Before my daughter was born, I was a music therapist in a children's hospital. My job was to go room to room to help kids who were in pain and/or scared, among other things. They often needed to sleep more than anything, so many days, I went from room to room singing babies and kids to sleep. (It was as amazing at it sounds.)
When I was pregnant, my guitar rested on my pregnant belly and I sang all day long. My daughter used to be most active while under a guitar. It's no wonder she's such a music lover these days.
Long before any of this, I have loved lullabies. My mom is a singer and a composer with a dreamy, silky-smooth voice perfect for lullabies... so maybe my love for them came from her.
I recommend picking one special lullaby to sing to your child over and over again throughout their childhood. Start with a few options and then narrow them down while you're rocking your baby to sleep (you'll have the time!) and see what song connects the two of you. Recordings are okay, too, but live singing from a parent is the very best, according to music therapy research.
My daughter's lullaby is a version of "Stay Awake" from Mary Poppins. ("Version" sounds so official... when she was a newborn I couldn't remember all of the words and if I remember right, I was desperately trying anything to get her to go to sleep and the song popped in my head and it ended up being perfect for us. So our "version" of that song is a new-mom-sleep-deprived-made-up-variation of the song... and it stuck!!)
My daughter is so used to "Stay Awake" as a cue for sleep that to this day, she yawns right when I sing the first few notes.
There are so many beautiful lullabies (did I mention that I LOVE lullabies?)... here are my favorites:
(from Mary Poppins) by Julie Andrews
by Diana Krall
by The Wishing Jar
by The Wailin' Jennys
by Alison Krauss
by Kesang Marstrand
by Renee & Jeremy
by Nichole Nordeman
by Charlie Hope
by The Beatles
(the recording is upbeat... best sung by a parent!)
(from Dumbo) by Alison Krauss
(from Lady and the Tramp) by Lori Carsillo
by Laura Veirs
Get the whole playlist HERE.
Sweet dreams.
Stephanie
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