Posted by Amy on February 25, 2010
I am thrilled to announce that our first lullaby CD, The Divine Hours of Motherhood, has won a Gold Mom’s Choice Award!
The Divine Hours of Motherhoodbegan in my search to find a spiritual reference point for the hours of mothering. I thought of the nuns and monks who got up to sing and pray at set intervals called the cannonical hours and found a source of strength.
My son was born prematurely and needed to be nursed every couple of hours around the clock. Needless to say these were challenging times, but once I embraced this schedule as a spiritual practice I felt connected again to all the other mothers who were up at the same time all around the world caring for their children.
I began to see my time with my baby as a time for prayer and song and these moments, though often trying, were also transformational.
The songs on this CD are ones that I wrote for my day with my son. They follow a parent and child from morning Lauds through to Evening Vespers. Compline is a time for meditation after baby is in bed.
This CD is designed as a companion to my book Transformational Mothering-A Prayerful Companion for New Mothers which was also honored with a Mom’s Choice Award.
It fills me up knowing that there are people being touched by my music. I thank you all for your interest in lullabies, in music that touches the heart of our relationships with our children.
If you are looking for a gift for a family with a new baby I hope you will consider my book and CD.
Blessings,
Amy
Categories: New Lullabies |
2 Comments »
Posted by Amy on February 22, 2010
I was thrilled to find this wonderful article on music and the brain from BBC News. In it, Victoria Gill outlines new research that demonstrates that if a person’s “speech center” is damaged by a stroke they can still regain language skills by tapping into their “singing center.”
What I find interesting is that the therapy involves helping people gain language by putting words to simple melodies. Something that parents have been doing for eons with their children and something that we encourage in our e-courses here on LullabyLink.
Professor Schlaug is quoted as saying, “Music might be an alternative medium to engage parts of the brain that are otherwise not engaged.” How exciting!
To add to the wonder, Dr. Klaus has discovered that musical training also helps with other tasks such as reading and that therefore it is an important part of every child’s education.
I hope that you enjoy this article as much as I did.
Keep singing! You are truly building a “sound” foundation for you and your child’s future well being.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8526699.stm
Categories: Lullaby |
Tags: lullabies, music and development, music and reading, music and the brain, music therapy | No Comments »
Posted by Amy on February 20, 2010
We are so excited to announce our new newsletter e-course on LullabyLink.com!
I remember just how difficult it was to find a music class for my son and me that was both within our budget and not during a nap time.
Now we have put it all online for you!
Just sign up for our newsletter on the home page of LullabyLink.com and you will immediately be sent our Crying Baby Tips, a Lullaby Lyrics Songbook, a free MP3 and a welcome video with our first technique; “Having a Heart to Heart” with your baby, toddler or preschooler.
In subsequent emails you will receive Bedtime Routine Secrets full of helpful tips to get you and your child the rest you need, musical activities to do with your baby, toddler or preschooler, even karaoke lullabies to learn!
In addition, we will be including articles on research into early childhood music, and interviews with musicians and people in the field of music and child development.
Our goal is to get you what you need in a fun and easy way so that you can build a “sound” foundation with your child. Of course, you can unsubscribe at anytime and we never share your information for any reason.
Sign up today! You will be glad you did!
Categories: Lullaby |
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Posted by Amy on January 28, 2010
(If you prefer you can see my Video Review by using the link at the bottom of this post)
I used some basic massage with my son when he was a baby but I often felt unsure about what techniques to use. When I heard about Lullaby Massage- Rhyme and Touch Massage for Infants and Children I immediately contacted Dr. Hart to see if I could review her new book. She was generous enough to send me a copy and I am so grateful. This is the massage book I wish I had had when my son was a baby.
The past few days I have been using some of these techniques with him (he is now 4). I was pleasantly surprised how quickly he took to it. I did the whole routine of 12 massages in order one evening before bed. He was very interested in the book and in the rhymes. We did a few sessions on his stuffed animals and then did each other’s feet. The next day we were driving in the car and he asked me, “Mommy, what was the toothpaste massage?” We recited it together while he massaged his fingers in the carseat. Then he asked “What was the one with the numbers?” Luckily I remembered, and we did that one also.
The idea to combine rhymes and massage is brilliant. I know that my son would not think of just doing a massage but making it into a game is a wonderful way to work it into our day. The rhymes are enchanting and memorable. In the bath last night my son asked “Mommy, what was the fish in the Amazon rhyme?” I got the book and we did the massage in the tub which made bathtime more fun.
What I love about this book is that it is not all or nothing. Dr. Hart is wonderfully encouraging. She has wonderful tips on how to integrate massage into your day with your child whether you want to use the entire 12 massage routine or just one or two techniques. The book is structured really well and has a fantastic spiral binding so it will lay flat on a bed while you are learning the techniques and rhymes. There is also a downloadable recording of the rhymes that you get for free so you can listen to the proper rhythms, pacing and cadences.
Because I am a singer I was a bit disappointed that there were no actual songs but the rhymes are so lyrical that they are easy to fit to an impromptu melody. The fact that they are spoken is, of course, a plus if you do not enjoy singing.
I give this book a huge Lullaby Link thumbs up. If you are looking for a soothing way to bond and connect with your infant or child and help them to relax or sleep then this is the book for you.
Lullaby Massage Video Book Review by Amy
Categories: Lullaby |
Tags: baby massage, Lullaby, massage, new book, Sybil L. Hart Ph.D. | No Comments »
Posted by Amy on January 21, 2010
Reading this wonderful article brought me back to the days when my husband and I both used “kangaroo care” in the neonatal intensive care unit. We held him skin to skin and told him stories, sang to him and whispered words of encouragement.
If you are a parent of a child in the NICU or you know one. Please let them know about kangaroo care. It is a gift to both the child being held and the parent.
Read the article here here.
Categories: News & Comments |
Tags: kangaroo care, music in the NICU, NICU | No Comments »
Posted by Amy on January 13, 2010
I wanted to share this amazing article with you all. I remember the difficulties of those first few months of mothering. This organization is just full of miracles. La Leche League does so much to help women here but I wish that we had the kind of Plunkett Family Centre described in this article here. Enjoy.
The Baby Whisperers
Categories: News & Comments |
Tags: help for new moms, new motherhood | No Comments »
Posted by Amy on December 29, 2009
I just learned that Iphone has developed a new application called “Lulla” which is up to 60 minutes of music designed to help fetal development during pregnancy. With songs like “Mom’s Love” and “Endless Blessings” it sounds like the answer to every fetus’ dreams. But is it?
I must admit I have mixed feelings. Is this an example of a technological breakthrough or technology taking over mothering?
On the one hand it has been proven that listening to lullabies for a half hour each day is beneficial to the mother. The Journal of Clinical Nursing produced a study in October of 2008 that showed that mothers who listened to lullabies while pregnant had a significant reduction in stress, anxiety and depression scores. Thus, even if the music had no effect on the fetus, listening to this application should be beneficial to the pregnancy overall.
I would even argue that the fetus would enjoy listening to the music, and that he or she would have positive associations with that music once born. However, I have always been skeptical of piping music purposely into the womb. When I was pregnant many women were strapping earphones on to their pregnant bellies. To me, it felt like an intrusion. What if my baby didn’t like the music? Should I have the right to pipe it in anyway? In the end, I decided that I wanted my son not to hear Mozart, but to hear what Mozart heard, the rhythm of his mothers heart and breathing and her voice.
The Lulla application concerns me for two reasons. One, it subtly tells mothers that technology is better than they are. Instead of encouraging mother’s to sing to their children, we encourage them to have their babies listen to music on their iphone. So what will the baby prefer once born? Unless the mother is also singing to her baby, then the child will come to see music as something that comes from a box rather than from a person.
The other reason this concerns me is the way it is being advertised. One advertisement exhorts “Don’t let your child lose at the starting line!” Is it not enough that our children should compete to quickly achieve once born? Now the race starts in the womb. Is this sane? I don’t think so.
It has been proven that relationships, not machines, are what hook up the billions of neurons that we are born with. If mothers choose to listen to music with their babies, I think that is wonderful and that it probably has a fantastically relaxing effect on both the mother and the baby. However, I hope that we can find a way to encourage mothers to also sing to their children. Real mothering can not be replaced with an iphone app no matter how well researched the music.
Have you used this application? Did you have your baby listen to music in the womb? What effects did you see if any? Please either leave a comment here or join our discussion on Lullaby Link on Facebook. I would love to hear your opinion. Thanks!
Categories: News & Comments |
Tags: Lulla, lullaby technology, music in the womb | 3 Comments »
Posted by Amy on December 17, 2009
Did you know that when your baby is born they have 100 billion neurons? That is equivalent to the number of stars in the Milky Way! These neurons need to be connected up so that the child can make sense of the world and guess what? Music helps. So does talking to your baby in a sing song voice or in “parentese.”
I found this article on The Nation online and wanted to share it with you. I will warn you, the opening paragraph rambles about licorice but the overall article is really good. You can read it here.
During this holiday season it is good to remember that our children do not need all the fancy toys that are marketed to us. What they need is US. Time to sing, time to laugh, time to play silly games and have fun. We are the first and the best teachers that our children will ever have.
May we remember this season that we are a gift to each other and raise our voices in song and celebration.
Categories: News & Comments |
Tags: children, lullabies | No Comments »
Posted by Amy on December 14, 2009
(Bangor, ME) Amy Robbins-Wilson is a Maine singer-storyteller and more importantly a mom of neonatal intensive care baby. So it is no surprise that she wants to give back to the caregivers and the hospital that saved her son. That is why she teamed up with the Children’s Miracle Network of EMHS to launch a new music video for her lullaby “Child of Sunshine.” She wrote the song for her son Clayton when he was about four months old and recorded it on her album The Divine Hours of Motherhood.
Every time someone downloads the song Amy is donating 100% of the proceeds to the Children’s Miracle Network from now through the end of the year. The download is only 99 cents you can check it out at www.lullaby-link.com. All the money raised will stay local and help our children in northern, central, and eastern Maine.
“This whole endeavor is a huge leap of faith,” Amy says, “We have no idea if one person will download the song or if a million will. All we can do is hope that others will get involved, download the song and tell as many people as they can.”
Josh Scroggins, director Children’s Miracle Network of EMHS shares, “It is so rewarding to see one of our Miracle children and their family doing so well and for them to turn and want to help children and families – that’s what CMN is all about. I am so grateful – we could not help as many families as we do if it were not for people giving what they can.”
For More Information:
Email-amy@amyrobbinswilson.com
Website-www.amyrobbinswilson.com
http://www.lullabylink.com
Categories: Lullaby |
Tags: Amy Robbins-Wilson, Child of Sunshine, Children's Miracle Network, CMN, Lullaby, lullaby artist, Music Video | No Comments »
Posted by Amy on November 22, 2009
We are so excited to announce the launch of our first ever music video!
Click here to watch Child of Sunshine.
We are so grateful for all the Maine artists who collaborated with us and made this possible.
Learn more about them here.
Thank you for watching and listening and passing it on! From now until the end of the year all proceeds from downloads will go to the Children’s Miracle Network who played a huge role in saving the life of our son.
Please leave us a comment and let you know what you think!
Categories: Lullaby |
Tags: Amy Robbins-Wilson, Child of Sunshine, Lullaby, lullaby artist, Music Video | No Comments »
I am thrilled to announce that our first lullaby CD, The Divine Hours of Motherhood, has won a Gold Mom’s Choice Award! 
