While we were pregnant, our friend Tina gifted us with Candela Glow by OXO. Once bebe was born, these hand-held, glowy lights became our most essential household tool (next to the iPhone. And, well, diapers were pretty important.)

The soft, glowy light is perfect for when you need to get up in the wee hours to tend to babe (or, as the case was with us for several months, not get up but simply roll over and nurse, and at least see enough to aim baby’s mouth onto boob and check latch). It’s 3 am, let’s not switch on a bedside or overhead lamp. And if you needed further incentive not to turn on the full wattage at sleepytime, GOOD’s article on the effects of artificial light on the brain at night should do the trick (sleep-interruption is bad enough, cancer is worse).

I slept with a candela by my head during months of co-sleeping and overnight nursing. When our baby moved to her own room, we started using them to sneak in and check on her before we went to bed each night. Which we do still. Every night… most nights, right after we brush our teeth, before we take off our slippers and crawl into bed (at 10pm), just to, you know, watch her breathe. Everyone does this, right?

These lamps stay charged seemingly forever, and recharge when resting on their dock. They’d be nice for around the dinner table, if you have a terrace and it’s summertime. When my parents visit, I hand them one to keep bedside so they don’t bash their shins on the coffee table if they need to get up and pee in the “wee” hours.

Tina had a model which was perfect for the small, grasping hands of her 2 year old when she cralwed out of bed in the middle of the night to find her way to her mum and dad’s room. At least that’s what I’d use it for if I were two.

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