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Thoughts on Listening for Sleep, Baby, Sleep
We want you to listen to and enjoy Sleep, Baby, Sleep in whatever way works best for you! We don’t wholly subscribe to any of the competing sleep philosophies or methods being touted today. We believe life is more nuanced and individualized than any one solution can offer. There are good and bad aspects to just about every method, theory, system, philosophy, fad or trend out there – there are no silver bullets.
With our daughter a little mix of everything has worked – most important is a consistent routine. Our philosophy is do what works for your child and your family. Use whatever tools help establish your routine. The most important thing is that everyone gets rest!
That being said, we did approach the creation of Sleep, Baby, Sleep using music therapy techniques and with a few basic ideas in mind. We wanted make something that could be used to help with a routine or just listened to for enjoyment. It might not work for every child and there will always be those nights where nothing works – that’s just part of life.
That being said, we wanted to share our approach and experience. We hope it might inspire some ideas when you are struggling to get your little-one down (we know how challenging it can be!).
How we approached creating Sleep, Baby, Sleep.
When we created Sleep, Baby, Sleep we approached it with a few basic principles.
1. Help calm child and guide them to get mentally prepared for sleep using music therapy techniques like tempo-mapping based on heart rates.
2. Use familiar and repetitive songs to draw and maintain focus.
3. Perform extended length arrangements to minimize abrupt changes and extend repetitive cycles.
4. Create something that can assist in establishing a routine, if needed.
Listen to a sample track here.
Ideas to approaching Sleep, Baby, Sleep in practice.
This experience will be different for every family and we don’t recommend one way over any other. Here is just one possibility. Leave your story in the comment section below.
Introduce Sleep, Baby, Sleep to your child as a present – a unique gift that is just for him or her. Help them realize it’s something special to help attach a memorable and significant experience to it. Try to ensure the first playing is a good experience to establish a positive association with the music and the routine you want to create.
Stay and listened to the first track together – discuss the music and pat his or her back calmly. Talk softy and yawn periodically (this will often cause your child to yawn, too. It’s sometimes referred to as “contagious yawning”). As the second track, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star begins tell them to keep listening. Reassure them you have to do something in the next room and will come check on him in a minute. Tell them you’ll be right back and suggest they just close their eyes and listen for a little bit. Assure them you will come right back – just listen to the special music for a minute. Leave to room for a few minutes and see what happens. If they are restless or inconsolable, come back to check on them confirming you were still there in the next room. Within due time they will relax and drift to sleep. Try repeating this everyday to help establish a routine. Let us know your experience below!
Listening to music while falling asleep are some of my earliest and fondest memories. I hope they will also be some of theirs.