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Room still bright at 5am? 6 things parents find out the expensive way

Over 4,000 5-star reviews

Across the UK and Ireland

Red Dot Award

For product design

15+ years

Made in Northern Ireland

22 July 2026

Updated

Our toddler sleeps past 6am now. Wish we'd had this with the first.

Olivia, mum of two

Most parents try the free things first. An earlier bedtime. A later one. The clock that glows yellow at seven. None of it makes much difference, because a 5am start can be a light problem rather than a sleep problem, and you cannot fix light with a routine. So you buy something. What follows is what usually happens next.

1. The blackout curtain

A father and a toddler in pyjamas playing on the floor of a bright child's bedroom, daylight coming in through the window
You hang it, and you wait for the morning to prove you right. Then it is quarter past five and you can read the label on the cot. Not dark. Dim. And dim is enough for a small child to decide the day has started. Sch, five stars in April: "I've tried blackout blinds and curtains before, different types and even different curtain poles and sizes and nothing has completely shut the light out."

2. Then the blackout roller blind

A mother and her young daughter on the bed in a dimly lit child's bedroom, with daylight showing in the gap below the blind
So you go up a level. An actual blind this time, not fabric on a pole. It fits the window properly, it costs more, and it arrives looking like the answer. JNDC, five stars: "We went to one of the main online blackout roller blind companies the first time, had a really nice blind delivered, but so much light comes around the sides." Around the sides. Same room, same five o'clock.

3. Then both of them at once

A child's bedroom in low light with a star-print blind down over the window and lamps lit
By this point you are not shopping, you are patching. The blind goes up, the curtain goes over the top of it, and the room does get darker. Darker is not dark. Cee Bee, five stars: "We've had black out roller blinds with a blackout curtain on top and this still beats it." Two products on one window, and you are still awake at five.

4. It was never the fabric

Squares of blackout fabric in a range of colours, laid out overlapping
Hold blackout fabric flat against the glass and it does exactly what the label says. Hang it up and it sits in front of the window instead of against it. So the light does not come through. It comes round. Three purchases, one reason, and none of them was that you bought the cheap one. The question was never which fabric. It is what the fabric is fixed to.

5. BlocOut is fixed to the frame, not hung in front of it

Close-up of the edge of a BlocOut blind running down into the brush-lined side rail fixed to the window frame
That is the whole of it. A sealed top unit closes the gap above. Side rails run down both edges, so the edges seal to the full window frame. Same idea as holding the fabric against the glass, without anyone having to stand there holding it. It is also why the blind is made to measure. Something that seals to your window frame has to be cut to your window frame. There is no standard size that does this.

6. Parents keep writing about the first night

A young girl asleep in a dark bedroom
Maria George, five stars: "My toddler was waking at 5am so decided to purchase the blocout blind. First night with the blind my toddler slept until 7." It is the first night that keeps coming up, which makes sense. Nothing has to build up or settle in. The room is either dark that evening or it is not.

The same first night, over and over

Six reviews, dates as posted.

Now the children's bedroom is dark enough before sunset.

D Trinca, 28 May 2026

Kids fell asleep quicker than they have done in ages, because it's actually dark in their rooms!

Katy, 7 June 2026

They really are the very best blackout blinds, just brilliant, and buy us a few hours of precious sleep between our toddler and newborn.

Chris Green, 16 February 2024

The bedroom is now so dark that for the first couple of nights I kept bumping into furniture!

Andrew, 25 March 2026

It gets so dark, in my room now, that I cant see my hand in front of my face!

Matthew Green, 4 July 2026

The room is so dark and the quality of sleep I'm getting it is amazing.

Mary Dougan, 1 April 2026

The builder asks for two numbers. Get them first.

One thing to know before you go through. A blind cut to your window cannot be sent back because you have changed your mind. Made to measure means made to your measurements, and yours are the ones it gets made to.

So it is worth arriving ready. The builder asks three things, in this order. First, where the blind sits, inside the window recess or over the front of it. That choice changes how you measure, so make it before you pick up the tape. Then the two measurements, the width and the drop. Then the fabric.

The Measuring Guide walks you through both numbers. Take it slowly. This is the ten minutes that decides whether the blind fits.

If you want cover on the numbers, Measure Protect goes in the basket at 15% of the price of the blind, and it covers one remake to your new measurements.

And if you would rather not decide anything today, BlocOut will post up to ten fabric samples, free, through the letterbox. There is nothing to measure to get them. See the colours in the room they are actually for, at five in the morning if you like. Order when you are ready, or don't.

And then there is the price

You have already paid for a blackout curtain. Then for a blind. Possibly for both, on the same window. Add that up before you look at this one. The price here follows the size of the window, so there is no single number to quote you. The 20% is already off, and nothing is ordered until you say so.

Build the blind for their room

A child's bedroom in the evening with a patterned BlocOut blind fitted in the window

20% off, already in the price

BlocOut Touch Blackout Blind

Cut to your window, with a sealed top unit and side rails, so the edges seal to the full window frame.

  • Cut to the measurements of your own window, from a choice of fabrics.
  • The price follows the size of the window, so you see yours once the numbers go in.
  • A fitting guide walks you through putting it up.
  • Measure Protect goes in the basket at 15% if you want cover on the measurements.
Build my blind

The price follows the size of your window.

Five years of cover on the parts. Measure Protect can be added in the basket if you want cover on the measurements.

Five years on the parts

Five years of cover on the parts, from the day it arrives.