Nervous sleep in a child. Sleep disorder in children. Treatment of sleep disorders. Unfavorable atmosphere in the house

Most often, nightmares (hereinafter - CS) occur in children, night sleep which has certain deviations. Without them, nightmares are also possible if the child is impressionable, the circumstances, the environment are traumatic, or there is any painful disorder. We were able to find out the general prevalence of sleep disorders in children through a survey of 1,466 parents at two pediatric clinic sites. The figures below are based on the opinions of parents who report visible sleep disturbances, when in fact there are many more of them.

Every third child from 1 to 15 years old falls asleep poorly, usually for a long time, without differences by gender. In preschool age, difficulties in falling asleep are significantly more common than in school age, which is associated with more pronounced signs of neuropathy and organic disorder central nervous system.
Girls and boys fall asleep the worst when they are five years old. In girls, this coincides with an increase in the CS, that is, nighttime restlessness in girls is more reflected in falling asleep than in boys, or, which is the same thing, girls are more sensitive at this age to what they dream at night. Every third child also sleeps restlessly (talks, wakes up, tosses and turns), be it a girl (somewhat more often) or a boy.

Let us note (according to computer analysis) reliable relationships between disturbed sleep and the characteristics of pregnancy and childbirth, psychological state mother. Using them, you can reliably predict what sleep disturbances await children.

Let's start with superficial sleep, when even at the slightest noise the child immediately loses sleep, and at best he plays, at worst he screams and cries. It turned out that shallow sleep is associated with worries (emotional stress) of the mother during pregnancy. The unrest itself stems from in this case, from the mother’s lack of confidence in the strength of the marriage and the presence of fear of childbirth.
Keep yourself in constant voltage, fear, as we see, does not go in vain. The fetus is tense, restless and cannot sleep properly while still in the womb. Leads to the same results increased fatigue mothers during pregnancy, no matter what the reasons.

Let us remember: with the most common neurosis - neurasthenia - sleep is most often disturbed. You can’t get enough sleep, sleep doesn’t bring you joy, it’s filled with all sorts of worries and anxieties.
Fatigue during the day is even greater, sleep becomes worse - there is vicious circle with inevitable irritability and mood disorders. What can we say about the overstrain of neuropsychic forces during pregnancy, when the load is already taking its toll, and endurance may not naturally be the highest. Accordingly, the fetal sleep biorhythm is upset, and often for a long time.

Any pediatrician will confirm another pattern we have established: restless, shallow sleep is most typical for children born ahead of schedule. Their sleep is immature, intermittent, and day and night change places. And here everything can work out if everything is calm at home and the mother is loving, and not always dissatisfied with the child who appeared “early in time”, and she herself is too nervous.
The child's restless sleep also brings constant torment to young parents. Everything doesn’t suit him, he can’t find a place for himself, he rushes about in his sleep, throws off the blanket, babbles something, tries to fall out of bed. And... the more the child behaves In a similar way, the more worried and tense the parents become, invisibly conveying their excitement and only aggravating their sleep problems.

You need to worry, but not excessively, and don’t dramatize your children’s nighttime problems. This will not make them sleep better. But it’s worth stroking the sufferer, whispering friendly words, and calming down yourself. Parents were usually surprised when they saw how I, as a pediatrician, calmed the most hopeless crying children. He took the children in his arms and walked around, rocking them slightly, talking gently and soothingly - for the mother, naturally. And she studied, since she was young and programmed by the rules written in another country.

How can one not remember the grandmother from the village: without any books or instructions, she rocked the cradle with one hand, cooked porridge with the other, and even sang a song. And in similar cases (in the 60s) I did not see nervous sleep disturbances in those who no longer crawled, but walked. In the village new life- a sacred matter. The family was not supposed to worry about a newborn, and they were not supposed to invite loitering people either, so as not to “jinx them.”
Folk wisdom and instincts spoke about this.
On the physical side, of course, there were flaws - and they worked until the last minute, and gave birth in the field, but to “poison” a child, to prevent him from being born or to give him to strangers - this happened extremely rarely. Pregnancy as a message from God was perceived as something natural, natural, bestowed by fate.

Now there is a lot of stress before birth, among which in the first place is the lack of confidence in the strength of the marriage, conflicts with the husband, other worries, bad feeling and irritability, threat of miscarriage and emotional shock during childbirth from painful contractions. We ourselves can eliminate all these causes of restless sleep in children if we are more mature at the time of motherhood and more mentally protected.

Crying in a dream in children of the first years of life does not allow parents to sleep peacefully, feeling clearly “out of place.” It affects not only emotional stress during pregnancy (excitement, poor health and increased fatigue), but also various deviations during pregnancy and childbirth (toxicosis of the first half of pregnancy, premature birth, excessively rapid or prolonged, premature release of water, entanglement of the newborn’s neck with the umbilical cord).
Swaddling is the same routine procedure as feeding. However, some children clearly calm down, being tightly swaddled, others, on the contrary, struggle to free themselves, and only when fairly tired from the abundance of movements do they calm down and fall asleep. The temperament is already visible here.

Children with a choleric temperament find it more difficult to tolerate any constraint and are just waiting to be freed; phlegmatic people prefer to be wrapped up according to all the rules. And sanguine people, that’s why they are sanguine, so as not to make special demands: not very tight and not very loose - it will be just right.
But even outside of temperament, sometimes we see how a child falls asleep only tightly swaddled. Such addictions are associated with the presence of a threat of miscarriage during pregnancy and extremely painful contractions during childbirth. The same factors are involved in the origin of restless sleep in children, since sleep is in a certain way analogous to intrauterine existence, when the child is left alone, in the dark and in a confined space. In addition, negative emotional reactions were recorded in the fetus from the ninth week of life - at the standard age of artificial termination of pregnancy or abortion.

When there is a threat of miscarriage, the appearance of emotional shock cannot be ruled out, which, together with the mother’s similar stress, leads to a release into the blood large quantity anxiety hormones. This dose is in some cases enough to disrupt sleep in the coming months and years. A completed miscarriage means the inevitable death of the fetus, but the threat of miscarriage also leads to disruption of the placental circulation and intrauterine hypoxia (insufficient oxygen supply to the fetal brain).
The same applies to excessively intense, painful contractions of the muscles of the uterus during the opening of its cervix. The threat of death, physical destruction reflexively turns on the instinct of self-preservation in the fetus in the form of a defensive reaction of motor anxiety and fear.

After birth, an excessively open space, the absence of a cradle, crib, as well as clothing, gives rise to an unaccountable feeling of anxiety, usually in the form of crying, less often - screaming and difficulty falling asleep. Now it is clear why tight swaddling calms children who have suffered the threat of miscarriage and painful contractions of the mother during childbirth. They are again, as it were, in the womb, but in safe conditions of existence.
The main thing is that if there was any threat of premature birth, swaddling was necessary, reproducing the conditions of safe intrauterine life.

At organic damage brain from asphyxia, birth trauma, the sensitivity of the skin painfully increases, there are tremors of individual parts of the face or convulsions, tension, hypertonicity of the limbs and torso. Then tight swaddling, on the contrary, will increase the child’s anxiety and crying; the best option there will be loose swaddling or more frequent positioning of the baby fully open.

In general, 10% of boys and 15% of girls are susceptible, according to their parents, to frequent night terrors.
Much more accurate, but not absolute due to repression and amnesia of night fear, we obtain data from direct, morning questioning of children about what they saw at night, including nightmares. Over the course of ten days, 79 children from 3 to 7 years old in kindergartens were interviewed in a similar way. It turned out that given time 37% of children (at least one in three) had a nightmare, 18% (almost one in five) saw it repeatedly, sometimes in serials, almost every night. Thus, parents state only the “tip of the iceberg.”

At nervous disorders, as shown by an additional survey of children in the speech therapy group of the kindergarten, the CS is even greater.
Regardless of the state of the nervous system, the number of CS in preschool age, according to a survey of children, significantly increases from 3 to 7 years, marking an increasing awareness of the problems of life and death, the beginning and end of one’s life.
We have repeatedly been convinced of the existence of a relationship between the fear of nightmares and their actual presence in children. Moreover, such fear unmistakably indicated the existence of a CS, even if the child could not remember what exactly it was. As already noted, the question was formulated as follows: “Are you afraid of bad dreams or not?”

Despite the possibility of reflecting the past traumatic experience of dreams in the answer, in most cases the answer reflected the current, that is, the last experience of perception of terrible dreams.
A total of 2,135 children and adolescents aged 3 to 16 years were surveyed. The survey data is shown in the table.

Table. Age distribution of fears of nightmares (FS)

From the table we see that the maximum values of fears of CS in boys are observed at 6 years old, in girls - at 5, 6 years old and in preschoolers - at 7 years old (the survey was conducted in the late 70s).
This is far from accidental, since it is in older preschool age that the fear of death is most actively represented. Just given fear and is present in the nightmares of children, once again emphasizing the underlying and more pronounced instinct of self-preservation in girls.

A unique comparison can be made among preschoolers and schoolchildren aged 7 years. It seems that the age is the same, but the tendency towards a decrease in fears of CS is noticeable among first-graders. The explanation is similar to the decrease in the average score of all fears at school age, due to the new, socially significant position of the student. This is a kind of left-hemisphere shift in the child’s consciousness, when the right-hemisphere, spontaneous, intuitive type of response (which includes fears) must give way to the rational perception of left-hemisphere school information.
We see that the number of fears of CS is significantly greater in preschool age for both boys and girls. In turn, fears of CS (like all fears in general) are significantly more often observed in girls, reflecting a naturally more pronounced instinct of self-preservation.
It was previously noted that the most active in relation to all fears is the senior preschool age. The fear of CS is no exception, which is closely related (according to computer factor analysis) with fears of attack, illness (infection), death (oneself and parents), animals (wolf, bear, dogs, spiders, snakes), elements (storm , hurricane, flood, earthquake), as well as fears of depth, fire, fire and war. Based on all these fears, one can almost unmistakably assume the presence of nightmares and, accordingly, fear of them.

It is interesting to compare the fear of CS in children from the so-called normal population and children suffering from neurotic disorders personality. People with neuroses have more fears of CS than most of their peers who are healthy. This is not surprising, given the increased anxiety, emotional vulnerability, instability of mood, and lack of self-confidence, self-confidence, and capabilities that are characteristic of neuroses. What also attracts attention is the defenselessness of children, their inability to withstand danger; even a small child can offend them, as one mother said.

Children with fear neurosis are most afraid of CS, when they are so overwhelmed by fear itself that they cannot fight back any dangers that await them day and night.
In children with all neuroses, fears of the CS are most often presented at the age of 6-10, when fears appear during the day, like mushrooms after rain, under the influence of experiences caused by the fear of death, learning problems, etc.
Normally, fear of CS is usually limited to older preschool age. In other words, the fear of CS in neuroses has a more prolonged, extended nature and indicates a more pronounced inability of children to solve their personal problems on their own, without the help of adults.

Since children with neuroses are much more sensitive to CS, it makes sense for them to further consider all the problems associated with CS.
"What is Caesar's is for Caesar, what is Caesar's is for Caesar." The same applies to girls and boys. The former have a relationship with CS during pregnancy, the latter do not, and nothing can be done about it. If there is a girl in the mother’s womb, and the mother has toxicosis in the first half of pregnancy (uncontrollable vomiting), then after the birth of the girl, they will significantly more often see CS and be afraid of them. And toxicosis of the second half of pregnancy (nephropathy), albeit at the level of a trend, will have a similar effect. Boys have similar relationships that are “zero.”

Thus, the mother’s problems during pregnancy and her poor health have a more traumatic emotional impact on girls, as can be seen in their subsequent dreams. Since the fetus “sees” dreams in the womb, starting from 8 weeks of life (according to neurophysiologists), this period of pregnancy can be compared with the maximum severity of toxicosis in the first half. Then our conclusions, even statistically based ones, will not seem meaningless.

When asked why all this is expressed only in girls, we point out their more pronounced instinct of self-preservation compared to boys (remember that girls experience fears 2 times more often than boys). Therefore, toxicosis, creating the threat of weakening and termination of pregnancy, causes, first of all, hormonally mediated anxiety in girls, as a kind of instinctive protective reaction.

The relationship between fears immediately before sleep and fears during sleep, that is, CS, was examined separately. The previously made conclusion about the reproduction of children's daily experiences in the CS was confirmed. Moreover, by the anxiety experienced by children before bedtime, one can confidently judge the appearance of CS in them, even if they are completely amnesic (forgotten) in the morning.

A restless baby affects the performance of all family members. At night, the body recovers, and sleep problems negatively affect the immune system.

If sleep disturbances occur repeatedly in children, this indicates pathology. We need to see a doctor. It is important to determine whether a sleep disorder is a whim or a disease.

Falling asleep at night and uninterrupted sleep are not determined genetically, but are established during life: in the womb there is no change of day and night.

Therefore, babies of the 1st year of life always wake up at night and sleep during the day.

The causes of sleep disorders are varied:

illnesses internal organs;
hereditary predisposition;
emotional stress, stress (going to kindergarten, mother going to work);
incorrect behavior pattern in relation to sleep and wakefulness;
physical discomfort (teething, colic, wet bed, crumbs on the sheet, unsuitable room temperature);
hunger;
late dinner, weaning.

Sleep disturbances in children under one year of age can be caused by rickets, inguinal and umbilical hernia, diseases of the spine, stomach and intestines, rheumatism.

20% of babies have difficulty falling asleep in the evening, wake up and cry at night.

Different types of disorders have different manifestations.

About treatment and preventive measures nervous tic for adults see .

Main manifestations of sleep disorders in children

An incorrect pattern of sleep and wakefulness is expressed in the fact that the baby repeatedly falls asleep during the day and wakes up at night.

In addition, the following deviations are common:

Fears. Sleep disturbances in children of this nature usually occur between the ages of 2-6 years, more often in whiny boys. The child sits up half asleep, screams and cries in bed; calmed down by the efforts of the parents.

During an attack, it is impossible to wake up the child; by the morning he cannot remember his behavior and retell his dreams.

These are manifestations strong excitement nervous system. By the age of 10-12 years the disorder goes away.

Waking up in the middle of the night. Occurs in babies from 4 months to a year. There is nothing serious here and the reason lies in the incorrect behavior of parents who rush to lull their child to sleep. The baby produces conditioned reflex, in which the parents' attention acts as reinforcement. The body is “set” to awaken to receive food and parental care.

The cause can also be diseases of the heart, blood vessels, and respiratory organs.

Sleepwalking. While sleeping, a child (usually a boy 5-10 years old) behaves actively, walks and performs purposeful actions. His eyes are open, his movements are clumsy, but he does not stumble or bump into furniture; in the morning he doesn’t remember anything.

The disorder can occur in connection with epilepsy, enuresis, diseases of the central nervous system and the genitourinary system.

Talking in your sleep. Children, while in a state of sleep, utter words or sentences, albeit unclear; after waking up they don’t remember anything.

Nightmares are typical for any age, but more often such a sleep disorder can be noticed in a child 3-7 years old, as well as 10-12 years old. Man wakes up in the middle of the night and remembers what he dreamed - this is different from fears. If scary dreams last more than once a week, it’s time to see a doctor.

Bruxism. A child (usually 12-13 years old) clenches his teeth, his breathing and heartbeat change. The reason for this behavior is not clear, but worms have nothing to do with it.

This may indicate malocclusion. Due to the abrasion of the enamel, the child needs to be shown to an orthodontist. Bruxism is a consequence of nerve dysfunction, when tension in the facial muscles does not go away even at night. This requires the help of a neurologist.

Trembling appear in babies under one year of age, born with hypoxia or developmental defects, and adolescents. Trembling indicates epilepsy ill health of the nervous system and mental sphere.

Urinary incontinence (enuresis) children 6-12 years old are susceptible, with delay mental development or genetically predisposed.

The reason is the immaturity of the nervous system (awakening reflexes are not developed), as well as urological diseases and stress.

In this case, a neurologist will help.

Stopping breathing occurs in everyone. The person breathes through his mouth, snores, his breathing is intermittent; sleep disturbance in infants can be expressed in difficulty eating; older children learn poorly due to nap liveliness. The disease is associated with enlarged adenoids and tonsils, sometimes with diseases of the nerves and muscles, congenital pathologies, overweight.

A consultation with an ENT specialist is required here.

Sleep initiation disorder. Difficulty falling asleep in the evening among preschoolers is common due to difficulties in adapting to a team, increased excitability of the nervous system, and psychological discomfort.

Delayed sleep phase syndrome. Teens lead active life at night, and in the morning it is difficult for them to wake up, they are lethargic all day. The problem has psychological roots associated with entry into adult life, and with increased school loads.

3% of children suffer from respiratory arrest, 20% suffer from bruxism.

Sleep disorders in children treatment

You should go to the pediatrician if you have a sleep disorder:

accompanied by serious change mood;
combined with enuresis and shortness of breath;
lasts more than 3 weeks;
occurs in children under 1 year of age.

Correction of fears, night awakenings, walking and talking in a dream is that the child must be woken up 10-15 minutes before the onset of the symptom (horrible dreams are seen 1-2 hours after falling asleep).

Then the awakened baby will fall asleep again and will no longer disturb his parents at “school time.”

During bruxism, mouthguards are worn to protect the jaw; if its cause is neurological, take sedatives. For enuresis, “wetness alarms” are used - alarms that go off as soon as the baby urinates. It is important to wake up your child so that he does not do this unconsciously, and always go to the toilet before bed.

For those suffering from sleep initiation disorder, falling asleep at a certain time will help. The baby will intuitively begin to prepare for sleep in advance. Delayed sleep phase syndrome is corrected by shifting nighttime rest to an earlier time.

Pediatricians often prescribe "Bayu-Bai" drops for active, excitable children over 5 years old, the bromine mixture "Citral", as well as the drugs "Notta", "Domirkind", and "Epam" drops for depressed teenagers.

You should not take medications for longer than the doctor prescribed, otherwise apathy will occur.

Prevention

Before going to the doctor you must:

Keep a sleep diary. Over the course of a week, write down the time the child wakes up, the duration of the anxiety, the time he goes back to sleep, etc.
Go to bed and wake up, eat at the same time. Walk in the air for at least 2 hours a day, do exercises and wet rubdowns in the morning.
Limit emotional stress (even pleasant ones). Watching a large number of cartoons overloads the nervous system. You need to watch TV 2 hours before bedtime. You can’t play outdoor games with your child in the evening or force him to eat something. It is better to physically load the child in the first half of the day, and read a fairy tale at night. Do not give sweets before bedtime.
Regularly ventilate the baby’s room and monitor physical parameters. Optimum temperature 22°C, humidity 70%. This can be achieved by placing a damp cloth on the battery.
Follow bed linen. It should be clean, made of natural fabrics, the mattress should be semi-rigid.
Provide cozy psychological climate. There must be a trusting relationship between family members. Parents need to find out whether their child feels comfortable at school and whether he has good relationships with teachers.

To correct sleep, you may need to prevent your child from sleeping during the day. Ensures a restful sleep soft toy– a symbol of protection.

When a child who falls asleep only in his arms wakes up in bed, he is capricious. You can stop this next step. Mom sits near the bed and minds her own business. The child, in a rage, throws all the toys around and moves the pillow. Mom comes up, puts everything back in place, then leaves.

Under no circumstances should you deny your child sleep when he asks, under the pretext of being busy with various things.

It is impossible not to react to the crying of a child: in adulthood this will develop into neurosis and complexes.

Sleep is favored by twilight, reading at night, planning for tomorrow, monotonous noise washing machine, TV from the next room.

Children's sleep is the key to a child's health and a fulfilling married life. Parents who do not limit irritating factors are to blame for sleep disturbances. If there are no visible causes of the disorder, you should see a doctor.

Video on the topic

Need child's body in dreams more than in food. Good sleep indicates the health of the child.

15% of children have some disturbances in night rest. Let's look at why some children have sleep problems. In what cases should you consult a doctor due to bad sleep child? Let's listen to the advice of neurologists and baby food nutritionists.

Many children experience sleep disorders to varying degrees.

Why do children need to sleep?

Sleep is a physiological state in which recovery processes in organism. At night, children produce growth hormone. It’s not for nothing that they say that children grow in their sleep. Recovers during sleep the immune system through the production of immunoglobulins and activation of protective T-lymphocyte cells. While children sleep, the short-term information they have accumulated during the day goes into long-term memory. In other words, at night the knowledge gained during the day is consolidated.

The duration of sleep in children aged 2–3 years is 12 hours, of which 1.5–3 hours are during the daytime rest. As they grow older, daytime rest decreases and by the age of 4, the need for it disappears in many children.

Types of difficulty falling asleep and awakening at night

The disorder is considered to be difficulty falling asleep or waking up frequently at night. There are more than 100 types of sleep disorders, which fall into 3 main types:

Insomnia – difficulty falling asleep and waking up at night.
Parasomnias – sleepwalking, night terrors, enuresis, sleep talking, bruxism, twitching.
Sleep apnea is short-term cessation of breathing.

Parasomnias are caused by immaturity of the nervous system and disappear by adolescence. Long-term sleep disturbance for more than 3 months requires observation by neurologists. If the problem persists, somnologists conduct a study using polysomnography.

Individual characteristics of children

Each child is different, so he may need less sleep than other children his age.

As children get older, they need less time to rest at night and more time to stay awake. The peculiarities of the physiology of children from 2 years of age are that their sleep and wakefulness patterns are already established, and babies can sleep all night. Due to individual characteristics, some children sleep less than their peers, but still feel fine. Such characteristics of children are not associated with any diseases. The fact that, in your opinion, your child is sleeping little for his age is a problem, may be the reason to consult a doctor.

Causes of difficulty falling asleep or waking up at night

Sleep disturbance in children 2 years old is often associated with improper diet and diet or caused by diseases.

The most common reasons:

neurological causes;
emotional overload during the day and before bedtime;
poor nutrition;
physiological characteristics;
somatic diseases.

Children 2 years old have the most common cause trouble falling asleep or interruption of night's rest is emotional overload, which can manifest itself in the form of night terrors.

What to do if you have disturbed sleep?

The most common cause of night fears is emotional overload before bedtime and wrong mode. Sometimes the cause of fear is fear. Emotional overload can be caused by the late return of the father, who before bedtime arranges noisy emotional communication with the child. Excited children have difficulty falling asleep and often wake up and call for their mother. Such conditions occur several times a week. Night terrors go away by adolescence.

Noisy games in the evening should be canceled

If the baby wakes up at night from his own scream, take the baby in your arms, calm him down in a quiet voice and ask all household members who have come running to the scream to leave the children's room. If your child has frequent night terrors, you should consult a neurologist. Prolonged night terrors may be of epileptic origin.

When treating sleep disturbance in children 2 years old, it is very important to adhere to the following measures:

maintain a daily routine;
do not allow games on the computer or phone before a night's rest;
It is recommended to put a 2-year-old baby to bed at 21:00 at the same time;
ensure daytime sleep of 1.5–2 hours;
Avoid watching TV before going to bed;
an hour before falling asleep, do not allow noisy active games;
It is useful to take a walk with your baby before bedtime or dinner;
Before going to bed, ventilate the room well;
The baby should not be too hot or cold during the night's rest.

Daytime rest is important for children 2 years old. A baby who does not sleep during the day will not sleep well at night. It is useful to perform a ritual of preparation for falling asleep - collect toys, read a fairy tale. IN younger age if you have trouble falling asleep or waking up at night, you can give sedatives herbal infusions from valerian, lemon balm. It is useful to conduct a course of treatment before going to bed with warm baths with an infusion of a herbal collection consisting of equal parts of thyme, valerian, motherwort, and lemon balm. For infusion, brew 2 tbsp. l. dry mixture with 1 glass of water and leave for a quarter of an hour in a water bath. The water temperature should not be higher than 37.0 °C.

Poor nutrition

The child’s diet should be balanced and fortified

Sleep problems in healthy children can occur due to poor nutrition. The daily diet should be sufficiently high in calories. The food eaten at dinner should be enough to prevent the baby from waking up at night from hunger. A large dinner before bed will cause stomach cramps. Chips and fast food can cause vomiting in children at any time of the day. The nutrition of children 2 years old should be balanced.

The diet of children from 1 to 3 years old should contain the following products daily:

Animal protein is construction material, necessary for growth and providing iron to the blood. With a lack of beef meat dishes, children develop Iron-deficiency anemia, the immune system weakens. Due to a lack of protein, children lag behind in development and their memory deteriorates.
Fish is a source of vitamin D, without which a deficiency of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium occurs in a growing body. An imbalance of these minerals negatively affects the growth of bones and teeth of a growing organism. With a lack of minerals, children sleep poorly, sweat in their sleep, and develop dental caries. Deficiency of minerals and vitamins affects intellectual development children.
Dairy products are a source of calcium and protein, which are needed for the formation of bones and teeth in a growing body.
Fruits and vegetables provide the body with vitamins and minerals.

Children from 1 year to 3 years old need food after cooking. Vegetarianism for children from 1 to 3 years old is unacceptable. From a medical point of view, fasting is interpreted as an inhumane attitude towards children. The raw food diet method is also unacceptable for feeding children. Children as young as 2 years old cannot digest that much raw food. Gastrointestinal tract Children aged 1 to 3 years are not able to provide the enzymes to digest crude fiber. The result of a raw food diet will be gastritis and colitis. Eating problems make it difficult to fall asleep and cause awakenings at night.

Snoring in children

Reason frequent awakenings There may be snoring, which occurs in some children after 1 year with enlarged adenoids and tonsils. With severe enlargement of the tonsils, the flow of air to the lungs is limited. The child wakes up from oxygen deficiency. IN severe cases adenoids can be so enlarged that during sleep they completely block the air flow and cause a short-term cessation of breathing - apnea. Children often wake up and feel drowsy during the day. With this serious violation children need to be examined by ENT specialists and somnologists who study sleep using polysomnography. In case of enlarged adenoids and tonsils, surgery eliminates snoring and restores nighttime rest.

As a result, we emphasize that the main sleep problems are emotional overload and disruption of the routine. Improper or insufficient nutrition also contributes to sleep disturbances in children aged 1 to 3 years. To get rid of the problems of night rest, you need, first of all, to establish the correct regime and regulate a balanced diet.

It is believed that babies always sleep soundly and sweetly. In fact, sleep disorders in children are quite common: parents of about 20% of children complain that their children wake up crying at night or cannot fall asleep on time in the evening. A restless baby can seriously affect the health and productivity of all family members. There are also more unpleasant pathologies that indicate the presence of certain problems in the child himself.

Types and symptoms of sleep disorders in children

The causes of sleep disorders in children are associated with diseases of internal organs or directly with disruptions in the relationship between sleep and wakefulness. Experts call the latter disorder an incorrectly formed sleep pattern. The fact is that the ability to fall asleep at a certain time of day and rest continuously throughout the night is not innate. During intrauterine development The baby simply doesn’t need it. Infants in the first year of life sleep 16-17 hours a day, distributing this time equally between night and day. It is natural for such babies to wake up frequently to eat. Gradually, the intervals between night feedings increase, and by the age of six months the child can sleep peacefully from evening to morning.

Often, after the formation of the correct sleep pattern, the following deviations appear:

Night terrors. Occurs in children from 3 to 6 years old; boys are affected more often than girls. The child suddenly sits up in bed and begins to cry and scream. It takes about half an hour to calm him down. In this case, complete awakening does not occur; the baby is in a state of half-asleep. In the morning he cannot remember either the fact of his anxiety or the content of the dream;
Nightmares. They can occur in children of any age, but teenagers are more often affected. The child awakens completely and remembers well the dream that frightened him;
Bruxism. The baby clenches his jaw tightly and grinds his teeth in his sleep. In this case, the cause of sleep disturbance in children is not precisely known, but, contrary to popular belief, it has nothing to do with helminthic infestations. This disorder most often manifests itself in teenagers 12-13 years old;
Trembling. If a baby under the age of one year often shudders in his sleep, parents should be wary. This phenomenon may be a symptom of a serious illness such as epilepsy. At risk are children born with hypoxia or having intrauterine developmental defects;
Sleepwalking (somnambulism, sleepwalking). The child is active during night sleep. Sometimes it's just anxiety, but in some cases the baby gets out of bed and walks around the house. There is no awakening. The child's eyes are open, his movements are a little awkward, but he does not stumble or bump into furniture. The disorder is more common in children school age(mainly in boys);
Dream-speaking. In some cases, it manifests itself in combination with sleepwalking. The child, without waking up, utters individual words or entire phrases. Speech is unclear and slurred. Just as with somnambulism, by morning no memories remain;
Bedwetting (enuresis). Sometimes the cause of this disorder is purely urological problems, but more often such sleep disturbance in children is caused by the immaturity of the nervous system. Children aged 6-12 years with mental retardation often suffer from enuresis. The hereditary factor plays a major role in the occurrence of the disease;
Obstructive syndrome sleep apnea(OSAS). This disorder occurs in 3% of children and can occur at any age. The symptoms of the disease are clearly expressed: the child breathes through his mouth in his sleep and snores. Infants have difficulty eating, and older children have learning problems associated with daytime sleepiness. The cause of the disease is often an enlargement of the adenoids and tonsils (adenotonsillar hypertrophy). Sometimes OSA is triggered by neuromuscular diseases, obesity or congenital pathologies;
Sleep initiation disorders. The child cannot calm down for a long time in the evening, tries to delay the moment of falling asleep, protests, asks for “one more fairy tale,” etc. The disorder is usually observed in preschoolers. The reason is the baby’s excessive excitability, problems with adaptation in the children’s group, psychological discomfort;
Night awakenings. Usually children aged 4-12 months are prone to them. Experts believe that in these cases, the development of the disorder is provoked by the incorrect behavior of the parents, who react too nervously to nighttime disturbances and immediately rush to “comfort” the baby. For babies over 4 months old who constantly wake up at night, demanding attention and food, there is even a special definition - a trained night cryer;
Delayed sleep phase syndrome. More often seen in teenagers. The violation is associated with both psychological problems growing up, and with increasing workload at school. The disorder is expressed in the transfer of time of active wakefulness to the night hours, drowsiness and lethargy during the day.

Treatment of sleep disorders in children

If a child suffers from a sleep disorder, parents must urgently contact a pediatrician, who will prescribe a consultation with a specialist (neurologist, somnologist, otolaryngologist) and determine treatment tactics. Before visiting a doctor you must:

Start keeping a sleep diary. Over the course of a week, you should record the time the baby falls asleep and wakes up, the duration of periods of night wakefulness, behavioral characteristics, etc.;
Optimize your daily routine. It is necessary to organize walks fresh air(at least two hours a day), eat meals at the same time;
Create comfortable conditions in the child's bedroom. It is necessary to regularly ventilate the room, maintain correct temperature and humidity;
Check your baby's bedding and nightwear. They should be clean, comfortable and made from hypoallergenic materials;
Reduce your child’s activity in the evening, limit watching TV shows and computer games;
Make sure that the family environment is calm, friendly and comfortable. Talk to your child and find out if he has problems communicating with peers, teachers, etc.

Treatment of sleep disorders in children in most cases does not require medications. Sometimes the disorder goes away as the baby gets older. A simple technique that helps with night terrors, awakenings, sleepwalking and sleepwalking is waking up on a schedule. Its essence is that the child is woken up 10-15 minutes before the expected time of onset of the symptom. In the treatment of enuresis positive results gives the use of so-called humidity signals. Children with sleep initiation disorders can benefit from a predictable routine called a sleep routine. Delayed sleep phase syndrome can be corrected by gradually shifting the start time of night rest.

Sleep is an important part of a baby's life. In a dream, a little man grows. Good and deep sleep necessary not only for infants, but for all children. However, not always normal and healthy sleep accompanies the child's growth. Parents often complain that their baby doesn’t sleep well. What to do if your child notices insomnia and how to make sure he gets a good night's rest. Having found out the cause of the violation, parents can solve this problem on their own.

The sleep of an adult differs significantly from the sleep of a child, who needs good rest an average of eight hours is required. The baby needs a night's rest, but depending on age, the duration of sleep will vary.

Insomnia in children occurs at different ages. It can develop both in infancy and during the school period of life. Symptoms of sleep disorders, at any time age group, will be the same.

But the reasons that lead to this pathology will be different for each age. In what case should parents pay more attention to their child if the following symptoms of sleep disturbance appear:

the baby cannot sleep for a long time and is capricious;
often wakes up several times a night;
awakens in early hours and no longer falls asleep;
older children become lethargic, distracted, drowsy daytime, memory begins to suffer, problems with memorization are noted;
the child develops irritability, low mood, and conflict.

Causes of sleep disturbances in children

In order to treat insomnia, it is necessary to find out the reasons that led to sleep problems. It’s not always a baby with a sleep disorder. Often, it is enough to adjust the little person’s daily routine for the pathological symptoms to disappear. Depending on the age of the child, the normal duration daily sleep will change in the same way as the reasons causing its violation.

Infants and children under three years of age

After birth, babies need to sleep a lot, about 17-18 hours a day, and by the age of one year, night sleep is reduced to 12 hours with a two-hour daytime sleep.

If a child does not rest for the prescribed amount of time, the following reasons may result:

As the baby grows, the time he is awake during the day increases. By the age of three, a child already has a broader outlook and is highly active. The flow of information that he receives by watching cartoons, books or starting to attend entertainment events has an exciting effect on the nervous system.

This information stress prevents the child from falling asleep. In addition, there is a transition from special food to the common table, which may be accompanied by the appearance pathological symptoms, in the form of diathesis or digestive disorders.

Insomnia in a 2-year-old child can be relieved by correcting the daily routine. It is necessary to reduce the entertainment and moving loads. Stop outdoor games three hours before bedtime. Follow a diet in your diet to prevent errors in work digestive system body.

In preschool children

A child at 3–6 years old is already independent person who can do everything. He is sociable, attends kindergarten, watches TV a fair amount of time, and communicates with both adults and peers. The first conflicts with children appear. The psychological load on the nervous system increases. Noted increased danger infection various diseases in a children's group. Discomfort from physical suffering prevents the baby from sleeping normally.

Various cartoons or television programs with a negative plot, as well as outdoor games before bedtime, have a stimulating effect on the central nervous system. An immature nervous system cannot process the entire flow of information. As a result, night terrors and nightmares arise, and a fear of the dark develops, which force the baby to wake up crying and call for his parents. Possible conflicts in the family complement negative action on the fragile psyche of the child.

In schoolchildren and teenagers

Starting school is stressful for a child. New team, big study load and adaptation to a new life become a great test for the nervous system of a growing organism. This may cause insomnia in an 8-year-old child. In addition, the transition to a new daily routine does not always go smoothly.

The first conflicts with classmates give additional stress. At 7–8 years old, a first grader goes through his second puberty in development, when internal organs and the central nervous system continue to form. Increased school load can lead to insomnia in a 9-year-old child if he cannot cope with the school curriculum.

At this age, there may be health problems that can lead to the development of insomnia. This may be a pathology of the heart, various disorders in the functioning of the nervous system, in the form of tics, muscle twitching against the background of emotional lability, diseases of the endocrine system.

As the child grows, 11–12 years old, the third puberty period begins, associated with hormonal changes in the body. Puberty starts earlier in girls. In that adolescence children begin to spend a lot of time computer games, often with a negative plot, more conflicts arise with peers, parents and teachers.

All these phenomena are complemented by an increasing study load, which can lead to insomnia in an 11-year-old child. Family conflicts or mental trauma, associated with the divorce of parents or the loss of a beloved animal, can lead to a nervous and mental breakdown.

The dangers of sleep deprivation in children

Sleep is an important need for normal life any organism, and especially children's. It is during sleep that growth and formation occur. internal systems child. Lack of sleep in childhood negatively affects all organs, and, first of all, the central nervous system. This pathological condition threatens problems in the future not only in physical, but also in mental development.

The child's body is very sensitive to sleep problems. Lack of sleep in children provokes a decrease in the body's resistance to various infections. In addition, there is a lag in the child’s weight and height. The little man becomes capricious and eats poorly. If the cause of insomnia is not eliminated and sleep is not normalized, mental development may be delayed in the future.

The danger of lack of sleep among schoolchildren

If a student constantly does not get his rest hours, then, first of all, the nervous system begins to suffer, which does not have time to return to normal. As a result of lack of sleep, excitation processes in the cerebral cortex begin to prevail over inhibition processes, which is reflected in external behavior his.

Activity and performance decrease. There is a slowdown in reaction when communicating with peers. Logical and associative thinking. The child becomes irritable and whiny. If insomnia is not treated, depression may develop in the future. And this is already serious complication which requires treatment with medications.

Lack of sleep at school age can provoke the development of diseases of internal organs, as immunity decreases. The student begins to complain about his health. Therefore, it is very important to prevent the development of complications. Having found out in time the cause of a child’s sleep disturbance, parents can cope with insomnia without medications.

Treatment of childhood insomnia

To find out the reason behind the development of this pathological condition, the mother needs to observe the child, his behavior, and contacts with peers. To exclude any disease, the child must be examined by a pediatrician. If no infectious or somatic diseases are detected, the doctor will give recommendations on correct regimen day.

If a student is irritable, whiny, conflict-ridden, or has problems with school, a consultation with a neurologist is necessary to determine possible damage to the nervous system. Treatment of insomnia is aimed at relieving symptoms of central nervous system stimulation and eliminating sleep disturbances. Drug treatment It is prescribed to children only by a specialist and only for certain indications.

It is strictly prohibited for children to administer any medications on their own. In children under three years of age drug therapy, regarding sleep disturbances, is prohibited. In older age, treatment medications is possible only as prescribed by a doctor, and with products based on medicinal herbs, such as:

Treatment of sleep disorders has a good effect homeopathic remedies, which contain extracts from herbs presented in microdoses. Treatment is prescribed only by a homeopathic doctor, who determines the remedy, dose per dose and duration of treatment.

Drugs that can be used for childhood insomnia are:

Valerianahel - indicated for children from two years of age;
Norma-dream;
DreamZzz – indicated for children with sleep disorders due to a labile nervous system.

Proper organization of a child’s day and sleep regime, both a toddler and a schoolchild, in combination with medication or home treatment with traditional medicine, will help relieve the symptoms of insomnia and its complications.

Doctor Komarovsky about the rules of children's sleep

Treatment of insomnia in children must be carried out, first of all, by creating comfortable conditions for the child to sleep. The famous pediatrician, Dr. Komarovsky, gives recommendations by following which you can easily put your child to sleep, ensuring peace for the whole family.

A good night's rest for a little person depends largely on the parents. It is very important to create conditions for him normal sleep. If there are signs of insomnia, it is necessary to carry out certain activities recommended by Dr. Komarovsky.

They are needed not only for babies, but also for preschool and school-age children. Only strict adherence to them and treatment, according to indications, with medications or traditional medicine, will help relieve the symptoms of insomnia and restore healthy sleep to the child.