Festive music is the key to getting excited kids to sleep on Christmas Eve – and there’s one song that works wonders
CHRISTMAS Eve can be a nightmare for parents whose kids are too excited to fall asleep.
But experts have now revealed the Christmas song that is most likely to help your little one drift off into slumber.
Kids' bed specialist analysed 45,000 songs on Spotify and lullaby playlists to make 10 tunes that should lull your kid to sleep.
And top of the list was Eartha Kitt's Santa Baby for drifting off in a short amount of time.
Next was Gene Autry's Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) and Stevie Wonder's What Christmas Means To Me.
It seems Band Aid is a popular one to snooze to, as three different versions of Do They Know It's Christmas featured in the list.
They were followed by George Michael's December Song, The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole, Boney M's Mary's Boy Child and Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by Dean Martin.
The songs were calculated by working out the average beats per minute (BPM), the most common key and time signatures of the top ten lullabies on Spotify.
This enabled the team to find the perfect formula for a lullaby, which they then applied to some of the most popular Christmas tunes on Spotify playlists.
Annaliese Grimaud, a researcher at the Music & Science Lab at Durham University, revealed why lullabies help children to sleep.
THE TOP TEN CHRISTMAS SONGS TO GET YOUR CHILD TO SLEEP
1. Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby
2. Gene Autry – Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)
3. Stevie Wonder – What Christmas Means To Me
4. George Michael – December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)
5. Band Aid 30 – Do They Know It’s Christmas
6. Boney M – Mary’s Boy Child
7. Band Aid 1984 – Do They Know It’s Christmas
8. Nat King Cole – The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)
9. Band Aid 20 – Do They Know It’s Christmas
10. Dean Martin – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
She said: “The function of a lullaby is to soothe a baby and put them to sleep, so common features we would expect to see in lullabies would be, a slow(ish) tempo, relatively quiet dynamics, simple rhythm pattern - potentially one that imitates a rocking movement and a simple melody.
"Other features include a song that’s easier to memorise and easier to sing, with predictability achieved by repetitive phrases and verses, and a high pitch due to the connotations that mothers/females usually sing lullabies."
Russell Davis, director of Cuckooland, said: " We know how difficult it is to get children to sleep on Christmas Eve through all of the excitement, and so we wanted to help out!
"Sleep is important every night, even if it is Christmas Eve and this way we can keep in the Christmas spirit and get off to sleep with ease."
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