Hello, my name is Hadassah and I have three kids. Motherhood is a little bit like being in AA in that the only people who will automatically ‘get’ why you’re perpetually late, always tired and covered in unidentified stains, are other Mums. We meet regularly, usually at the same place and always hydrated with caffeine, to confide, vent and commiserate with one another over our shared maternal wins and fails.
Perhaps the greatest topic which equally unites and divides us however is the sleeping habits of our offspring. We inwardly seethe at the unicorn parent whose child routinely ‘sleeps through the night’ (what!!!!) while everyone else competes to see who endured the most number of wake ups. Or how many of us lost their evenings to the three year old who gave himself a mid-afternoon nap only to then resist bedtime until past 11pm. Or who ended up using the F word after losing the 10th round of bedtime boomerang with the 6yo who’s a genius at thinking up excuse after excuse as to why she’s out of bed for the hundredth time.
They tell us, consistency is key and they’re right (they being the sleep consultants and child experts). But it’s not always as simple as it sounds. Or at least it wasn’t until I discovered the world of Moshi.
The Moshi Twilight App is a sensory trove of soporific stories, sounds and guided relaxations told by a collection of narrators with silky smooth voices that quite literally lull you into slumber. Now, I’ve done music and I’ve done audio books and both worked, for a time, but like most things my kids grew immune to hearing the same thing over and over. The beauty of the Moshi App is its range of tracks to listen to which you can compile into your own playlist. This feature also works perfectly for the baby’s daytime sleeps where I can just leave her to listen to a steady stream of rainbows, waves and rhapsodies.
Each track is around 15 to 20 minutes long, so I set my kids a challenge (unbeknownst to them). I wanted to see how long each night from the first night we started using the App, it would take them to fall asleep. On the first night it took until the start of the second track for them to fall asleep, though unlike their usual in and out of bed nonsense they stayed lying down, calmly in their beds. The second night saw them snoring by the middle of the first track and as each night came around the time continued to lapse.
Knowing that I’m in for a peaceful road to sleep come bedtime makes the whole evening far more enjoyable and doable, especially as during the week I do it without the help of my husband. Our “routine” typically sees us head upstairs around 6.45pm to brush teeth and read a story (something I finally feel able to do again after months of being too tired and too frustrated in the face of never-ending days). I direct the big kids into their bunks (they share a room), lights go off, the baby goes onto the boob and the Moshi Twilight App is switched on.
Then it’s time to climb cloud staircases (the 6yo’s favourite by the way) to visit Wanda the cottony cloud, or listen to the twinkling echoes of jewels inside Roxy’s Crystal Grotto or join Buster Bumblechops for a night at the Snoozeum. No matter which Moshi adventure we opt to explore, the Moshling magic instantly spreads a wave of calm over all three of my children. They might have been engaged in an impromptu pirate dress up party just seconds before, but the second they hear the dulcet tones of the Moshi Twilight voices, the vibe shifts.
It’s quite incredible to watch and on weekends when my husband is home to help with bedtime, he likes to make bets with me on how quickly the kids will fall asleep once the App is on. It can seriously be anywhere as quick as 3 minutes!!
Giving kids a familiar prompt that lets them know it’s time for rest and sleep is something I fully believe aids in creating that consistency we’re all striving for. I now have three kids who are all asleep every night by 7.30-8pm at the latest and though the baby still wakes up in the night, at least I have a trick up my pyjama sleeve to resettle her (and me I might add) back to sleep.
The Moshi Twilight App is available to download on iTunes and Google Play. You can download the App for free, but I highly recommend unlocking the Premium paid subscription for the full range of sleep stories, sounds and guided relaxations.
After all, you can’t put a price on a good night’s sleep.