Introducing lights out...

I am a sleep deprived mother to a fantastic toddler...who rejects sleep. Our journey has been a progressive experiment of many different facets to the reasons he doesn't sleep well. We have looked at food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities (of which he has many). We have explored creating solid bedtime routines, of which we have a lovely one. We have introduced specific herbs, homeopathic remedies, and supplements which have all appeared to have helped for a limited amount of time before their effect fizzled out to some extent. We have begun a beautiful daily and evening rhythm that when consistent appeared to have created a perfect atmosphere for great sleep...but only in the rest of us, never our 2 year old. There are many labels that I really struggle with using for C...alas, spirited does come to mind as a primary example. I know that many other parents of "spirited" children share this challenge of missing out on a reasonable amount of sleep.

But despite all of this, we recently came across a very interesting piece of information about artificial light. The artificial light I have come to enjoy might actually be creating a perfect storm of sleeplessness for my sweet boy. I spent some time pondering, meditating and discussing this information and these are the thoughts that came to mind...

I am no stranger to an environment without artificial light. Prior to becoming a mother I moved to the far north and lived off the grid in both Yukon and Interior Alaska. During these amazing experiences I learned to live without artificial light out of necessity. I also grew to love living by the light generated by candles, lanterns and mostly the sun, moon and the stars. When my daughter was born, her first year and a half was spent living between a tiny off grid cabin and a wall tent.  While she certainly wasn't the greatest sleeper (due to other issues I have since discovered), she never had difficulties falling asleep at night, and napped daily for 3-4 hours.

Fast forward to now...our home is modest and we actually do not have overhead lighting...which is due to a terrible design rather than our own doings!!...and yet, we are very much accustomed to having our lights on from the moment the sun begins to set until we go to sleep at night. We actually have even started sleeping with a light on in our kitchen, to ease the multiple nighttime wakings which often result in the need to come to the kitchen for some reason or another, since our son was born two years ago.  This said...we are dependent on artificial light and I've made a decision to try to end our dependence at least in an experiment to see how it affects our child's sleep and circadian rhythm.

This post begins the experiment...
I'm working with the following participants, who inevitably are included in my experiment as a simple fact of living in the home of this sleep deprived mama:
 A reluctant partner who decidedly despises even eating by candlelight.
A 9 year old who turns on her bedroom light, the hall light, and the bathroom light to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night on a regular basis.
A 2 year old who has yet to form an opinion on artificial light in general, yet has a fascination with candles...hence creates a slight hazard to my plan to have candles lit in place of artificial lights.
A mama who is sleepy, yet determined that after 2+ years of working to sort out why our son is so reluctant to fall asleep at nighttime, that there simply must be an answer and HOPES with all her will that this could be a giant piece of the puzzle.
AND...a north facing home, settled in a dense, yet beautiful forest in Southern Ontario, Canada with not a single south facing window!

As an aside, I will also state that I have also developed a huge addiction to artificial lighting. I admit to having a slight fear of the dark...and the comfort of having lights on in the darkness of a gloomy, rainy evening and even darker night is going to be an enormous challenge for me to overcome.

My rules are still to be discussed with the above stated reluctant partner...tho I am hopeful that they will be similar to these:
1. Lights may be used during daytime hours when the lighting outside is limited due to weather. (ie. a dark, stormy day)
2. Lights on those days are to be turned over to candlelight no later than 6pm in order to mimic the dwindling twighlight.
3. A kitchen light is permitted in order to clean up from dinner and prepare the evening snack/supplements for the children.

Still to be determined:
Storytime lighting
Nightlight in the bathroom
Evening computer, handheld device use for adults (we are screen free for our children)
Plan for when guests visit

I really feel that this is going to be a challenging journey...but I am a firm believer in embracing change and willing to take the plunge...