This App Squashes Tantrums and Shortens Bedtime Routines, and I Use It Daily

You know those nights when your child begs for another bedtime story or uses extreme thirst, a sudden need to pee, or any other conceivable excuse to buy a few more minutes of awake time? I used to experience bedtime struggles at least a few times a week, until I began using the Moshi: Sleep and Mindfulness app regularly.

Like a lot of small kids, my preschool-age son is still learning how to calm his body and fall asleep on his own. Instead of lying with him while he navigates this every night, I turn on the Moshi: Sleep and Mindfulness app as the last step in his bedtime routine, and it bridges the gap in my absence. The soothing sleep stories shift the focus from me leaving the room to something pleasant. Without him even knowing, the app teaches him how to decompress and allows his natural fatigue to take over. I play the sleep stories from my phone through a small Bluetooth speaker on his nightstand and have even created a playlist of his favorites so I don't have to worry about a story ending before he falls asleep.

When we first started using Moshi: Sleep and Mindfulness, I'd cuddle with him for several minutes to listen along to the sleep stories — I even fell asleep while listening a few times! The stories lull the listener into a drowsy, deeply relaxed state. Most of them are rhymes describing dreamlike journeys mixed with gentle choruses and ambient white noise. As the story progresses, the narrator's voice gets increasingly slower and softer. Each story ends with a musical loop that continues for several minutes, so you don't have to worry about sudden silence, which can be jarring.

Now, he's happy to listen to stories and fall asleep without me in the room. Having that extra time back to spend with my husband or myself every night is a huge relief. And sometimes, on the nights when I'm feeling anxious or stressed, or I just want more time to cuddle, I'll even join him for a short sleep story, like "Tick-Tock Ten Minute Bedtime." It's surprisingly effective, even for adults!

Aside from it being a great sleep aid, the app also helps kids manage their big feelings. When my son is having a meltdown, I turn on a breathing exercise in the app where an animated koala shows him how to take deep breaths to calm down. My son can't help but giggle when the koala holds his breath in for a beat before exhaling through his mouth. It snaps him right out of his mood and turns the practice of finding his breath into a game. There are lots of other mini guided meditations called "moments" that help kids tap into joy, settle nerves, or work through anger. I love that the app teaches him healthy coping mechanisms that he can carry into adulthood.

The app is free to download and has some free content. In fact, my son's two favorite sleep stories, "Close Your Eyes Sleepy Paws" and "Goldie the Mindful Moshling" (which is narrated by Goldie Hawn), are both available for free. You can sign up for a seven-day free trial, and if your family likes it, the annual premium subscription is $40. That subscription will give you access to more than 130 sleep stories, meditations, music tracks, and sounds.

The makers of Moshi Twilight recommend it for children 4 and up, but they also recognize that every child is different. My son is almost 4 years old, and he just started to get into it. When I tried introducing it to him six months ago, he wasn't quite ready. If you're unsure, it's worth giving the seven-day trial a try or even testing their free sleep stories. For us, paying less than $4 a month for an app we use every single day is worth every penny!