In the nursery we had a pole light so we could turn on just the top bulb and shoot it upward - enough light but not aimed right at us.
In our bedroom we left our side lamp on all night with a low watt LED bulb. The bulb is low enough that if you leave it on during the daytime, you can't even tell it is on. It was enough for me to see what I needed but we could sleep with it.
Eventually we left the hallway light on and that gave enough light to both rooms without being too bright.