Clocks in nursery

[jjkatz]

We're expecting our first child in early October. We heard from a friend (who is admittedly a bit neurotic) that if you put a clock in a new baby's room, that the clock shouldn't tick audibly. I forget the rationale behind that.

Anyone have an opnion on this? Is my friend nuts (it's OK if you say yes)?

[rachelfran]

i tried to see if i could find anything to back this but couldn't -- in fact, there are lots of clocks sold for baby nursery's - i imagine it must be related to some old wives tale.... i would think that the ticking might actually be soothing to a baby - one of the crib things i have has an option of a heartbeat sound to lull baby to sleep - i would think a ticking would be the same -

jmtcw

[MyFirstBaby]

Well, I can honestly say that I never heard of anything like that! What I ended up doing:
I bought a CD/clock radio that has several options on it to dim the diplay as well as set the CD to repeat or play for a certain amount of time. I tried to kill two birds with one stone - the "crib" CD player and the clock (personally, I'd go nuts if there was no clock in there). I had heard that the crib CD players, for what they cost, were not worth it and were not necessarily made very well. Since I work for Sony I figured what the heck - this CD player/clock radio cost me $70 but retails for $100+, has great sound quality and I liked the display of the clock which is more of an orange tone, and I could dim it.
That's my clock story. I would think, however, that the hypnotic ticking of a clock would be more likely to put a baby to sleep than anything else (but what do I know, I'm not a mother yet!). I imagine the Fisher Price Aquarium hanging in the crib makes more noise than a ticking clock, and they seem to love that. ???

Rhonda G.
due 9/19/02

[MinnieMouse]

We have an audible ticking wall clock in dd's room and to be honest if nothing else it assures me that the monitor is working :-).

oh and at 13 mo...she doesn't seemed phased by it either way.

Christine

[brubeck]

I needed a clock in the baby's nursery because in the beginning I needed to see how much time baby was breastfeeding on each side, even in the middle of the night! Since I wear contact lenses (but not in the middle of the night) I got a digital clock with a BIG number display.

I did turn the clock to face away from the crib, because I have heard that babies who stare at nightlights and such can have early eye damage and need glasses earlier in life. Since I already wear contacts I don't want my child to be subjected to this sooner rather than later!

I have never heard anything about a clock's noise though.

[laura_winckler]

FWIW, the study that you are referring to about nightlights and poor eyesight has been pretty well discredited. They forgot to take into account the parents' eyesight; low and behold, kids whose parents need glasses grow up to need glasses themselves! Go ahead and use all of the nightlights that you want! ;-)

[ecarley]

The only drawback to a ticking clock is that you'll have to listen to it through the baby monitor. Thus we have one that hasn't been put up yet.

When my little one was small, I used a CD clock radio to listen to during late-night feedings, and then could also pop in a CD to lull her back to sleep.