The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep - Book Review

I received our copy of the book on Monday and tried it out on J that night. I felt a bit silly reading it as some of it doesn't flow too well (like when you keep saying Now). He kept wanting to sit up and look at the pictures and was miffed when I told him no - he said, and I agree, what is the point of a kids book with pictures in it if the kid is not meant to sit up and look at them? Also at one point I read a sentence which said about being so tired and I had to yawn - he looked at me and said, “You’re very tired tonight aren’t you mummy”  but at that point there was no sign of him drifting off. A moment later we got the giggles because I had to say his name and he was so tickled that the book ‘had his name in it’ that he started giggling and once he started I was off as well. I thought to myself no way is this going to work. We were both giggly and he had been really hyper before bed and I thought this is going to be an epic fail.

I carried on reading it anyway because you never know, and within the next couple of minutes I looked up and he’d fallen fast asleep in the position he’d been in during his giggling fit. I stayed and finished the story as directed, and he didn't stir again.

Usually he would take much longer to settle down to sleep - usually I would leave him awake and he would chat to his toys or read them a story - so it made a change to leave him fast asleep last night, and within an hour. He was asleep about halfway through the book. Also he would usually be awake and come into our bed around four or five in the morning - he came into our room at 5am and told Daddy P he had lost his favourite toy, Daddy P went into his room and found it and he had already climbed back into bed and was half asleep by the time daddy handed him back his toy. He slept through til 7.15 this morning and only woke up when his Daddy went in to wake him up - usually he would be woken by the alarm at 6.30 as he is normally in our bed by then. He was bright and energetic this morning and when I asked him he said he’d slept really well.

It was Daddy P’s turn to do bedtime the next night and when he reached for the same book J said he didn’t want that story again because I’d read it last night. Daddy P said that he wanted to read it so it was read again but already J is growing bored of it and wants a different book - usually we would read something different each evening, whether it’s a different short story or a chapter of a longer book - he is not used to hearing the same story night after night and I can see the repetitiveness of this getting to him quickly. He was kicking at the book from under the covers and was fidgeting and talking to his toys instead of listening. When I spoke to my husband he said he found the repeating of the word Now interrupted the flow of the book and he found it quite a wordy and boring story. He slept through without waking and this morning came into our bedroom at ten to seven with his usual morning mad-hair and a cheeky smile, Tiger tucked under one arm, rubbing his eyes with one hand and “Morning Mummy!” in his cheery way. He certainly seems to be sleeping well.

At this point I am not sure whether it is a good sleeping aid or just really boring and that’s why it works, but I am willing to continue trying and will update you on how it goes.

Day 3 – My turn again to do the bedtime routine. I’d had a difficult afternoon and evening with Baby A being very unsettled and we didn’t end up having dinner until much later than normal; when J and I went upstairs and he was ready for bed I picked up the book and he looked really upset and said “Not again! It’s boring all the time!” so I asked what he would prefer and he said Harry Potter, and because he’s been so good today and I was so exhausted myself I didn’t want to argue with him, so I agreed. The author of the book would probably say this defeats the purpose and I should have read the same book again anyway, but there we go, this is me being an imperfect parent and muddling through as best I can. The poor kid was shattered anyway as it was past his normal bedtime, and he was asleep within about five minutes of me reading. Whether he sleeps as well tonight as he has done the last couple of nights I don’t know, only time will tell.

I received my copy of The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep free of charge from Made For Mums in order to do a product review; I have not been paid for this review – the opinions expressed here are my own.