Please tell us a bit about you and your family:

My name is Sarah, and I live in Northeast Baltimore with my husband Misha, and our two daughters, Savannah (almost 4) and Clementine (8 months). We also have a silly kitty named Ziggy. Our favorite family past times include hiking, camping, gardening, games of all sorts, and arts & crafts. Our daughter Savannah is very smart, outgoing, energetic, sensitive, and creative. The flip side of this is that she can be stubborn, persistent, emotional, and frustrating. She is strong-willed for sure. We wouldn’t want her any other way, she is an amazing kid in our (highly-biased) opinion, but it can be a challenge to find solutions to problems we encounter parenting her.

What first made you search for an app to help with your situation?

I didn’t actually search for an app to help! Instagram suggested the app to me, and it happened to be a potential solution to my problem. For months we had been struggling with getting our 3.5-year-old daughter Savannah to bed at night. We transitioned her to a big girl bed right after she turned 3, and while it went ok at first, it quickly deteriorated. Over the course of 6 months, while we were juggling a newborn and learning how to be parents of two, we had constant bedtime battles with Savannah. Some nights were better than others, but in general, it would take an hour to an hour and a half to get her to sleep, and by the time she went to sleep it was far past her bedtime and no one was happy. Some nights we would lead her back to bed 30 to 40 times. She had every excuse in the book for why she couldn’t go to sleep. Near the end she informed us that bedtime was “boring” and she was “not tired”. Meanwhile, Misha and I were losing all our post-bedtime alone time, frustrated with each other, frustrated with her, and dealing with an increasingly tired kiddo during the daytime. It was miserable.

Did you try any other ways to help with your situation?

We tried EVERYTHING. We took an online parenting course from our favorite toddler experts and implemented their suggestions. When that didn’t work, we implemented a bedtime pass with a treasure chest. At one point we had a sticker chart for our daily routines. We started eating a “bedtime banana” during our nightly book reading to stave off the “I’m hungry” cries. I turned into “robot Mom” and tried to keep my emotions completely out of the process and just calmly lead her back to bed every time she came out of her room. We did songs, back rubs, additional books, additional bedtime snacks, chapter books- you name it, we tried it. Some things would work for a while, but then illness or travel or just normal toddler development would throw them off the rails. I’m sorry to say we even tried yelling and threatening, not that we wanted to try those methods – we just frequently ran out of patience.

How did you feel the moment Moshi worked for you?

Moshi saved us. We felt like the app was a legitimate miracle. Too good to be true, except it wasn’t! It was really working. I saw an ad for the app on Instagram and thought “Why not try it? It can’t hurt.” She loves books, music, tv shows, performances- stories of all kinds. I reasoned it would be like listening to a book on tape, only more relaxing, and give her inquisitive and ever-active mind something to latch onto while trying to fall asleep. I told her I found her some new “stories” to listen to at bedtime while she falls asleep. She was super into it. The first night, we did our normal bedtime routine (bath time, PJs, “bedtime banana” and books, brush teeth, daytime reflections), and then she excitedly picked out her “story” from the app. It started playing on the speaker, she snuggled in, I turned out the light and gave her a kiss, told her I loved her and held my breath while I walked out of the room. And she just…..FELL ASLEEP WITHIN 5 MINUTES. At 8 pm, right on time. She didn’t come out of her room once. I could tell this was a GAME CHANGER. But I was still apprehensive, I didn’t want to get my hopes too high. But the next night it was the same….and the next night….and the next. Since we started using Moshi at bedtime a few weeks ago, we’ve had 1 or 2 rough bedtimes, but now those occasions are exceptions, not the rule.

What feature do you find the most helpful on the Moshi app?

The bedtime stories/night stories. And the fact that there are always new stories being added, so there’s always a new exciting story to listen to.

If you were asked to recommend Moshi, what would you say?

Moshi is a miraculous, sanity-saving, game-changing app that helps bright & active kids fall asleep easily at bedtime. It is worth every single penny and I don’t know what we would do without Moshi!

What would be the one word you’d use to describe Moshi?

MIRACULOUS

Bexy

Moshi's Head of Customer Experience & Community Operations. It's been a pleasure working for Moshi since 2011. I'm a Mom to two children, both with additional needs. I am passionate about learning more about children's struggles and hope to be able to share my experiences/learnings with others.