Gentle songs calm small kids, though not at first (9)

'gentle songs' is the definition.
'lullabies' can be an answer for 'songs' (lullaby is a kind of song). I'm not sure about the 'gentle' bit.

'calm small kids though not at first' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'calm' could be 'lull' ('lull' can be a synonym of 'calm') and 'lull' is found in the answer.
'small' could be 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size) and 's' is present in the answer.
'first' could be 'i' (I in Roman numerals eg Elizabeth I) and 'i' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'abe' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?