A Personalised Lullaby With Your Baby’s Name: How to Make One
How to make a personalised lullaby with your baby’s name: what makes a lullaby calm, what to put in the words, getting the name right, and gift ideas.
A lullaby does two jobs: it calms the baby and it calms you. A lullaby with your baby's name in it does a third. It becomes their song, the first thing anyone ever wrote for them. Here is what makes a lullaby soothing, what to put in the words, and how to make a personalised one you will not mind hearing forty times a night.
What makes a lullaby a lullaby
Lullabies around the world share a few things: a slow, steady pulse, lots of repetition, a simple melody that does not jump about, and soft sounds. They sit somewhere between a heartbeat and a rocking chair. When you make one, keep all of that in mind:
- Slow and steady. Choose the Lullaby style and the Calm & cozy mood.
- Few instruments. Piano, harp or a gentle guitar. Or Vocals only, which sounds closest to a parent singing.
- Short lines and repetition. The chorus should come round often and change very little.
- No surprises. Save the jokes and the big finish for the first-birthday song.
What to put in the words
A lullaby has room for very little, so every word should be warm and familiar:
- The name, in the chorus. Plus any nickname you actually use.
- The people who love them. Parents, siblings, grandparents, the dog who guards the door.
- Their room and their night. The moon in the window, the night light, the trains going past.
- A promise. One simple line: you are safe, we are here, see you in the morning.
Write it for 3am
Imagine the song at three in the morning, on the fourth replay, with a teething baby on your shoulder. Every word should still feel gentle then. Cut anything clever. Keep anything kind.
An example brief
Here is the kind of brief that makes a good lullaby. Everything in it is invented for this example:
Example brief
A lullaby for Nora, born in October. We call her Bean. Her big brother Sam, who is four, sings to her in the bath. Our grey cat Pepper sleeps outside her door every night. Grandma in Lisbon calls her "minha flor". Her room has a round window where you can see the moon. Chorus idea: goodnight Nora, the moon is at your window, Pepper's at the door.
From a brief like that, the lyrics come back in seconds. Read them, soften anything that feels too busy, and make sure the chorus is short enough to hum.
Getting the name right
Unusual names, and names from another language, are sometimes sung with the stress in the wrong place. Two things help. First, write the pronunciation into the story, for example "Saoirse, said SEER-sha". Second, if the finished song still gets it wrong, change the spelling in the lyrics to match the sound and make the song again. Making it again uses another song from your pack.
Ready for theirs? Choose New baby as the occasion and Lullaby as the style, add the name and the people who love them, and read every line before it is sung.
Make a lullabyA lullaby in the family's language
Many families speak more than one language at home. Ribbontune writes and sings the whole song in any of 24 languages, from Spanish and Portuguese to Arabic, Hindi, Polish and Japanese. Each song is in one language, so some families make two: one in each parent's language, or one in the grandparents' language to play when they visit.
Using it at bedtime
- Same song, same time. Repetition is the point. Play it at the same moment in the bedtime routine every night.
- Keep the speaker away from the cot. Put it across the room with the volume low. You want a soft background, not a concert.
- Sing along. After a week you will know the words. Your own voice is the best version of it.
As a gift for new parents
A personalised lullaby makes a lovely baby shower or newborn gift, because it is used every single night. Ask the parents for the name first, or use the bump's nickname if the name is still a secret. Print the square cover art for the nursery wall. If you want to go further, the Gift Set's three songs cover a lullaby, a song for the new parents, and one saved for the first birthday.
Celebrating soon? A baby's first December deserves its own song: see how to make a family Christmas song. And for the new mom herself, try our guide to a song for Mom.
What it costs
Your first song is free when you sign up. After that, one song is $9, three are $21 and ten are $50, with no subscription. Each includes the full track, cover art, a share page and an MP3 to keep on every phone in the house.
