Babies to be fitted with snooze buttons
Scientists today unveiled a solution to the centuries-old design fault in babies which causes them to start crying in the middle of the night and not stop until their parents get up and do something about it. âWe realised there are two things which generally disturb a personâs sleep: a small child and an alarm clock. But inexplicably only one of these was designed with an âoffâ button,â explained Professor Lyndon, who led the research project. âWhile parents might consider an âoffâ button a little drastic and irreversible, a snooze button could really help. Now when your baby wakes up screaming at 3.17am you can just hit the snooze button and get an extra ten minutes shut-eye.â Drawing on other design features of the clock radio, scientists have reported that the next generation of babies could also be fitted with a radio antenna to provide a wider range of alarm sounds. âBabies tend to come with that one loud and annoying default alarm tone,â continued Professor Lyndon, âbut now parents could be woken by their child broadcasting Classic FM or Radio 4. In fact tests have found that both those stations tend to have a strangely somnolent effect on the child so that the sound of his own âcryingâ often puts him back to sleep again.â Scientists are now working on enhancing the snooze button technology to also develop a programming function that would allow parents to âsetâ their child only to wake up at a particular time. The plans to fitÂ infant humans with snooze buttons that would remain with them throughout life have been welcomed by both wives, who see âsnoozingâ their husbands as a convenientÂ alternative to lying about having a headache, and by husbands who donât mind whether their spouse is awake or asleep.