The Gro Company Ollie The Owl Gro Anywhere Portable Blackout Blind with Suction Cups,

I recently purchased two of these blackout blinds as a couple of months ago with the very light nights and light early mornings both of my little ones started to wake up extremely early and it was a struggle for them to go to sleep of an evening too. I already have black out curtains but the light was seeping into both rooms from around the tops of the curtains and sides. I LOVE my sleep and have been very lucky (and spoilt) with both of my little ones as since birth they too have both loved their sleep and have slept through the night from a few weeks old. So when they both started waking very early and at alternate times too I was almost pulling my hair out in frustration and tiredness and walking around like a zombie with sleep deprivation. I figured it was worth a try to use these blinds and see if they worked and I am so glad that I did as they DO actually work. For the first few nights both of my children both still woke at stupid-o'clock but they were much easier to get to go back to sleep and then after about the fourth night of using the blinds they once again slept through the whole night.My only niggle with the blackout blind is that it is a bit of a pain to be taking it down and putting it up each night as the suction cups can be a bit of a nuisance to try to get to stick to the window sometimes which then makes it a bit time consuming to put them up and it would be nice in that respect to not to have to use them but the benefit of a full nights sleep far outweighs the hassle of messing around putting them up. The blinds are adjustable with velcro tabs so that you can shorten them to fit your window by sticking the velcro together at intervals which again I think is a really good idea. We recently went away and they were one of the first items on my to pack list for going with us and I am so glad we did as the curtains where we stayed were very thin and had I not used the blinds I am sure we would have been awoken by the children a lot earlier than we were. The blinds come in a handy drawstring carry bag which we have kept to keep them when not in use.If your little ones are waking early because of the light nights then I would definitely recommend giving the blackout blind a try as it worked wonders for us. I have just managed to pack them away for possibly the winter now that the mornings and nights are a bit darker again but I shall be putting them away where I know they are so that I can use them next summer again.

With the arrival of our daughter we decided that it was probably a good idea to fit blackout blinds, but after some discussion and looking at prices we decided that it was probably a bit expensive at the moment. Then a friend told me about the Gro Anywhere Blackout Blind. For £20 we could get a blackout blind that we could take anwhere? Surely that's too good to be true? It really isn't.The blind works really well. Yes, you do get a bit of light leakage around the edges, but it's so much better than curtains alone. I'm also thinking about modding the curtain a bit with some magnets in the right places on the window frame and sewed into the curtain to hold it in place which should all but eliminate the light leakage. Our frames aren't wide enough to stick the suction pads to, but if you have a wide flat frame you may be able to stick to that and get the same effect.Don't let my magnet idea give you the impression that the suckers aren't up to the job because they are. You may need to give them a lick (or dampen them) to get a really good suction grip, but I have a window that's 8 foot off the ground at the highest point and just over a foot at it's lowest and they hold it fine. I did initially have a couple of times when it came down due to excess material, but if you take the time to work out the best way of folding it (using the integrated Velcro tabs) then it easily holds it's own weight.It'll be great to have something we can take away on trips, and with the bag included this should be very easy. Just fold it up and off you go.The only con I've found is that if you're sticking this to an open window you need to open it first in order to get the best fit and it will have more light leakage than on a closed window, but the magnet adaptation should solve that issue. An open window also means that you're more likely to have it fall down due to wind.Overall though, it's great. Does the job brilliantly and at a reasonable cost. I'm such a fan of a dark room that I think we'll buy a second when my daughter moves into her own room so we can keep this one for ourselves.