Baby Lullabies: help your baby fall asleep

It’s never too early to play your baby lullabies

Baby lullabies are perfect for bringing music to your baby right from the start. There is nothing more soothing to a little baby than the sound of their Mother’s voice.

Even before a baby is born they can hear sounds from the outside world. From around 18 weeks the pre-term baby reacts to sudden noises and will settle when the mother is calm and resting. The baby is rocked by the mother’s movement and reassured by the sound of her voice and the steady beat of her heart. It is understandable that when the baby is born these combined elements of voice, rhythm, and rocking are so comforting and reassuring.

Playing your baby lullabies in pregnancy and beyond

In later pregnancy, play your favourite soothing music when you get a chance to rest. Your baby will be listening and after delivery they will recognise this music and find it soothing.  

In the first three months baby lullabies relax and calm babies bringing them a sense of security and warmth. Because they are soft and soothing with simple repetitive rhythms and melodies they are just right for rocking and humming to.

Best Baby Lullabies

1. Chopin’s Nocturne
2. Rock a Bye Baby
3. Hush My Little Baby
4. Little People
5. Brahms Lullaby
6. Mozart’s Lullaby
7. Golden Slumbers
8. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
9. Schubert’s Lullaby

My Lullaby Album

Each of the tracks listed below can be played via the player below. My Lullaby is an album I recorded with popular lullabies set to gentle harp and bass. The albums can be personalised, with the songs including the name of the baby. The players below show this with the example of “Little Girl” and “Little Boy” – get in touch to see if we have recorded your baby’s name.

Chopin’s Nocturne

Chopin’s wrote 21 Nocturnes, but Op 9 No. 2 lends itself perfectly to a Lullaby because of its repetition. The two verses below can be sung on repeat for as long as you need so your baby can be lulled to sleep. In the first line you can also swap out “sleep tight” for your baby’s name sung as “good night, little Benjamin”, for example, which works well.

Rock a Bye Baby

Rock-a-bye-baby is sometimes sung as “Hush-a-bye-baby” and either version is a lovely, traditional lullaby that many people will recognise.

In the second and third verses, rather than singing “little girl/boy” you can insert your baby’s name – for example, “Hush little Abigail asleep in your bed”.

Hush My Little Baby

The lullaby below is sometimes confused for the more famous “Hush, Little Baby don’t say a word, Mumma’s going to buy you a mocking bird” as they share a similar title.

This is a shorter lullaby so it’s a bit easier to learn. You can listen to the tune using the players above.

Little People (Tune of “I Had a Little Nut Tree”)

The lullaby below uses the tune of “I Had a Little Nut Tree” with the words of the popular nursery rhyme “Bedtime”.

It’s a lovely one to sing as part of the bedtime routine because it can signal to your baby that it’s time to start getting ready for bed.

Brahms Lullaby

Brahms Lullaby is possibly one of the most famous baby lullabies and most people will recognise it. The lyrics are below, but the tune also works well hummed which is particularly calming.

The lullaby lends itself to being personalised because you can swap “little baby” for your baby’s name. In the second line, you can swap out “mummy” for the caregiver singing the song, or for your own name.

Mozart’s Lullaby

There are quite a few different versions of the lyrics for Mozart’s Lullaby that are all set to the same tune. I particularly like the words below because of the lovely restful images it conjures up.

You can personalise this baby lullaby too by swapping “My little boy/girl” in the second verse for the name of your baby. For example, “Dear little Charlotte, my love”.

Golden Slumbers

This lullaby inspired the track of the same name by The Beatles. The original baby lullaby is sometimes referred to as “The Cradle Song” and it’s a firm favourite.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is one that needs no introduction! The tune was made famous by Mozart’s arrangement and is still a favourite everywhere today. The second and third verses are less well known but are just as lovely.

If you want to learn Twinkle Twinkle on the piano you can check out my beginners piano tutorial here. For ideas and activities on how to sing Twinkle Twinkle with Toddlers, check out my activity post here.

Schubert’s Lullaby

Schubert’s Lullaby is a traditional lullaby that often has slightly different words from the translation from the original German to English but the lyrics below are my favourite.

Again, like the other baby lullabies in this post, you can swap out the boy/girl for your baby’s name.