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Twin Cities Mom Collective

Roger the Rabbit and the Power to Put Your Kid to Sleep

Have you heard of this new book yet? It’s called The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep: A New Way of Getting Children to Sleep by Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin, a Swedish author with a background in psychology. Currently, it’s the #1 book on Amazon, and based on the reviews, there is a statistical probability that this book could help knock your kid out at night in record time! But does it really work?

When I heard about it through one of our Neighborhood Groups I immediately downloaded a copy to my iPad! The psych major in me was exploding with curiosity! Could a book really put a kid to sleep that fast and easily? I had to put it to the test!

Roger the Rabbit and the Power to Put Your Kid to Sleep | Twin Cities Moms Blog

Originally, I had great intentions of tracking the exact length of minutes it took my daughter to fall asleep for one week so I could see if there was a significant increase or decrease on the days I read the book. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Probably because I was so tired after reading it! So here’s my not-so-scientific study on good ol’ Roger the Rabbit…

The subject of this study was my 3-year-old daughter, a pretty active kid. She’s in the process of weaning off of naps and naps every other day, sometimes every two days. The days when she doesn’t nap, it takes about 30 minutes or less for her to fall asleep. The days when she does take a little cat nap, it takes about 30-45 minutes, sometimes an hour, for her to fall asleep at night. Pretty decent bed-goer compared to some other stories I’ve heard, but faster and easier is worth a shot!

The test was reading the book for one week, because one day, or even a couple, just isn’t enough to truly test it out. Plus, the book emphasizes falling asleep faster in the future, so there’s possibility of improvement as time goes on. The “thing” about the book is that it has bold parts and italicized parts. The bold parts you read with emphasis, and the italicized parts you read slowly. Some sentences didn’t make sense, but it all has to do with the tempo and what-not. You’re also supposed to read it while your child is lying down, ideally with their eyes closed. I lied next to my daughter on the bed and held the iPad so she could see the very few pictures there were.

The results? The first night, my major concern was the pictures. There aren’t a lot and there isn’t a lot of detail or crazy colors like most books have, which I’m sure helps promote relaxation, but I was nervous about attention span. Turns out, she likes Roger. She was asleep within 10 minutes of finishing the book (on a no nap day). The next day she was asleep earlier as well. Day three, she was tired and grumpy and was begging for the book almost 2 hours before bed! Day six, she squirmed more during the book than usual and then proceeded to stay awake an additional 45 minutes after the book was done. However, the book recommends active playing before bed, something we didn’t do that night.

The results–yes, there was improvement, even though it wasn’t really bad to start with. The book is looong though! It’ll probably take you about 20 minutes to read the book properly. Basically, it feels like you’re hypnotizing your kid–”Down, down, down. That’s right. Good” “Deeper and deeper into sleep.” If your child struggles with sleep, it’s definitely worth $7.50 to download it and try it out. My advice is to follow the book’s instructions and also give it time, at least a week, to really put into practice the relaxation techniques.

What are some other tips and tricks you have for helping your kids to sleep?

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