This is the story of how the soothing glow of a nightlight and the calming chirps on a sound machine saved my sanity.

Let me set the scene for you: it’s my children’s bedtime and I try to no avail to keep this routine as swift and pain-free as possible. But my daughter wants me to sing another song to her or have yet another sip of water. Or it might be that my son has to pee again or wants me to stay to rub his back. What’s supposed to be maybe a 20-minute routine somehow turns into a one-hour ordeal, and I’m left wondering “why won’t these kids just go the f*@& to sleep?”

Do you want to know the reason why? My children, like many others, need some extra comfort to settle into their slumber, and after much trial and error, my husband and I came to a very helpful solution — twinkling lights and soothing sounds.

Both of my kids like the comfort of having a bit of light in their room when trying to fall asleep, so when they selected these Cloud B night lights, like this ladybug or this turtle, I was hopeful that we were on our way to an easier bedtime routine. Cloud B offers many other cuddly buddies that project stars on the ceiling and walls, such as a hippo or bunny, that glow in a choice of three soft colours.

My daughter also sometimes likes to have some calming sounds or soft music to listen to as she drifts off to sleep. The Nighty Night Owl and the Peaceful Panda from Cloud B make the perfect solution for a child who likes sounds or music because both of them offer a mixture of familiar melodies, like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, or relaxing nature sounds.

A great way to have the best of both worlds would be to get the Cloud B Sleep Sheep gift set. It comes with a cute little sheep that shines twinkling stars and a cuddly sheep that plays four soothing sounds.

My son and daughter still occasionally try to find a way to stall going to bed, but now that we’re armed with these trusty bedtime companions saying goodnight goes much faster, and I’m not cursing under my breath after being called back upstairs dozens of times.

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