The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep: A Revolutionary Approach to Helping Kids Get a Good Night's Rest

karol: So my 2.5year old is having most horrendous tantrums at the moment which really pull bedtime back. But today, after we received the book he was asleep within 15 mins of me reading it!! That’s not even half the book read and the kid is asleep! It’s good because it says [name] to add child’s name and tells you to sprinkle the sleepy dust on the child which really works and makes their imagination wild. Buy it you will not be disappointed xx

United Kingdom on Jul 09, 2023

Kyle P.: It made me feel relaxed and sleepy as I was reading it, but my daughter said it was scary! Maybe I read it wrong! But I think she just didn't like the picture of the snail character? so I might try the elephant story instead..

United Kingdom on Apr 11, 2023

S. Aylward: Our daughter is now nearly 19 months old, and i've been reading this to her for the past week. It usually takes about an hour before she's asleep and I can leave the room. The first time i read this to her, she feel asleep practically on the last sentence, but she did sit still on my lap and snuggled in for the story (which was lovely). The second time i read it to her, she feel asleep a bit quicker. and the third time, she was asleep before Roger started his trip to Uncle Yawn. It varies now, but for us, it's working, she's asleep before the story is finished. I tend to read on even when she's asleep, mainly because i'm enjoying the cuddle. :)

What i find difficult about this book, it's the random periods. full stops, what ever you want to call the. It makes the reading difficult to flow when reading allowed, unless you know the story very well. It's not written very well as a story, but i think it's more about the words being used repeatedly, such as "so tired, now. so so tired", "Sleep, now.", "slow, calm, relax", etc. But i admit, the word "now" is used a lot and is the main culprit for destroying the flow of the story.

That being said, it does work for us, so i...

United Kingdom on Sep 27, 2016

Brian James: I am one of the lucky majority for whom this book worked. My 2 year old daughter (2 years and 4 months) fell asleep the first night and has done so without fail every night since - about 3 weeks. Bedtime has gone from 2 exhausting hours of crying, carrying and singing to a pleasant, quiet 30 minutes in which we enjoy a story together. So, yeah, it works - much has been written about the book's effectiveness and my wife and I were hoping that this would happen.

What I DIDN'T expect was my daughter's total shift in attitude toward sleeping. She looks forward to our special bedtime story and now feels positive about the idea of falling asleep (probably because she knows how to now - the story teaches that), whereas she would cry at the mention of sleep or bedtime a month ago. I feel that the book has made sleep a safe and pleasant thing for her, given her ownership of bedtime (falling asleep is now something she DOES, not just something that happens to her) and empowered her by teaching her ways to relax and get ready to sleep. This is a far greater gift than merely hypnotizing your little one to sleep in 20 minutes each night, because these feelings of safety and confidence...

Japan on Aug 16, 2016

ECB: We are "that" household that has problem sleepers. Our oldest is six and youngest is two. We co-slept with both and are now trying to transition our youngest to his own bed. Some nights, however, all four of us end up in the same bed fighting for space. Bedtime has always been a battle. It is has never been relaxing, no matter the bathing, book-reading, prayers, reassurances, or other techniques. We are tired, weary, cranky parents who needed a solution.

When I heard about this book, I bought it with low expectations; we tried so many things and nothing works. I read it to our six-year-old son; IT WORKED! He feel asleep peacefully halfway through the story! I tried again another night when he wouldn't settle down...it worked again! But, as others have noted, the book is long, has intentionally unusual sentence structure in places, and for the imaginative child, can prompt a lot of questions: "how does Roger know my name?" or "why do you keep saying down like that?" There is also a bit of straining to see pictures. The book worked after some re-direction but it wasn't as calm (for me) as I'd hoped.

For our two-year-old, the book version was an epic fail. I was...

United States on Nov 09, 2015

mettamom: Swedish hypnosis? Yes, I will try ANYTHING to get my 3 yo to fall asleep quickly and STAY asleep, in her bed the whole night, but this book was NOT it. Heard about it from a friend on Facebook and ordered it immediately instead of requesting it as a present or waiting for it from the library. My 3 yo said, "Dis book is boring!" as she was jumping up and down on her bed as I'm trying to read in a slow calm voice. The pictures are nightmare-inducing. The Sleepy Snail looks like an aging-Steve Buscemi-worm and the wizard's house makes me think there's a witch waiting inside to cook me. Remember when Homer Simpson builds that clown bed for Bart? That bed is less scary than the wizard's house.

Plus it was translated from the Swedish (and apparently not edited AT ALL). But, I pretty much hate all books translated from Swedish. Stieg Larsson, John Ajvide Lindqvist, IKEA directions (That last one was a joke, obvs.).

This is a direct quote from the book.
"After a pause with relaxation the kind Sleepy Snail said that the secret is to calm down and to do everything in a more slowly manner. Walk slowly, so slowly. Move slowly, so slowly. Think slowly, breathe slowly and calm,...

United States on Sep 04, 2015

Lifelong Shopper: My daughter and son in -law are first time young parents of the most adorable child God every created. ( Of course, I'm grandma.. right?). They live with my husband and me. Most recently, my sweetie pie started having difficulty falling asleep. She would also wake up all hours of the night and cry. I'm sure the neighbors could hear her too! We figured her crying episodes were attributed to teething. But, when the teeth erupted through the gums and the nightly episodes continued, her parents began to feel hopeless. They tried everything to get her to fall asleep. Desperate and sleep deprived they even took her for 2 hour drives in the middle of the night! from Los Angeles to the Mexican Border!!!! No, they weren't going to drop her off!!!
When I heard about this book during a local news segment, I thought, "Why not give it a try." I use to facilitate relaxation group sessions for adults many years ago. So, I figured I'd use the same relaxation voice while reading this book to my granddaughter. The initial time, she had a major meltdown during the first page or two. She cried, kicked, and screamed. But, by page four she was snoring. Her pacifier fell out, while her precious eye...

United States on Aug 29, 2015

chanidoll1: My almost 3 year old never goes to sleep before I leave the room and this is not normally an issue. Recently however, she has been crying when I leave which means I have to listen to her cry while I try to breastfeed the baby to sleep in the next room. I was hoping this book would at least calm her. I was in total shock when she fell asleep halfway through the book. I didn't even read the instructions as it arrived just before I was about to take her to bed and she was excited to see what was in the package. It was pretty self explanatory though and although I found it a little boring it also helped to relax me and baby also went to sleep without any issues and was much more calm. My older 2 children were interested in the books 'magic' and asked me to read it to them. They are ages 6 and 9 and both asd so find it hard to settle down at night. My 6 year old daughter did not go to sleep during the book but was very relaxed when I kissed her goodnight. I walked by her door 5 mins later and she was fast asleep - she usually gets out of bed to play. My 9 year old son said he felt sleepy and relaxed but he did not go to sleep and got up as per usual. Although the illustrations look...

United Kingdom on Aug 18, 2015