'That's Awesome' (Exclusive): Madilyn Bailey Says Her 9-Month-Old Daughter Already ‘Sings Along’ to Mom's Music

Madilyn Baileyis opening up about her journey into motherhood.

The singer-songwriter, 31, welcomed her first baby, daughter Bobbie, with husband Jimmy Benrud in November 2023, and has since pivoted her career. Following the Aug. 10 release of her new musical animated children’s series Maddy and Her Magic Hatty Show, Bailey caught up with PEOPLE about her life as a new mom and how she ended up making children's music.

"It's been the best," the season 16 America’s Got Talent alum tells PEOPLE of the past nine months with Bobbie. "She's such a fun baby, kind of an easy baby, honestly. But it just gets more and more fun as she starts to put more things together, crawling, making some words."

Asked what surprised her most about motherhood, Bailey admits with a laugh, "Probably everything."

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She adds, "I mean, you can watch a million videos on different parenting techniques and things to look out for at certain ages, but it's just like, at least as a first-time parent, it's all brand new."

From "just keeping the child alive," to "sleep deprivation," Bailey reveals that her biggest challenge as a new mom was breastfeeding. "Nothing can prepare you for the breastfeeding journey," she exclaims. "Oh my gosh, don't get me started on that. That is way harder than I ever thought it could be."

Aside from breastfeeding, Bailey tells PEOPLE that since having a baby, "life is much more scheduled," which has made it very difficult for the artist to "get back in touch with myself and my creativity,"

"That's what I'll say is the biggest impact," she continues, "It's like every moment is super precious because, well, Bobbie's almost a year old already, which is nu -

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ts. So, you can't really waste any time when you have a kid, so it's all very scheduled."

"I wasn't used to scheduled creative time," she admits. But after a few months, Bailey says, "it's actually been really nice."

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Her scheduled creative time was put to good use as Bailey spent her months collaborating with Kids at Play and Sean Presant on her YouTube TV show Maddy and Her Magic Hatty Show. As for how she got started on her transition into the kid's music industry, Bailey shares, "I never thought about doing children's music until I got pregnant, and then when I got pregnant, I immediately started thinking, 'Oh my gosh, I have to listen to kids music for the rest of my life.'"

She continues to recall her thought process, saying, "What if I make some music that Bobbie loves, that kids will love, but that also is very pleasant for adults to listen to too? Because whatever music your kids listen to, you are also listening to over and over and over and over."

"So I wanted to make something that still had my vocal characteristics, but that sounded like a little kid. That's what we came up with for Maddy," she adds.

Just as Bailey hoped, her music has become her daughter's "favorite" to listen to. "I'm literally the person who's making her favorite music," she says. "That's awesome."

She excitedly adds that Bobbie has even started to sing along to her music. "I think she might be a singer. I'm just gonna put it out there. Because she kind of sings along with me and sings along to the songs."

While Bailey's "main priority" is still her personal pop music, creating music for the show has brought her a "happiness" that, she says, "loosens me up and is making my music even better."

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