Does this book really send children to sleep in minutes? We test it out

But we didn't want to take just anyone's word for it, so we've done some testing of our own, asking some of our forum users to try out the book on their children – and tell us how it worked.

The big question then: does this book really send your kids to sleep in nano-seconds? Or not? Here are the verdicts...

'He just rolled over and fell asleep!'

"I was very unsure about it," says Chamilto, who tested the book on her 4-year-old son. "It takes a while to get my son to sleep. As I read the story, he kept asking when it was going to finish [but] when it got to the bit about your body being heavy, I was amazed as he stopped fidgeting and was yawning away. At the end of the book, although he looked very much awake, next thing I knew he'd rolled over and fallen asleep."

'I though it was going to be an epic fail but then...'

"At one point, you have to yawn," says MummyP1981, who tested the book on her 5-year-old son, "and he looked at me and said, 'You're very tired tonight aren't you, Mummy?' He was so tickled that the book 'had his name in it' that he started giggling... I thought this was going to be an epic fail. I carried on anyway and, within the next couple of minutes, he'd fallen fast asleep. He was asleep about halfway through the book."

'It was like she was in a trance'

"I was surprised at the length of the book!" says cupcakemummy, who tried it out on her night-waking daughter Mia, 5. "But Mia was interested and was definitely getting sleepy as we went on. The cutest moment was when, almost in a dream-like voice, she was repeating the words I was saying. It was like she was in a trance! As we finished, she turned over and cuddled her Mickey. I kissed her goodnight and turned out the light. That was it. She slept until 7am and she didn't wake in the night crying like she normally does. I was impressed!"

'It doesn't flow easily but it even made me drowsy!'

"When I read it to my 7 year old," says brummymum, "he wanted to look at the pictures, and check if it really did say his name (it obviously didn't!). It doesn't exactly flow easily when you read it aloud but, that said, all the yawning and saying, 'Go to sleep now' did seem to make him less fidgety than usual, and he did seem to drop off quicker than usual afterwards. It also made me feel drowsy, I think it was all the yawning!"

But is it just too boring to work more than once?

All our testers were very impressed by the book's sleep-inducing qualities but what we really want to know is would it work every night? MummyP1981, who tested the book over several nights, wasn't convinced. "It was his Daddy's turn to do bedtime tonight and, when he reached for the same book, our son said he didn't want that story again... I can see that the repetitiveness of the book is getting to him quickly. I am not sure now whether it is a good sleeping aid or just really boring!"

The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep is published by Penguin

Read more

• Toddler not sleeping? We can help
• Sleep secrets every mum should know
• Sleep - it's vital for parents, too, right?