Love this product. The only thing I would change is when you set a nap timer, I expected it to work just like the sleep trainer, where, after a preset amount of time, the clock turns green and the child knows he/she can come out of their room, if they're awake. Nope, when you set a nap timer, it sets it like an alarm clock so as soon as it goes off, you hear the typical alarm clock buzzer, which, in my case, woke my kids up from an otherwise peaceful slumber. It would be much gentler to have it work as the sleep trainer does so that if the kids sleep past the preset time, it doesn't wake them up.
UPDATE: 7/13/18: Little Hippo not only incorporated my suggestion for the nap timer into the new Mella clocks, but sent us two new ones with the update! I am moving my review to a 5 star, not only because I think the clock is near perfect now, but also based on the level of customer service I got and you will get when dealing with Little Hippo! Kudos!
My daughter is Autistic so I'm not sure my review will apply to all children, but I hope this helps.
My daughter wakes up all different hours of the night, and becomes disoriented and confused as to what time it is, so she needs my help to tell her to go back to sleep. It could be 11:30 pm, 2:30 am, 5:30 am, or all three. She's never slept past 7AM, so we don't need/use the alarm clock feature. I purchased this clock so she would have a visual way (without my prompt) of determining if she should get up and play, or if she needed to go back to sleep. I'm hoping that she will not have to rely on me forever, and will eventually learn to put herself back to sleep without me.
She wasn't very pleased with it last night, she didn't like that the face was sleeping and there was no light, she wanted it to have a night light, and finally asked me to turn it around so she didn't have to look at it. However, she was delighted when she got up at 5:30 and the yellow light was on indicating she wake up. She had trouble distinguishing between the yellow and green light, so in her infinite wisdom she said it was chartreuse and she could get up to play, lol. I didn't argue with her, I'll just set the clock an hour later, so she can get up when any color light comes on. I assume this might only be an issue for special needs children or much younger children.
My preference would be to have an app on my smart phone, where I could simply program the colors (or off) for each hour. 7PM - 6AM Blue/Sleep, 6AM - 12PM Green/Awake, 12PM - 2PM Pink/Rest, 2PM - 6PM Green/Awake, 6PM - 7PM Purple/Get Ready for Bed, 7PM - 6AM Blue/Sleep. This way the clock would not only promote her staying asleep or in bed at night, but help her maintain a schedule during the day. For Autistic People, knowing what to expect is very calming/reassuring, so when the light turned off, she felt like there was no indicator as to what she should be doing, so sitting there waiting for the light was frustrating for her. Again this may not be an issue for typical Children.
It's great that the buttons lock, so it can't be accidentally reprogrammed. It came with everything we needed right our of the well packaged box. And works as expected.
I hope future generations become a little more high tech, and user customizable. Otherwise a solid product.
This is a cute clock, but as far as a sleep trainer, it has only helped us so much. As many times as I've said "If Mella is still sleeping, you go back to bed" my daughter still is getting up in the middle of the night. It has however reinforced her bed time, as she gets very excited to see if Mella is asleep yet. So that is a help. I also found the sounds to basically sound the same, white noise, and too loud. Light is ok, but we stopped because my daughter said it's too bright (even on Amber which they recommend). This may work for the right child, but for us, I'm not sure it was worth it.
UPDATE: The very kind and attentive people at LittleHippo reached out to me after this review and wanted to make it right...she explained they stand behind their satisfaction guarantee, and they did! I am so impressed by their proactive customer service! The company really cares about the customer and the quality of the product. Thanks to LittleHippo for taking the time to address my concerns and going above and beyond to make sure our family is happy :)
I ordered two of these for my 2 and 3 year olds and they LOVE them. I love them, too. They’re so cute. The features are easy to set and use. They sounds are great. The kids love picking their nightlight colors. The nap timer works great. THE CONTROLS LOCK AND ARE ON THE BOTTOM, which is huge because my kids are button-pushers.
I took one star away because the two year old dropped one of the clocks and the screen went black and the power jack slipped into the interior of the clock. I would think these would be a little more shock resistant since they are for kids, but I didn’t see how hard it hit the ground or with what force it may have been thrown. I only saw the devastation on my three year old’s face when “Alarm Clocky” went black.
That said, we love them enough that we ordered a replacement immediately.
UPDATE: The company was super attentive and got directly to me after the review. She was super helpful and that it was covered by the warranty.
She also told me that they DO drop test their product, so I imagine now that my son likely threw the poor clock or something.
Thank you again!
Mella gets 3.5 stars because it’s a mostly nicely designed product with excellent customer service.
Pros: looks great, functions great, relatively easy to use and setup
Cons: all control buttons on the bottom, which is a pain when wanting to turn features on or off several times a day.
Customer service: my kids hated Mella. They’re a bit past 2, and for some reason the smiling face of the clock scared the crap out of them. These aren’t skiddish kids, just something about it they didn’t like. Emailed customer support to return it. They responded telling me to keep it, and try again when they’re older, or give it away, and regardless here’s a full refund. THAT is how you convince me to try products from you again, even if the first didn’t work out.
Feature Product
- ☆ PATENTED, BEAUTIFUL DESIGN - A runaway crowdfunding success, MELLA has been featured in publications such as Mashable and Yanko Design for its numerous features and modern design. Who says children's products can't be beautiful too?
- ☆ KEEP YOUR KID IN BED LONGER AND GET MORE SLEEP - MELLA uses colors and facial expressions to teach your kids when it's time for bed and time to wake up. Half an hour before it's time to wake up, MELLA will glow yellow, signaling it's almost time to start the day. When MELLA turns green, it's time to wake up!
- ☆ ALL-IN-ONE SLEEP GADGET GROWS WITH YOUR CHILD - MELLA also features three sleep sound options and five night light colors to soothe your child to sleep. MELLA also features three alarm sounds and both an alarm and silent countdown for timed activities for older children.
Description
Little Hippo MELLA Ready to Rise Children's Sleep Trainer, Alarm Clock, Night Light and Sleep Sounds Machine This is a great gift for any parent with young children who constantly looks tired, AKA all of them. - Mashable Can’t keep your kid in bed? Let us help with that. MELLA is the all-in-one children’s clock and sleep trainer designed to keep your kid in bed longer. ★ UNIQUE SLEEP TRAINER ★ When your kid sleeps, so does MELLA. Set the desired sleep time and every night, MELLA will go to sleep with your kid. MELLA sleeps through the night so your kid knows to stay in bed. Half an hour before the wake time, MELLA will display a playful expression and glow a yellow light. Teach your kid to play quietly and wait patiently until the light turns green! When MELLA turns green, it’s time to wake up! Set the desired wake time and MELLA will greet your kid with a smile and glow green. It's time to start the day! ★ MULTI-FUNCTIONAL, CUSTOMIZABLE ★ 12 or 24 Hour Mode 3 Alarm Sound Options 5 Night Light Color Options (with Multiple Duration Options) 3 Sleep Sound Options (with Multiple Duration Options) UPDATED Nap Timer Function with Option for Silent or Audible Alarm 4 Brightness and Volume Settings ★ INCLUDES ★ MELLA Type A A/C Adapter (Input: 100-240 V, Output: 5.0 V) CR2032 Battery Instruction Manual ★ 100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE ★ Each Little Hippo purchase comes with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee and one year warranty. If you are not happy or if you need support, please contact our support team!, Plastic
I Was hessitent to spend$50 on a clock but my two year old now sleeps until 7 as opposed to 5:30. Worth every penny. He’s actually easier to put to bed now too if we tell him Mella is going to be asleep soon. We’re in love and she’s really cute.
I’m using Mella only for their sleep/wake up light and it’s working great!! My twin daughters now stay in their bedroom until the green light appears. Before they would go into my bedroom or call me when they woke up at around 6am (many times much earlier), now they are sleeping until later (I guess and added benefit as they were waiting for the yellow light to turn on) and if they are awake when the yellow light turns on they play or just wait in their beds, and as soon as the light turns green they are out of their bedroom. It’s been amazing for us! I haven’t used their night lights or sounds so I can’t say anything about them. Oh, and Mella is super cute! My kids loved her as soon as they saw her and thought she was a little robot! I searched for other wake up lights and most of them were ugly or had a blue light on for the night (and blue light is not good for sleeping, makes your brain think it’s daytime! Red or Amber would work best). I wish it only had different wake up times like for the week and weekend, but oh well, as it is I’m very happy with it.
We LOVE this clock. "Clocky," as we named him, really helps our little guy stay in his room longer. It's easy to set, looks classy, and works great.
Bought it for our 2.5-year-old who would wake [us] up with "MOMMY! DAAADDDY!" " I WANT SOME MILK!" and then climb over the baby gate and come poke me in the face. No longer. He now looks at me and says "daddy, clocky's not awake yet, we have to wait to come out of our room!" And just to be sure, when we didn't have the clock while we were moving, this kid tried to escape the house in the middle of the night through every portal of the house (probably including the A/C duct - mission impossible-style). This clock is amazing.
Edit: While almost everything about this clock is perfect, I would make one big suggestion to make this clock perfect. There should be an option for a weekday/weekend schedule so you can set the alarm light to go on later on weekends. That would earn this clock 5 starts in my opinion!!
Almost Perfect! I was looking for a clock for my 5 year old to learn how to tell time as well as when it’s ok to get out of bed (to save my sanity in the morning!) but it’s useful in so many other ways! I use the timed light function as a timer when I put her to bed and it has made bedtime so much easier. She likes getting to pick which color we use each night. In the morning when the light is yellow before it’s time to wake up I see her grab a book and lay in her bed until it turns green and then she wakes up. Exactly what I needed! Would definitely buy this again!
I wanted to amend part of my review as well as provide an update.
After I posted my review Stephanie reached out to me and I just want to say that the customer service was the best. She walked me through fixing one issue and then explained a little bit more about the clock features.
The silent alarm feature is actually in there (for my unit) it just needed to be turned on. She walked me through it and for anyone else wondering when you set the nap timer the section that says AL toggle to LI
Talking to Stephanie I'm glad to know that the company is taking the reviews in to consideration and trying to fix/update the issues that everyone would like to see implemented.
******
I first saw this on kickstarter I didn't buy it through there only because I'm always leery about things like that. However, after seeing it made and seeing the videos I thought this was going to be exactly what I needed.
It is very nicely made and the unit itself is pretty easy to use and set up. However some items that I was lead to believe by marketing wasn't featured.
It doesn't do a yellow wind down at night like I thought it would. And it doesn't turn on the nightlight when it is sleeping. So my child just thinks it is any other time unless I turn on the night light myself.
There isn't a clear definition between "yellow" and "green" for a child they see that greenish yellow and assume it is green. The amber light was more yellow.
Lastly the website says "silent or audible alarm during nap timer" I could NOT get it to work with a silent alarm it ALWAYS sounded an alarm which woke the kids up from their nap that since they don't go down right away is pointless.
But I guess the timer feature can be used in other ways instead. Just not happy that I can't use this clock tree way I was lead to believe I could.
Other than those issues this clock is cute, functions, and my kids like to watch it. I just wish for a sleep training clock that it would also have done the night training
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