How We Have Been Tackling Bedtime With Belightful Music

*Gifted Product

As you are probably aware by now, Jake does not sleep well. The issues vary from refusing to go to bed, getting up several times once we have put him to bed to waking up at a variety times during the night. There is no rhyme or reason, the health visitor could not solve the issue by changing meal times, varying his food or by introducing a gro-clock and as he doesn’t do it at the same time every night so it isn’t a habitual issue. I have tried every trick in the book, even resorting to

bribery with a chocolate coin which only worked the one night! Everyone says that starting school or pre-school and a new routine helps children to sleep as they are more worn out but we have seen him become over stimulated which has had the opposite effect. We are all tired, I have bags that have bags, I have become bored by the battles and have given in to him coming into us at night to snuggle.

Just as I was discussing it yet again with my rather exhausted looking hubby I received an unexpected message on Facebook. Catherine Rannus is a talented musician who produces relaxing albums for healing and well being which includes helping new Mum’s to bring a sense of calm into the home, music for meditation purposes and to aid children in a better night’s sleep. She offered to help with my issue by sending me a free download for Jake to see if it could make a difference. As a little extra she also sent an album of piano tunes for me, because every Mum needs some chill out time, don’t they!

“All Belightful Music makes use of hidden frequencies which bring us more into alignment with ourselves”

As a musical person myself our house is often filled with me singing, music on or playing the piano and Jake is very enthusiastic about trying his hand at it all too…

 

Such fantastic piano skills being demonstrated this morning ? #piano #music #toddler #lovingit #fun #needstuning #musiclove

A video posted by Emma Reed (@e_reed82) on Oct 18, 2016 at 3:00am PDT

So using piano music to try and calm him before bed seemed like the perfect choice for us.

We downloaded the album Night and Day and introduced Jake to the soothing tones that night. He was over the moon that he had these new songs just for him and suddenly became very excited about going up to bed! The two songs are specifically designed to tune into your child’s mood and help with both going to sleep and waking up. They are also useful in helping your child to understand when it is night time and when it is morning.

“Both tracks make use of the hidden frequencies which promote relaxation for the night time track and the natural frequencies for the waking up track – neither of which are found in concert pitch standard tuning.”

Once teeth were brushed, face washed and PJ’S were on, he snuggled into his bed and we put the night time music on low in the background to read some bedtime stories. This track has an Enya essence with an ‘ahhh-ing’ voice and sensual sounds. Jake’s usual routine involves me reading 2-3 books and then singing a song but just recently he has been seeing this as an advantage to make himself more awake by acting out the scenes in the books and getting overexcited. The music set low seemed to help him to switch off and he could concentrate on being read to instead of looking for his opportunity to avoid bed.

Catherine did recommend to me, as she also does on her website, that the music should be used as a half hour wind down before bed and not to be used to go to sleep to but Jake had other ideas and asked for the second song to be played when I left the room. This is a stunning piano piece which I absolutely adore. Due to his enthusiasm, I obliged. I was so overjoyed that he was a) relaxed and b) wanted more music on that I did what I needed to in order to help him get a good night’s sleep and get him asleep nice and early. The week before we had reached new heights of upset, with him screaming, going red and battling us. One night this went on until gone 10 pm and consequently had an impact on his pre-school day with him telling his teachers that he was tired.

I came away from his room expecting him to appear downstairs 5 minutes later but he didn’t. I crept back up after 15 minutes and he was sound asleep and we finally had our evening back.

The next few nights worked the same way and he was still enjoying his music and was even more excited when I bought him his own CD player for his room.

 

Someone is loving their music from @belightful_music Blog up soon #music #relaxing #toddler #sleepissues #cd #pianotunes #chill #chilledout #results #switchingoff #pbloggers #pbloggersuk #bloggers #kids #children #musicalmum #review

A photo posted by Emma Reed (@e_reed82) on Jan 20, 2017 at 7:07am PST

Unfortunately, Tuesday night he was overtired from a busy day and he was very difficult to settle even with the music on. Being three, having started pre-school and having new information to process has all contributed to these tricky bedtimes and I know it is an ongoing problem which won’t be solved overnight but luckily, this was the only bad night we had in the week. He has still woken in the night but only to come in with us and one night he even went through 12 hours which we haven’t seen for a very long time!

As for my album that Catherine kindly sent, well that has also been a great gift. I have sat listening to it whilst I am writing or chilling out in the evening, instead of having the TV on, and it has been bliss to just be able to take that time out and relax.

“The ‘Pure Piano’ album creates a calm atmosphere no matter what the activity. This contains frequencies found in nature and shown to improve vital functions within the body. It is also brilliant to play in a classroom when the children are starting to become fractious!”

I would highly recommend Catherine’s music if you also have a sleep thief because lack of sleep affects everybody in the home. It can bring on bad moods, illnesses, an unsettled atmosphere and can affect your child’s development. As a parent who has always had a poor sleeper, I am so glad that we have finally found something that will help all of us.

 “Listening to music on a regular basis can help children manage stress and anxiety while improving their concentration, focus and listening skills.”

To find out more about Catherine’s company Belightful Music you can read more details on her website. You can also listen to snippets of her music and purchase albums or downloads. These are also available on Amazon, itunes and spotify. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too.

*I received this music for the benefit of this post but all opinions remain honest and my own. For more information please refer to my disclosure page.