Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Works For Me Wednesday - Music to Get Kids to Sleep

All three of my children go to sleep to the Norah Jones album, Come Away With Me. We have played it for them at naptime and bedtime since they were infants. All the songs are very soothing, so you can say "night-night", hit "play", walk out of the room, and let it run through the whole album, without worrying about an upbeat song suddenly coming on and jarring your sleeping angel awake!

The music is a great way to drown out other noises in the house that might keep a baby or child awake, like a loud sibling still up, dishes being done in the kitchen, TV in the next room, etc.

My kids call it their "night-night music" and it is hilarious when we are out in a store or restaurant and one of the songs comes on, they get a puzzled look on their faces and ask, "Mommy, why are you playing my night-night music?"

After reading a story, the music is a great transition to sleep in our bedtime routine.

A huge benefit is that when you are in the car on a road trip and you want your kids to take a nap, you can play the CD and it is like Pavlov's dog salivated at the sound of a bell -- they begin feeling very sleepy at the sound of the music! And, once you get to your destination, say Grandma's house, your child will be comforted by the familiar music when you put them to bed even in an unfamiliar place.

This leads me to a key point, don't get creative and have different "night-night music" for each of you children because someday you may need to put them all to sleep in the same hotel room!

Perhaps the greatest thing about this music is that it never gets irritating or old to any adults that may have to hear it too! Literally, I've heard this music thousands of times and I'm still not sick of it!

So Norah Jones is what works for us to make the difficult task of putting babies and kids to bed a little easier! Find more Works For Me Wednesday Tips at Rocks in my Dryer.



To buy the entire album, click on the link below.



music to get kids to sleep

5 comments:

  1. ooh! I can't wait to try her. I heard that she's got some soothing music. And I should really put away the Christmas cd that we still play every night. Good tip! Thanks

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  2. I love this album! I'm so going to try this with my 4 year old. I think she would love the music.

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  3. My kids like to listen to music to fall asleep, but I never thought of doing it this way. You're absolutely right. If I play the same cd every night, it would become their "night-night" music. Thank you for sharing this. This will be great - especially when we're traveling and in unfamiliar places. :)

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  4. That sounds wonderful! I used to have a little tape of night night songs, but they weren't good song, really. I could have used a Norah Jones CD! Thanks for sharing!

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I'd love to hear what you think!