Meet Shelly and Aurora
Please tell us a bit about you and your family:
Hi! I’m Shelly. My husband, 6-year-old daughter Aurora, and I live in Portugal. I moved here
around 15 years ago after I got fed up with the seemingly endless grey skies in Lincolnshire where I’d spent all of my life up until that point. We live 15 minutes away from the ocean, which is something I’ve always dreamed of. Winter beach walks are one of my very favourite things; bundled up against the cold wind, the crashing waves, and the deserted white sands. My husband and I only brave the Atlantic ocean in the summer, but our Aurora is quite happy to tear in and out of the waves whatever the season!
What was it that first made you search for an app to help with your situation?
It has always been a big struggle to get Aurora to fall asleep, right from when she was a tiny baby. We were convinced that she’d grow out of it as she got older, but oh how wrong we were! Instead of taking less time to fall asleep, she’d take longer and longer – usually taking hours before she would drop off. On her best nights, she might have taken an hour to fall asleep. Basically, it’s like she didn’t know how to relax – she would keep on twitching her legs, arms, hands, face and just talk, talk, talk! After 4 years of this, her dad and I were totally exhausted, and at our wits’ ends – with us both working full-time jobs and Aurora in daycare and then spending so much time with her as she fell asleep we were almost never getting to spend any time together.
Did you try any other ways to help with your situation?
We tried everything! Earlier bedtime, later bedtime, calming music, white noise, soothing scents and lavender baths, melatonin drops, more exercise in the day, no electronic devices hours before bedtime… While all of these were very nice and we did work out a nice bedtime routine, nothing worked! We’d already resigned ourselves to the possibility that it could go on like this for many more years.
How did you feel the moment Moshi worked for you?
When Aurora was around 4 years old I wasn’t searching for a sleep app but I saw a sponsored ad for it and I thought “why not” and I signed up for the shortest subscription to see if it worked. On that first night, we did the whole bedtime routine as usual and settled in to listen to SleepyPaws. At first, I thought “oh here we go” as Aurora got quite excited at the new thing we were trying and kept 
commenting on the story and the song. The story finished and I realised that there was no movement and no sound coming from her. Holding my breath I took a peek at her face in the darkness… Could it be?! It’s just a fluke, I told myself. Surely it’s not this easy. We tried it again the next night, different story, the same result. We tried it again and again and it kept on working!! It’s like her brain is so busy at night time she just doesn’t know how to switch it off (oh, how I can relate), and having these calming stories on gives her something singular to focus on which actually lets her fall asleep. Two years have passed now and she still has her Moshi story every single night. On average now it takes her around 30 minutes to fall asleep – which is totally amazing compared to how it used to be! If she’s not feeling well during the day or feels worked up she will usually ask if she can listen to some Moshi Music to help herself calm down – we’ve just discovered the lullabies which she loves listening to in her bath before bedtime.
To go back to the question, the moment I realised that Moshi was actually working for her I felt a whole rush of emotions – relief, happiness for my daughter and for us parents, and a little bit of annoyance at myself that I hadn’t found it sooner!
What feature do you find the most helpful on the Moshi app?
I love the search function, so we can search directly for the character (she usually has it exactly in her mind which character she wants every single night). 
I also like that you can choose a story by length because sometimes if it’s super late I don’t want to risk the chance that Aurora will listen to a 30-minute story before she falls asleep!
If you were asked to recommend Moshi, what would you say?
I do frequently recommend Moshi to any parent having a similar struggle to the one we had. I say to just give it a go! What’s the worst that can happen?! – if it doesn’t work, at least it gives the child a calming moment before bedtime.
What would be the one word you’d use to describe Moshi?
Magic!
Do you have any tips for other families using the app?
Just give it a go! I thought this would be no different from listening to calming music or sounds on other platforms but I was so wrong!
