How many parents actually sing lullabies to their babies/infants these days? It was something quite normal as recently as the 1930s and 40s yet it seems to have gone out of fashion. That was brought home to me by a migrant neighbour who calls herself "an Indian woman but not the kind from India" - she's Oglala. She sang my granddaughter one used back home and her mom sang to her while tapping on a small ornate drum. It was lovely and almost sent me into a trance. She was amazed we have stopped using this method to calm our tots.