CD hits the right note for parents deprived of sleep

MARGARET Thatcher famously ran the country on just four hours a night. For Winston Churchill, six hours was perfectly adequate, while Leonardo Da Vinci apparently made do with power naps of 15 minutes every hour.

But their sleep is child's play compared with what the typical new parent might endure . . .

Getting your tot to sleep – and then getting them to actually stay asleep – is a nightmare played out in the homes of new parents the world over by bleary-eyed mums and dads who probably have more in common with the Italian artist's short naps than Churchill's relaxing six-hour slumber.

For them, sleep is a distant dream thanks to a gurgling – or more likely screaming – wide awake little person who simply won't close their eyes.

But while some might turn to stern methods such as controlled crying in search of some shut-eye, retired Edinburgh GP Dr Elizabeth Scott believes her solution hits the right note.

It's 20 years since she first introduced weary mums at her Edinburgh surgery to the potential benefits of playing specific types of classical music to their babies.

Her theory was so successful that she developed it into her Sound Asleep for Babies cassette tape, which went on to sell a staggering 100,000 copies and even won Classical Music Magazine's Record of the Year.

Eventually her gentle methods were eclipsed by a new breed of "super nannies" like Gina Ford, who urged mums and dads to use stricter practices such as leaving babies to cry for increasing set periods.

Now, however, as their controlled crying techniques fall out of fashion, Dr Scott's classical music theory is being given a fresh lease of life for a new "iPod" generation of sleepy mums. Her original music tapes have been remastered and reissued as CDs – and there are plans for them to be available for tired parents to download on to their MP3 players.

"What's remarkable is that the original mums who came to me all those years ago are now grandmothers and they are looking for the music to get their grandchildren to sleep," says Dr Scott, of Queen's Crescent. "So it's going to help another generation."

She stumbled across the benefits of classical music for babies almost by accident.

"I used to see mums at my surgery who would plead for something to help their baby go to sleep," she explains. "I'd never had that trouble with my children, so I didn't really understand what they were going through.

"I used to waffle on about how their baby was probably very intelligent and lively and it would go to sleep in its own time and they would look at me like I was mad."

During a spell looking after her own grandson, she finally began to appreciate how desperate these mums had been.

"I quickly found out that he would not go to sleep and it was terrible," she says. "I played him lullabies and sang, but nothing helped and it was exhausting."

Eventually she put on some classical music – Vivaldi's Winter from The Four Seasons – and watched in amazement as her grandson, Louis, drifted into a deep sleep. She was so amazed by his response, that the GP went on to research both sleep and classical music.

"I found the brainwave rate of babies slipping into sleep was running at the same rate of the recording of Vivaldi's Winter," she explains.

She enlisted her own children, Frances, a pianist who was repetiteur to the Royal Ballet in London at the time and Hector, now head of instrumental studies at George Watson's College, to perform classical music which mimics the brainwaves of sleepy infants.

"It begins up-tempo to grab the screaming baby's attention," she explains. "The howl stops and babies are guided down the decreasing pace of Bach, Sibelius and Schubert, following the natural brainwave rate of babies drifting into sleep until their eyes shut contentedly to Beethoven's Pathetique."

Soon mums at her GP surgery in Newington were testing it on their sleepless tots – with remarkable results.

Now she's cured babies' bedtime blues, Dr Scott is turning her attention to an older generation with plans for a new CD aimed at adults.

"There are so many sleep issues and the problem is not decreasing," she says. "Unfortunately many people end up using sleeping pills which is not really a solution.

"Classical music like this could make a massive difference."

For further details, go to www.kidsmusicshop.com or e-mail [email protected]

Tips to send you to the land of nod

Sleep. Whether you're a new parent or simply searching for a good night's kip, chances are you're not getting enough.

Just one in ten of us can count ourselves lucky enough to manage a sound sleep.

One in three of us have more in common with Margaret Thatcher than we might think: we get by on less than five hours' sleep a night. And for a quarter of the UK population, sleep is related to some form of disorder, from snoring to insomnia.

To get a better night's sleep, Boots pharmacist Angela Chalmers, suggests:

• Train your body clock. Try to go to bed and wake up at roughly the same time every day – this will help programme your sleep cycle.

• Create a sleepy setting. Make sure your bedroom is a restful place. An eye mask and ear plugs might help.

• Avoid coffee, tea, cola and other caffeine-containing drinks in the evening. Swap with a warm milky drink.

• Have a warm bath, listen to soothing music, try yoga and aromatherapy to relax both mind and body.

• Turn off your phone, TV and computer – your mind needs to be resting.

• Try herbal products to help with sleeplessness.

'A RESTLESS CHILD IS EXHAUSTING'

MUM-of-two Nicole Johnstone has personal experience of the nightmare of trying to get a restless baby to sleep.

"Ethan is nearly four now, but he was a very restless sleeper," she recalls. "We'd get him down OK, but he'd be awake on and off all night.

"He'd sleep for an hour and be up for 45 minutes, then sleep for another hour and get up again. It was exhausting."

When baby Zac arrived, Nicole, 37, of Craiglockhart, hoped to finally get a "sleeper".

"He's a little better than Ethan," she nods, "but not much. I have tried just about everything except for controlled crying, which I really didn't want to do at all. Nothing really makes much difference."

So did Dr Scott's classical CD Sound Asleep for Babies work for Zac?

"It was a bit noisy at first which surprised me," she says. "You think it's going to be quiet and relaxing, so I was concerned that at first it might wake him up, not get him settled.

"I know it's meant to capture his attention but I was worried about playing it too loud at night."

While Zac merrily ignored the CD during what was supposed to be his nighttime sleep, he appeared to respond better next day when Nicole settled him down for a mid-morning nap.

"I'm not sure whether he was actually listening to it but 15 minutes into playing it he did go to sleep."

Would she persevere with the disc? "I'd definitely keep on using it," she agrees. "It's hard to tell right away if it works because babies' sleep is so erratic. But it's certainly worth trying."