and there is a lock so hopefully will hold out a while to my curious little one. The only disappointment is that there is no smart phone connectivity which I feel having that and removing all buttons would make this the ultimate sleep trainer.

Content: The clock looks good at first until only after 6m of normal usage, it cannot go to sleep at night, and the sleep time and wake up color doesnt work at all. very disappointed. so pricy.

Content: Great product for toddlers & young kids. Easy to step up, comes with instructions. Lights have different settings for display brightness so you can set it to fit your child and there needs you can also set it to have either on a timer or the light stays on all night. Comes with white noise or lullaby relaxing music that also comes with the volume setting and either time or an option for it to play all night. My little one hasn’t figured out the lock switch on the bottom but eventually one could figure that out but as it stands they havnt. We got for our 2yr for waking up my child does wake up still earlier but looks at the clock and if they see the face sleeping they havnt gotten out of bed but once the light turns on and the face wakes and smiles that his cue and he will get out of bed. Rather effective product at this point. There is nap settings. The light for wake up will start yellow and transition to green and will stay on unless turned off but within a hour it will automatically turn off. So far pleased with the product and rather impressive how quickly my toddler picked up on the cues. We discussed it before bed and that following morning.