Book review: Big Beds and Bedtime

In this household we do not have good sleepers. We've been through various different stages of sleep deprivation with both children over the last four years. Currently it isn't the worse that it has been (that would be about two years ago when for over six months Harry screamed every night for two hours then started his day at 5am) but we do still have many disturbed nights. At the moment Harry sleeps through more often than not until his Groclock tells him that it is morning at 7am. Mia however is up several times a night, and as I blogged recently getting her to sleep at bedtime has become worse since we moved her into a bed.

Therefore, being asked to review Let's Talk About: Big Beds and Bedtime by Stella Gurney and Fiona Freund has come at an ideal time! This book is one in a series of books which will cover key developmental stages of childhood. The books are aimed at toddlers, pre-schoolers and their parents and feature modern photographs, illustrations, text and speech bubbles.

Big Beds and Bedtime follows Layla as she prepares for the first night in her new bed. She follows a typical bedtime routine which will be familiar to most young children, and the book discusses the anxieties that she might have (darkness, being very small in a big bed).

I really enjoyed the style of the book, it was easy to read with plenty of room left for open-ended discussion as well as opportunities to talk about what was happening in the photographs.

Mia (22 months) is a bit too young to understand the concept really, although I am certainly going to read the book to her regularly and hopefully re-inforce the messages about staying in your own bed all night. I thought that at four Harry might be too old for it, but he loved it. He particularly liked the pages towards the end of the book where you can see what Layla is dreaming about and see some pictures of other babies and small children in all the places that they fall asleep. Even though his sleep is better than it has been there is still room for improvement, and I do hope that this book will have some influence!

You can find more information about the books on the Let's Talk About website.



I was sent Let's Talk About Bedtime to review, links are affiliate.