Music That Matters: Creating a Musical Routine Has Helped My Child

Sigh. Nights are long and hard with my little guy. He needs a nap. Absolutely. Rarely makes it to his 2 pm nap time without falling asleep first. And on days that I try to keep him up and skip the nap he’s a mess.
But when he does nap, its so hard to get him to sleep at night. Lately I’ve found that shortening his nap has made a big difference. But on nights like tonight, when the we “accidentally” let him nap for 3 hours, he could be up into the wee hours… my husband is actually asleep as I type this, and the little guy is walking around the house.
We’ve listened to advice from many, the requested and, ahem, not requested. Lets just say that medical diagnoses from certain people who try to butt in on your personal life are not too welcome. Sigh. But I digress. I’m sorry. I’m tired.
He’s a little man of routine and we’ve found that he totally responds to a musical routine. We have CDs that we’ve categorized: Wake-up Music, Playtime music, Sleepy Time Music, Late-Night Music. And with this musical routine we’ve noticed a positive change, most evenings, with sleeping.
A Recently we received a sample of Billy Jonas’s Happy Accidents which found its home in my son’s room. Every morning, as I now turn it on as I wake him around 7:45, he’s greet with “Eyes Wide Open,” sung as a Barbershop Quartet. The mix of peppy music is enough to usually wake him from his slumber. He knows that by the 3rd song he should be up and moving. And getting dressed around song 4.
Later in the day, he’s listening to a CD that I won in a contest on another blog: Milkshake’s Play. Easily, this fun CD became his playtime music. He puts it into the player when he’s ready to create and play happily in his room.
When its time to get ready for bed, we turn to the CDs by Hushabye Baby. I mention these often in my media round-ups, because they keep creating so many new country adaptations. The music that’s created from top country artists is so calming, they’re perfect for the getting ready for bed routine. His current favorite, ready?, Dolly Parton. On days when he’s had shorter naps or is acting sleepy, Dolly (and sometimes her country friends) take him right into magical dreams all night.
But on evenings when sleeping is a challenge, we turn to Magic Sleep, produced by Mango Media. My son has told me, time and again, that he doesn’t like this CD. Which makes sense. Because he finds it difficult to fight sleep once Magic Sleep is playing. A rhythmic beat, soft undertones and calming, mesmerizing musical flow help children drift to sleep. I’ve read that its used in daycares and the teachers found they were falling asleep as well, so much so that they had to leave the room. He may not like it, but its what gets him to sleep so I certainly like it!
Note: He came downstairs to me again while I was writing this review. It was time to pop in the Magic Sleep CD. So I kissed him goodnight, turned it on, and never heard from him again… until I went in his room this morning and started his day wtih Happy Accidents again.