Silentnight Beds Scotland Sleep Aids Review

I was recently contacted by Silentnight Beds Scotland and asked "Did you sleep well last night?" I'd never given it much thought but no, I didn't. I hadn't had a good night's sleep since before I was pregnant! I find it hard to shut my brain off and I'm left thinking about the most stupid things. I'm also a pretty anxious person so I'm always waking up to check if C is okay in his cot.

Last year Silentnight conducted research and found that only 1/4 of parents are getting a good night's sleep. They then wanted to find out if sleep aids could help. Do their claims have any truth in them? I filled in an online questionnaire on my sleeping habits and received sleep aids in the post.

They sent me two boxes of Twinings tea bags; Sleep and Awake.

The Sleep tea is a herbal infusion including camomile, lavender and vanilla. It is naturally caffeine-free so perfect before bed.
The Awake tea is a herbal infusion including rooibos, ginger and ginseng. It is also naturally caffeine-free and claims to make you feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

To be completely honest, I didn't expect much. In my eyes, tea bags are tea bags and I didn't believe that they could make you feel a certain way.

I used them for a week. I drank my Sleep tea about half an hour before going upstairs to bed. Obviously, they don't just suddenly make you drowsy then you doze off. I would usually play about on my phone while lying in bed until I feel tired but as soon as I lay down, I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I was just so relaxed and fell asleep almost instantly. I had come upstairs literally ten minutes before my partner and I didn't even hear him come up and more importantly, I didn't wake during the night. I didn't put it down to the tea. Maybe I was just super tired because C is so energetic, but this continued throughout the week.

In the mornings, I would get up and give C his bottle straight away (through yawns) then I had my Awake tea. I would normally spend most of the day yawning away as, like I mentioned before, I wouldn't get a good night's sleep and C is so wriggly and always on the move. With the Awake tea, I didn't feel as tired throughout the day but I can't specifically put my finger on that moment that I switched from being tired to wide awake.

I stayed at my dad's on Saturday evening and forgot to bring a tea bag for that night and the following morning and I really did see a huge difference in that one night. I don't usually say this, but these will definitely be in my weekly shop. I'm so surprised at how well they worked and was totally prepared to write "They didn't help at all". How wrong was I?

(Disclaimer: I received these items free of charge in exchange for an open and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own).