Our Baby Loves Rick James

How we get our daughter to sleep

My brother is visiting. He says if he has to listen to “Graceland” one more time, he’s checking into a hotel. We bid my brother a fond farewell and play the Paul Simon song for the thousandth time.

Rocking in daddy’s arms to “Graceland” puts our baby to sleep. And what my brother doesn’t appreciate — he’s not a dad — is how desperate even the most doting parents are to get their children to bed each night.

Lullabies have never worked for us. Not our own poorly-recalled versions of them, nor the baby music CDs given to us by well-meaning friends. Our baby chills out to rock, bluegrass, and, when all else fails, Rick James’ “Super Freak”. Despite the lively beat, or because of it, she’ll nod off in just two plays.

I don’t know what’s more frightening, that my baby is soothed by this song, or that my husband knows all the words.

“Sweet Jane” (Cowboy Junkies version) also does the trick, although it takes like 10 plays, as does Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight” — the poor tone-deaf little dear thinks Mommy’s sad singing version of the song is best. She also likes Gillian Welch.

We’ve discovered our baby likes a good beat — mirroring the human heartbeat perhaps — and some songs played loudly. Then again, it’s possible she’s nodding off quickly to shut out the noise.

I know some of you — Baby Whisperer book fans among you — are shaking your heads, thinking we’re creating a monster by rocking her to bed every night. You’re probably right. No, I know you’re right as she rarely nods off without a long swing around the living room. But we’ve tried and failed at the put down, cry, pick up, cry harder, pick up, repeat method. Our nine-month-old has incredible staying power.

Might as well be honest about it: my child is crying right now as I write this blog. My husband tried rocking her to “Sweet Jane”. Then I tried my off-key version of “Walkin’ After Midnight”. Then we gave her more milk…

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