A cat toy as a magical sleeping aid? Your baby will immediately doze off

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No more petting, soothing and rocking. The latest TikTok hype might just be a blessing for overtired parents. A lot of moms and dads on TikTok are already convinced: with the help of the ‘dancing fish’ cat toy, no more and no less than a floundering fish, their baby will be in dreamland in no time.

The ‘dancing fish’ is a popular cat toy but turns out to be multifunctional: even the littlest ones can benefit from it. And maybe even more so for brand new parents. Because thanks to the floundering fish, you no longer have to soothe your baby endlessly when the apple of your eye can’t fall asleep, say TikTokkers. The endless, soft and reassuring pat on your baby’s tummy or bottom while you are hanging over the edge of the crib? The “dancing fish” takes that task from you.

It works like this: Inside the dancing fish is a mechanism that drives the tail, causing it to flounder on the ground. Parents ‘tie’ the fish to the back of their offspring with a cloth, with the tail at the level of the diaper. When the fish is on, and the baby is lying on the stomach, the tail gently beats against the baby’s bottom.

And that, apparently, is the perfect rhythm for falling asleep. Of course, the fish is not meant to accompany your baby for an entire night. Once your child is asleep, it is best to remove the toy.

Yes, it really sounds too good to be true. Especially when you know that you don’t even have to pay that much money for the moving fish, and the fish is easily available. Prices hover around five dollars. And that while a good night’s sleep is worth gold.

Can you not suppress an eye roll and catch yourself on an ‘it will do’? For those who are not yet convinced, the TikTokkers have been enthusiastically engaged. Plenty of videos to prove it: