The Lush lotion hailed as a 'miracle' toddler sleep cure

Her story goes like this: Parris’s 18-month-old daughter Ava-Hayley was keeping her up each night.

She’d wake up 5 or 6 times throughout the night, not hungry or in need of comfort, but just to sneak into mum’s room to wake her up to play.

Naturally, this left social worker Parris in a state of sleeplessness and total exhaustion.

Desperate, she popped into her local Lush store and purchased the now-infamous Sleepy lotion - made of lavender, oatmeal, jojoba oil, ylang ylang oil, tonka and cocoa butter (among other things).

And… BOOM! Now, Ava-Hayley sleeps the whole night through – a whopping 14 HOURS, no less – after having the cream rubbed onto her skin.

“I'd go as far to say the lotion is a miracle, especially for me as a working mum,” Parris told the Daily Mail.

"[Ava-Hayley would] climb out of the cot and run around the house. It's amazing how the cream has really worked - now she's sleeping from around 7pm to 9am.”

Even Parris is getting some shut-eye thanks to it’s soothing scent, too…

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The MadeForMums safety verdict

Lush's Sleepy has become something a viral sensation over the past few days – with everyone from tired mums to people with chronic illnesses and insomniac tendencies singing its praises and extolling the benefits.

But while it’s clear that the lavender-infused body cream works a treat to help adults get to sleep, is it definitely safe for use on all babies and young children’s skin?

Well, the good people at Lush got back to us, and here's what they said:

"Lush makes all of its own product perfume and we follow the international fragrance guidelines when doing so, the perfume in Sleepy body lotion falls within all the recommended parameters of them.

"As a general rule for babies, we don’t think you should put any perfumed products on children under the age of 6 months.

"Our advice to parents is to wear the lotion yourselves rather than applying it to your baby. However, you can use your own judgement in this instance.”

Typically, lavender’s generally considered safe for little ones in small doses, so it should be fine for 6 months + ?

Oh, and it's back in stock in store, and it looks like you can order different-sized jars for either £8 or £14 at Lush's online shop...

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What MFM mums make of Lush's Sleepy lotion

When we first shared this story, loads of our mums got in touch with us to let us know whether or not it worked on their child.

While the response was a bit mixed, it did seem to work wonders for quite a fair few of you ?

"I have been using this for me," mum @whitler told us on Instagram. "It works. Last night I used it on my son who has never slept through for 2.5 years and he slept till 6am in his own bed."

Nicky W agreed on Facebook: "I use this, combined with Scentsy's Jammy Time wax, 2 hour bedtime routines are much better now!"

And Ashley T added: "If you havent tried it. Do so!! If it doesnt work for your toddler it will for you... heaven in a pot."

One mum blogger, Live Over Laundry, was inspired by our original piece to test the product on her 3-year-old daughter. Here's her verdict:

"On the first night, I sat listening intently from my spot in the kitchen... come 11pm, I was beginning to loosen my grip on my cuppa, which had become representative of my hope! I tucked myself into bed and drifted soundly off myself.

"We woke at 9.15am! Oh yes! You heard me! 9 f******* 15, people! I opened the curtains to my poor mother-in-law waiting in the car to collect her little darling for the day's activities.

"The combination of being absolutely mortified at keeping her waiting plus the exorbitant joy at having slept an uninterrupted nine hours resulted in tears streaming down my face!

"The following nights were much the same and, as I had now realised I required an alarm clock for the first time in 3 years, I was up and about before my little sunshine on 4 of the 6 test nights!"

She did note though, that of the friends she'd ask, only around 65% of them had tried it and found it worked.

It's true that, for all the hallelujah ? moments, for some parents the Lush Sleepy lotion just doesn't do the trick.

Robyn W told us on Twitter: "I b***** wish this worked for my son!"

While @Samsach shared on Instagram: "3 days in to using it and no improvement ? damnit"

Facebooker Jenny W also adds that, because it didn't work for her son, you're best off trying a tester pot before you commit to buying the full-size tub. (Nice idea ???)

What the expert says

All in all, anything's worth a go when you've got a mini night owl in the house, right?

Baby and toddler sleep expert Chireal Shallow reckons there's no harm in giving these things a go if you're keen to try, but adds:

"There's no harm in it... but people should be mindful of the fact that what works for one, might not work for the other.

"There are many reason why babies and children don’t sleep, and that [lotion] might’ve solved that one child’s sleep issue. For another baby, it might be anxiety, and it won’t necessarily work.

"You’ve got to think about what the underlying reason for the sleep disturbance is. It’s great that these things work – lots of these things work.

"You’ve just got to find the right thing and the right combination for you and your family."

Have your say

We’ve heard about magic lotions, techniques and even bananas curing toddlers’ sleepless nights – but do YOU have a ‘miracle’ sleep-inducing trick you’d like to share?

Perhaps you’ve tried this lotion on your self or your own little ones? Please do let us know on Facebook, or in the comments below.

Image: SkinDeepBeautyBlog, Instagram/Sarah Davidson

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• Is lavender safe for little ones?
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