Why doesn't a newborn fall asleep? The newborn has trouble falling asleep because he experiences discomfort. Causes of poor sleep in babies

Oh, what a familiar situation this is! How often do I receive letters from you with complaints and questions: the newborn does not sleep at night, what should I do?

After all, at the same time he gets out of the right rhythm himself (but he’ll get his sleep later, he’s got a lot of time!), throwing everyone in the household out of their normal rut!

This is especially hard on mommy, who the next morning, after a sleepless night, faces a new day “without sitting down.” Agree, a couple of weeks of this regime is quite enough to turn the most balanced and loving mother into a bitchy, inadequate hysteric...

I hasten to reassure you: in most cases, the problem of a newborn’s sleep at night is quite easy to solve if you understand the reasons and understand how to eliminate them.

How to find and eliminate the cause?

So, let's figure out why a newborn doesn't sleep at night. The most trivial reason– any discomfort.

For example, hunger, wet diapers, colic;

How to help your baby cope with colic without using medications, see the online seminar Soft Tummy >>>

Perhaps the baby was “overly awake” and is now immature nervous system cannot calm down and adjust to sleep;

Know! The newborn should not be kept awake for more than 40 minutes.

Another important factor in sleep disturbance is adaptation to new conditions. To sleep, a newborn needs noise, rocking, tightness - everything that he has become accustomed to after 9 months of living in his mother’s tummy.

Having understood these features, you can easily guess what can be done if your newborn baby does not sleep at night and begin to correct the situation by applying the following tips:

Change diapers, feed, try to relieve colic;
Start pronouncing sound sh-sh-sh-sh(this is what babies hear most often in the womb), or turn on a quiet hairdryer, White noise– compensate for the lack of sounds by creating a constant monotonous background (read the article: White noise for a newborn >>>);
At night, before going to bed, be sure to swaddle the newborn - to imitate the usual tightness, which the baby associates with calmness;
Rock anyone before bed in an accessible way: on a fitball, on your hands, in special rocking cribs - create habitual movement;
If your newborn does not sleep in a crib at night, but sleeps in your arms, under your chest, or next to you, then he needs close contact with you. On this issue, read the article The child sleeps only in his arms >>>.

Remember that a newborn does NOT get used to you, but gradually weanes off you!

9 months of the child's life have passed inside you. He has no other experience. He is used to being warm, in a cramped space, receiving food around the clock and not being separated from you even for a minute.

The whole life of a child, from the very first day, is not an addiction or excessive attachment to you, but a smooth separation.

Make sure that the break between sleeps does not exceed 40 minutes in the first month. This includes everything: feeding, changing diapers, air baths, “go-go-go” with mom, etc. Otherwise, the newborn will become overtired. And this is the direct reason for lack of sleep at the right time;
Dose your baby’s daily, and especially evening, impressions.

Crowds of visitors lisping with the baby, noise, permanent shift persons, the desire of each guest to touch the baby, rock, etc., all this is an excessive burden, under which the child’s sleep will inevitably be disturbed.

Important! Don’t be afraid to teach your baby to sleep now, with the help of rocking or breastfeeding, without which he will later not be able to: until 3 months, children do not develop any habits. There are needs! And we satisfy them.

“Inverted mode”: how to debug?

It often happens that a newborn does not sleep at night even after feeding. And here you need to look at his behavior.

If he cries, is capricious, smacks his lips, most likely he is not full;
However, if the newborn is calm, active, does not show signs of illness or discomfort, is clearly determined to stay awake, without the slightest hint of sleep - most likely, we are dealing with an “inverted mode” when the baby “confused” day with night.

Of course, mix it up, in literally he cannot speak words yet, because the day-night rhythm itself is just being developed. This means that his body has not yet learned the difference between the purpose of each time of day.

This creates, to put it mildly, an inconvenient “schedule” when the newborn does not sleep at all at night, but during the day sleeps “like a baby” - calmly and serenely, exhausting the mother’s last strength with “night vigils”.

This means that our task in such a situation is to “explain” the difference to a small organism: night is for sleep and rest, day is for games and fun. Of course, the problem will not be solved overnight; the baby needs to be given time to “learn the material.”

Therefore, systematically, every day, we demonstrate to the newborn the maximum difference between day and night:

Any activity, noise, screams, TV, bright lights, games - this is daytime;

Therefore, at night, even if the child wakes up and makes it clear with all his appearance that he wants to play, it would be a big mistake to turn on the light, talk loudly to the baby, touch him.

Let him tinker in the semi-darkness and silence. If he starts acting up, his mother is nearby. But when calming the baby, you also don’t need to make too much noise or turn on the lights. Quiet and dark. Night is a dream.

During the day, on the contrary, try to saturate his body with the maximum feeling of wakefulness.

Turn on the lights if the day is cloudy, open the curtains to let more light into the room, go for walks with your baby more often - it’s bright and noisy outside, just the right thing to feel the purpose of the day.

Not immediately, but quite quickly you will notice that a shift in the right direction has occurred: the baby is adjusting to the desired biorhythm.

Note! If a newborn does not sleep at night, screams for a long time, it is impossible to calm him down even with the breast, rocking or pacifier, he is tense, arches, his lips turn blue or his chin trembles, he throws his head back or gives any other eloquent signals - this is a reason to contact neurologist.

Probably in in this case the cause of insomnia is some hidden problems (most often neurological or cardiac). It is important to identify them and begin to eliminate them as early as possible in order to avoid serious problems in future.

This is how fragile, a little incomprehensible, chaotic this newborn’s dream is. It is extremely easy to both establish and disrupt it.

How is your newborn sleeping? Write and share in the comments.

After the baby is born, almost the entire family begins to live in the mode that he sets. However, it's normal most while the newly born baby is sleeping. At the same time, some new parents are faced with the fact that the baby sleeps poorly, restlessly, or does not want to go to dreamland at all. Why children?

It is worth knowing the sleep standards for children at a given age. Often parents begin to worry when there is no reason for this. Where does the norm end?

For the first three months of his life, the baby should sleep at least 16 hours a day;
from 3 to 6 months, about 15 hours a day are allocated for sleep;
starting from 6 months and up to a year, this time is reduced to 13 hours a day;
Once a child is one year old, he or she should sleep approximately 12 hours.

So, you are still convinced that the child sleeps less than expected. Why do newborns sleep poorly? In fact, there are many reasons.

The first is discomfort from gases and, as a rule, they arise as a result of swallowing air during feeding. If a newborn screamed loudly and for a long time, he could easily swallow excess air.

Of course, sleep disturbances are often accompanied by other diseases. If a child has a fever or other irritating symptoms, it is understandable why he does not want to sleep for the amount of time allotted to him.

The psychological situation in the house is also of great importance. The newborn has tight emotional connection with his mother, and therefore if parents constantly argue, scream, swear, this will not have the best effect on the baby.

Another reason why newborns sleep poorly is when they confuse night and day. This happens quite often. Here you need to watch the baby himself. If he barely sleeps at night, it is likely that he does so during daylight hours. There is nothing wrong with this, because the baby has not yet established its biorhythms.

The cause of your baby's anxiety may be skin irritations (diaper rash, prickly heat), an overfilled diaper, or completely wet diapers.

If your newborn is not sleeping well, it is likely that he is hungry. Until the baby eats normally, you should not count on a calm, undisturbed sleep.

Sometimes the cause of sleep disorders is problems with the nervous system or simple overexcitation. Too many vivid emotions and impressions, frequent visits from guests - all this, of course, is good, but in moderation. By constantly overloading your newborn with such “surprises,” you can endanger him.

Finally, the child may be cold or hot, uncomfortable in the clothes you choose.

By analyzing all these factors, you can figure out why your newborn is sleeping poorly. As a rule, you can cope with this problem on your own, but sometimes the help of a pediatrician is required (for example, if the baby is sick).

Now you know why newborns sleep poorly. How to help your child and improve his sleep? Here are a few simple tips for young parents in this case:

It is important to gradually accustom your baby to sleep on his own. You should not rush to him when you hear the slightest rustle - this will completely awaken the child. Let him lie down for a while - if nothing bothers him, he will soon fall asleep on his own. You can also show the newborn that if, for example, he slept on his side, he can roll over onto his back and continue his journey through the sleepy kingdom.

Richard Ferber is considered the most authoritative expert on children's sleep. Yes, one can argue with him about his sleeping methods—Ferber is a supporter of babies falling asleep on their own—but his immersion in the topic of sleep, meticulousness and meticulousness inspires respect. If you don't know how much sleep a child should sleep at 6 months or at one and a half years, when to switch to one nap and how to do it - here you go.

All children sleep during the day at least, up to a certain age. When I hear parents say that their child “never took a nap,” I assume that he or she had difficulty falling asleep, slept little or always slept. different time, or it was not possible to put him to sleep properly for a “normal” quiet hour. But so that he never sleeps during daylight hours? This is impossible. The same parents invariably admit: yes, he did sleep, but “only in the car,” “only in stroller on the way back from the playground” or “just not at home, but always in the nursery.”

Much at night and little during the day

Most often, a child who has difficulty falling asleep during the day sleeps well at night for 11 hours or more. During the day you can hardly force him to take a nap, and if he does fall asleep, it will be for a maximum of half an hour.

If this is your case, your baby's sleep needs may be met entirely during the night. Most children who need the same amount of sleep as you sleep less at night (say, 9.5 hours) and longer during the day (having one two-hour nap or two one-hour naps). But your baby sleeps so well during the night that he doesn't feel drowsy during the day.

If short naps are the only “problem,” calm down and leave it at that. But often in this mode, children become lethargic and capricious, even getting enough sleep at night. They are not so sleepy that they can sleep normally during the day, but they are not so alert that they feel and behave well. Another reason to change this mode may be inconvenience or problems with going to bed even for a short nap during the day.

In this case, you will have to reduce night sleep child. Try to reduce it by 30-60 minutes, or even two hours if necessary, but no more, since giving the child less than nine hours of sleep at night is impractical. This can be done all at once or gradually over several days, or by going to bed later, rising earlier, or a combination of both. Don't worry if you cut your baby's nights too short at first to get results—you can always adjust back later. Remember: your task is not to take away part of your child’s sleep, but to transfer it from night hours to daytime hours.

Much during the day and little at night

When a child sleeps too much during the day, parents fear that something is wrong with him. Even if this is comfortable for you, sleeping too little at night may be a problem. You suspect that, without getting enough sleep at night, the baby “gets his way” during daylight hours. Most likely, the opposite is true: excessive daytime sleep interferes with nighttime sleep.

For example, parents say that a baby aged one or two years sleeps only 6.5-7 hours at night. Most often it turns out that the duration of his daytime sleep in total reaches 4-6 hours, which is a lot. Even with four hours of sleep during the day, daily sleep in total will be 10.5-11 hours. With six hours of daytime sleep, parents are very lucky if their child sleeps seven hours at night.

Perhaps this schedule suits you. However, it is not suitable for a child. Almost no one needs more than two hours of nap time at a time. Starting from three to four months of age, most children who sleep more than once during the day spend a total of three to four hours sleeping during daylight hours.

The solution is simple: take away some of your baby's daytime sleep so that he has to compensate for the lack of sleep at night. If your baby has too many naps for his age (say, three at 10 months or two at 18 months), you should eliminate one or even two.

At normal quantity, but excessive duration of each daytime nap can be gradually reduced. For example, cut a single four-hour nap by 15 to 30 minutes each day until it lasts two hours. Two three-hour sleeps can be reduced in the same way until each is limited to two, or maybe one and a half hours, if it is more convenient for you and the child.

Do not let your baby sleep at other times of the day until he is completely accustomed to the new routine. For a week or two, it makes sense to avoid unnecessary travel with your child by car. If a nanny sits with him during the day, demand that she not allow too much napping during the day. The more the child sleeps during the day, the easier it is for the nanny, so the temptation is obvious.

Short day and night sleep

Your baby may have an unusually low need for sleep. He gets enough sleep at night even eight to nine hours and special wish Doesn't feel like sleeping during the day. But keep in mind that this is rare. If this is really your case, and you do not want to shorten your child’s night sleep in order to force him to sleep during the day, all that remains is to come to terms with the situation - a short night sleep and a short or not every day day sleep - in the hope that with the final refusal of daytime sleep at least night will lengthen a little.

On the other hand, if a child, having given up daytime rest too early, becomes capricious, irritable, or experiences other difficulties, you have no choice but to carve out a quiet hour for him at the expense of night sleep, at least until he won't feel normal all day.

Long day and night sleep

If a child sleeps 10-11 hours at night, despite three or more hours of total sleep during the day, it is obvious that there is no need to reduce his daytime sleep. There are sleepyheads among children (this is partly a hereditary trait). Another thing is abnormally long sleep after the first months of life, when the child spends 15 or more hours out of 24 in sleep. This is a reason to consult a doctor. Some neurological and metabolic disorders, leading to extreme sleepiness, can appear as early as infancy.

Don't forget that the impression is too long sleep in a child can be deceptive. If he lies quietly in his room for 11-13 hours, it does not follow that he is sleeping all this time. In fact, many such children are awake for periods of up to an hour during the night, and the total duration of their sleep is normal. They play quietly until they fall asleep again and don't need anything else.

To find out the truth, check in with your child several times during the night to see if he is sleeping. You could instead shorten his naps during the day or keep him in bed less from evening to morning and see what happens. If after a few weeks you find that he is lethargic and unhappy during the day, and in the morning or after a nap he has to be picked up because he does not wake up on his own, then he has a really high need for sleep.

Daytime sleep in fits and starts

Very short, but numerous falls asleep - over-naps, as I call them - significantly weaken the incentive to sleep later during the day, as well as at night. When falling asleep during the day, as in the evening, children almost immediately enter the phase deep sleep. It is where the body recovers best, and the first 10 minutes of quiet time reduce the need for sleep more than the last 10 minutes. In general, even the most short nap has a pronounced impact on the child’s routine. (Even an adult who has dozed off after dinner has trouble falling asleep at night.)

Suppose a 10-month-old baby, instead of sleeping twice a day, having previously been awake for 3-4 hours, falls asleep four times a day - every three hours between 8.00 and 17.00 - almost always for only 15-30 minutes. Or 20- one month old baby still has two daytime naps of 30-45 minutes between 10.00 and 14.00 and cries for half an hour every time before falling asleep. He would fall asleep easier if he were awake for 6 hours before the only afternoon quiet hour. And in the same way, if a 30-month-old child, who formally has one afternoon nap, falls asleep repeatedly for 10 minutes every day (for example, in a stroller or in the car) , then it is difficult to put him to sleep for a “normal” quiet hour, and it lasts far from 60 minutes.

It is necessary to avoid overdozing. A 10-month-old baby who naps four times a day should only have two quiet hours left. Too early can be moved, say, from 8 am to 9.30 or 10.00 (at once or gradually, shifting by 15-30 minutes per day). Then the baby will stay awake longer, and therefore fall asleep more easily and sleep a little longer than the day before, which will help him last until 14.00, when his second nap begins. Then you will need to keep him from falling asleep until bedtime in the evening, which will also become easier day by day. The two remaining naps will gradually lengthen to at least an hour each.

The routine of a 20-month-old child, who has maintained the habit of sleeping twice a day, is similarly restructured. Most likely he morning dream can be canceled, and sleep in the second half of the day can be shifted 1-2 hours earlier so that it begins immediately after lunch. Another option is to move the morning nap forward half an hour each day until he gets up after an early (this is a temporary measure) lunch, then cancel the second nap. In any case, we get a regime with one daytime nap followed by a longer period of wakefulness. The child will fall asleep faster and naps will be longer.

A 30-month-old child can have regular quiet time after lunch, but exclude short-term falling asleep. To simplify the task, do not carry him in the car or in a stroller for a week or two, where he immediately dozes off. If this is not possible, try to ensure that movements in the car and stroller occur only after a “legal” quiet hour. Even if the baby falls asleep, this will be a continuation of the only daytime sleep.

If this measure is not available to you, be prepared to leave the child in the care of a relative or nannies when traveling on business, until the baby gets used to the new routine.

Discussion

Useful article

Comment on the article "The child does not sleep during the day. 5 situations with daytime sleep: how to establish a routine?"

Dream - important function, a condition of great general biological significance. A person spends a third of his life sleeping and cannot live without sleep. During sleep, a person's metabolic activity and muscle tone decrease, anabolism processes become more active, and nervous structures are inhibited. All this helps to restore strength after a day of mental and physical labor. But, as noted by I.P. Pavlov, sleep is not just rest, but an active state of the body, which is characterized by a special...

Very important for small children good rest, because they grow, develop and spend a lot of energy on understanding the world around them. Even when it seems to us that the baby is just snoring peacefully in the crib, he comprehends the information received during the day, consolidates new skills and draws the first conclusions. Healthy sleep helps the baby restore energy, and also promotes the formation of immunity and the development of memory and attention. Fortunately, to ensure that your baby sleeps soundly, it is enough to follow a few...

1) We accustom the baby to a routine: put him to bed at the same time. 2) We set the mood for sleep with the help of a special ritual: it can be bathing, singing a lullaby, light massage. 3) The room where the baby sleeps should be quiet and warm, but not hot. It is also important to ventilate your baby's room before bed. 4) A few hours before bedtime, we limit outdoor and active games. At this time it is better to devote to reading fairy tales, games for fine motor skills. 5) Sleeping area should be comfortable for the baby: we use...

Sleep standards have great importance in the full development of children. This article will introduce you to the recommended sleep standards for children at different ages. Every living being must sleep. This is the basis early development brain Circadian rhythms, or sleep-wake cycles, are regulated by light and dark, and these rhythms take time to develop, resulting in irregular sleep patterns for newborns. Rhythms begin to develop at about six weeks, and from three to six...

Section: Daily routine (I scold my child because he doesn’t sleep during the day). Leave the child alone already. My eldest gave up daytime sleep at 2.2, my youngest at 2.5 now doesn’t go to bed at home during the day, he can only fall asleep in the car.

DAY SLEEP causes protest among many children, and even more so on vacation away from their parents. They try to delay the laying time and speed up the ascent as much as possible. And from their point of view, this is understandable - why waste time resting during the day when the whole night is ahead? Let's sleep during the day, but what will we do at night? By the way, some parents and inexperienced counselors sometimes think this way. But the benefits of daytime sleep are undeniable. For many babies and children with poor health, it is simply necessary. And older children with...

For the health and full development of an infant, the smallest details matter. Mothers study entire volumes on baby care, consult with doctors and consult with friends, but still cannot get answers to all questions. Daytime sleep can be an urgent problem: how much sleep should a child need to get enough sleep? Any mother raising her first child and not only thinks about this. Internet search engines and women's forums are simply filled with such requests...

This difficult period when with daytime sleep there is a lot of sleep, but without it it is still difficult. But better for the child Already on a permanent basis, allow him not to sleep during the day - he will get used to it faster. how I see the situation: for the child and for you >.

Section: Daily routine (a 5-year-old child does not sleep during the day). It’s been a month now that I’ve given up daytime sleep, getting up at about 8:00, going to bed at about 10:00 p.m. It turns out that he sleeps 10 hours a night, but during the day after lunch he rubs his eyes and feels tired.

Simply not putting your child to sleep during the day is easier for you; there is no need to establish a routine. He sleeps longer in winter due to the short daylight hours, and it’s the same with us. We've had the same routine since I was 11 months old. up to 2 years 1 month, which was observed daily, with daytime sleep and bedtimes of 1.5 ...

Let's divide our article into two parts. In the first, we will talk about what attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is and how to understand that your child has ADHD, and in the second part we will discuss what can be done with a hyperactive child, how to raise, teach and develop him. If you know for sure that your child has ADHD, you can go straight to the second part of the article, if not, then I advise you to read the entire article. Part one. Hyperactivity and Deficiency Syndrome...

I am very concerned that my child and all the children in kindergarten # 1041, which is located at: Moscow, South-Western Administrative District, st. Ivan Babushkina, 13, k2, are deprived of the opportunity to breathe fresh air in the premises. When parents ask: "Why don't you open the windows?" They answer that this is prohibited. Windows can only be opened when children are not in the group. It would seem that a humane approach, the desire to keep children warm... In fact, this is cruel to children. Children are usually...

Good afternoon everyone! Tell me what you would do (maybe you have already done) in this situation: my daughter is very attached to me, when she was younger she was constantly with me (she didn’t even let me go to the toilet), although she always loved to communicate with children and play with them. But preferably not far from me. I was the only one who put her to bed, she didn’t accept anyone else, and no one could really help (dad, grandmothers at work). Until recently, they put her to bed like this - they sat down with her on the crib, she...

Does it affect the children that they have to be woken up early in the morning to take them to the nursery or kindergarten. Children cry, get nervous, parents get irritated, and sometimes yell at them. How does all this affect the child’s nervous system? If you have to wake a child in the morning and he cries when he wakes up, of course, this traumatizes him. Why doesn’t he wake up on his own at the usual time? Maybe the child had a different daily routine and got up later? On those days when the baby goes to a nursery or kindergarten, he must...

This is the situation. Until recently, our daily routine consisted of double naps during the day. The child could not fall asleep for an hour and a half in the evening. At the same time he wants to sleep. I have terrible irritation. I didn't get enough sleep myself. My whole body hurts from fatigue. I'm trying to set up a new...

Section: Daily routine (how to organize nutrition for a one-month-old baby). In general, it’s scary to enter the apartment! The husband helps to the best of his ability, but he comes at 8-9, washes the middle one, but at 11 he is already asleep, because... Otherwise, the next day there will be nothing, and he’ll have to go to work. older children...

Conference "Child from 1 to 3". Section: Daily routine. about daytime sleep. Girls, we haven’t been here for a very long time, we haven’t even shown up for 2 years: (our little sister was born on April 7, during my absence my routine has become very disrupted - I simply don’t sleep during the day, since I was discharged, I have...

Section: Daily routine (the child refuses daytime sleep at 1.9). What's wrong with your nerves? Well, the child doesn’t want to sleep during the day, so he doesn’t sleep. My eldest did not sleep during the day from 1 year to 2.5 (before kindergarten

Daily regime. A child from birth to one year. Care and education of a child up to one year: nutrition, illness, development. Briefly speaking Deep sleep! Thus, we regretfully skip swimming almost every other day! How long should a child sleep during the day at her age?

Conference "Child from birth to one year". Section: Sleep. SOS! How to improve night sleep? We sleep poorly. In such a situation, I would go to a neurologist - restless sleep is a sufficient reason for consultation.

In order for the baby to develop correctly and comprehensively, he needs a full day's rest. Often young mothers are upset because the baby refuses to sleep. How valid are parental concerns? Why does the baby sleep little during the day or not fall asleep at all?

Why do you need to sleep during the day?

Daytime rest is necessary for children for several reasons:

strengthening the immune system;
helps the nervous system cope with new impressions and emotions received during the waking period;
improves concentration;
promotes mental physical development infants, prevention of hyperactivity.

How much sleep do you need?

The amount of daily rest is taken into account, not just daily rest. The norm immediately after birth and up to 4 months is considered to be 17-20 hours per day. The amount is distributed evenly throughout the day.

At four months the regime was established, duration daily sleep gradually decreases to 17-18 hours. By 6 months – 16 hours, by 9 – 15 hours. At the age of 1 year Small child sleeps approximately 13 hours per day. This amount of time is distributed between 2-3 daytime sleeps with breaks for wakefulness. By the year, this number is reduced to 1 time per day.

To determine whether a baby is sleeping normally, you need to know what is considered normal. Up to 4 months, children are in this state almost constantly, waking up to eat, or feeling discomfort. You should know - normal sleep children under one year old are intermittent and restless.

Considering that normal rest at night lasts 8 hours, during the daytime a newborn should approximately sleep:

Age (months)	Day	Number of falls asleep (times)	In just one day
1	8-9	3-5	17-20
3	6-7	3-4	14-17
6	5-6	3	14-15
9	4-5	2-3	13-15
12	3-4	2	13-14
18	2-3	1	12-14
24	2	1	12-13

Most children tend to shudder, turn, cry, and open their eyes in their sleep. These movements are called the Moro reflex. By 5 months it disappears.

Sleep phases

There are four phases of sleep: falling asleep, shallow sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep. In infancy, each stage lasts 15 minutes, the full cycle is 45-50 minutes. The superficial prevails over the deep. At fast stage the child’s eyes are closed, the eyelids visibly tremble, eyeballs moving quickly, breathing unevenly. An infant can smile, twitch, or awaken from any rustle or sound.

When moving to the slow stage, breathing becomes deep, measured, the eyeballs are motionless, the muscles relax, and sweating is activated. It is difficult to wake up the baby.

What is a violation?

What to do when your baby doesn’t sleep well during the day or at night? These standards serve as a guide and depend on the characteristics of each individual baby. Often a mother, not knowing the differences between normal and pathological, worries in vain. To determine the background of what is happening and understand why the newborn sleeps poorly, it is important to understand what disorders indicate trouble.

Disorders are divided into primary and secondary.

Primary disorders

A primary disorder is said to occur when a child sleeps poorly and the sleep pattern is altered. There are no accompanying illnesses, obvious root causes of violations.

Secondary disorders

If sleep has become disturbed due to illness, they speak of secondary disorders. Changes appear due to congenital abnormalities of the nervous system and brain tumors.

What to do if you suspect possible problems? Immediately consult a neurologist and determine accurate diagnosis, start treatment. It is better to be overly suspicious than careless.

Consequences of lack of sleep

When a baby sleeps poorly after 4 months of life, this can negatively affect health and proper development. During the rest period, the baby’s body intensively produces growth hormone, and the neural connections of the brain improve. A baby who lacks sleep day and night is anxious, cries, and hyperactive due to exhaustion of the nervous system.

Possible causes of violations

Among the most common root causes of why a baby does not sleep well during the day are the following.

Unsuitable room temperature, humidity

In the room where the baby sleeps, it is important to create optimal temperature and humidity conditions. The desired temperature is 17 - 20 degrees Celsius, humidity 50-70%.

Hunger, thirst

If quite a lot of time has passed since the last feeding, if the baby does not get enough food due to lack of breast milk, this can also cause the baby to cry and refuse to fall asleep. In summer and spring, children may be thirsty. Feeding a 3-4 month old newborn with salty foods before bedtime will most likely cause restlessness, frequent waking up, and whims.

Bright lights, loud sounds

In order to sleep peacefully during the day, you need a comfortable environment. Bright sunlight Due to loosely closed curtains, artificial lighting interferes with rest. A running TV, radio, car horns, dogs barking on the street, or loud knocking can disrupt day or night sleep.

Wrong clothes

Tight, uncomfortable underwear, tight seams, tight elastic bands, and laces cause discomfort to a newborn. Choose light, breathable fabrics, a simple cut of linen with a minimum of seams. It is advisable to select clothing appropriate to the ambient temperature.

A wrapped baby overheats and sweats, which can result in heat rash and diaper rash. Hypothermia leads to active movements, sneezing, skin become cool to the touch.

Wet diapers, uncomfortable diaper

Children's skin is sensitive and reacts to the slightest irritation. Diaper dermatitis, allergic rashes, other skin damage, a wet diaper can cause discomfort, irritation.

Unsettled routine

A 4-month-old baby may be reluctant to fall asleep during the day because she is simply not accustomed to going to bed at the same hours. Sometimes children confuse day and night, which causes a lot of trouble for their parents.

Emotional overload

An imperfect nervous system does not provide the necessary processes of excitation and inhibition. It is difficult for the baby to calm down and switch to falling asleep.

Painful conditions of the body

Accumulated in abdominal cavity gases and pain prevent you from sleeping peacefully and soundly. For intestinal problems or colic, regularly give a light massage to the abdomen, put a warm diaper on it, and give the baby something to drink.

Incorrect parental bedtime behavior

Many parents place their baby in their arms. Others rock him night and day. The mechanism of “sickness” is simple - the newborn becomes dizzy, and quickly gets used to this state. When placed on the crib, the baby wakes up, refuses to go back to sleep, and asks to be held. Some people go to bed exclusively with a bottle or pacifier. In the absence of familiar objects, it is difficult for a child to fall asleep. Often, the prerequisites for such behavior are the mother’s overprotection and insufficient attention.

How to set up the process?

In the absence of somatic or neurological problems, in order to provide the baby healthy holiday day and night, follow these simple rules:

Maintain good sleep hygiene. Create a comfortable temperature in the room, dim the bright lights and loud sounds. For the crib, choose a hard mattress. Give preference to comfortable, comfortable clothes;
Plan your routine so that your baby goes to bed immediately after feeding. Adjust the hours of falling asleep according to the needs of the baby;
Lay down when the first signs of fatigue appear. If he is tired and rubs his eyes, put him to bed early, do not wait for the allotted time;
Create a bedtime ritual. Before each fall asleep, sing lullabies to your baby, stroke her head, kiss her;
Use special cradles, cribs, “cocoons”, “nests” for motor motion sickness;
Provide sufficient motor activity while awake. Take him for walks more often fresh air. Most children who have difficulty falling asleep in a crib do just fine outside in a stroller;
If the baby moves and makes sounds during sleep, this does not mean that he is awake. You shouldn’t immediately take the baby in your arms and finally wake him up. The baby probably dreamed something and will continue to sleep;
Use quality ones in size;
With the permission of the pediatrician, it is recommended to give the newborn special children's supplements.

Daytime sleep is the key proper development baby. Show a little patience and persistence and everything will return to normal. Along with this, positive changes will occur in the baby’s mood.

Remember: healthy, normal developing child knows how much rest he needs. If you suspect that unhealthy sleep during the day is associated with illness, consult a doctor immediately.

Not every parent can boast that the baby sleeps peacefully, is not bothered by frequent awakenings at night and easily falls asleep during the day. What to do if the saying “Sleeps like a baby” is not about your baby? Why does a baby sleep poorly during the day or sleep restlessly at night, not sleep or sleep little after feeding. Let's look at the answers!

Sleep norm for a newborn

If a month-old baby does not sleep well during the day or at night and this worries you, it makes sense to count how many hours he sleeps per day. Perhaps your baby is simply getting his sleep quota, and you think he should sleep longer. Parents often feel that their baby is not sleeping well because he does not sleep continuously like an adult. Newborns have short periods of sleep and wakefulness, and this is normal.

For a child from 0 to 3 months, the sleep norm is from 16 to 20 hours a day, depending on individual characteristics, that is, he should be awake for 4-8 hours, but not continuously. If the total duration of sleep in an infant is more than 15 hours a day, there is no reason to worry that the child is not getting enough sleep. Typically, newborns sleep for 3-4 hours, then wake up to feed. You can suspect the presence of some problems if the child sleeps for more than 5 hours in a row.

Newborn sleep cycle

During the day, both children and adults produce hormones in their bodies that are responsible for sleep and wakefulness, so in some periods it is easier to fall asleep, in others it is easier to wake up. For this reason, it is recommended to put your child to bed at certain hours. If the baby wakes up around 7 a.m., best time for the first daytime sleep - 8.30 - 9 hours, for the second - 12.30 - 13.00, and it is best to put it to bed at night between 18 and 20 hours.

In addition, sleep itself is divided into phases, in some of which it is easier to wake up, and in others it is more difficult. Highlights fast and slow phase sleep, and the ratio of their duration is different for a child and an adult. In newborns fast phase accounts for up to 80% of the total sleep time, in a 6-month child - 50%, in an adult - from 20 to 25%. During REM sleep brain processes new information, which children constantly receive while awake. During these periods, the baby is easy to wake up, but about 20 minutes after falling asleep, deep sleep begins.

Possible Causes of Sleep Disorders in Infants

The most obvious reason is some deviation in health. The baby may have a tummy ache due to colic, teething, he will not sleep well if he has a cold, he has a fever, a runny nose, and so on. If you are concerned that something is wrong with your baby, visit your pediatrician. When the cause is eliminated, restful sleep will be restored. Colic and teething will go away on their own in due time, you just need to be patient.

The wrong routine can also lead to difficulty falling asleep and shallow, light sleep. As already mentioned, during the day it can be easier to fall asleep at some times than at others.

Often a one-month-old baby does not sleep well due to overtiredness.

If your baby is put to bed too late, he may have difficulty falling asleep. This is due to the fact that when overtired, cortisol, the stress hormone, is released. It does not allow the child to fall asleep deeply.

Another reason is external stimuli. If in the first weeks of life newborns can sleep in both bright light and noise, then as they grow, they begin to react more strongly to the atmosphere in which they find themselves. Therefore, such irritants need to be minimized: turn off the overhead lights, remove the sound source, for example, close the window if noise from the street bothers you.

Often a newborn does not sleep due to so-called “negative associations”: if parents put too much effort into rocking him to sleep, the newborn will soon forget how to fall asleep on his own. Therefore, there is no need to specifically rock the child to sleep, give him a pacifier, additionally feed him before bed, or put him to sleep only in a stroller or next to his mother. It is best for the baby to learn to calm down and fall asleep on his own. But this takes time.

However, this does not mean that there is no need to create rituals to help the child go to sleep. Simple sequences of familiar actions that do not require much effort from parents will help you calm down and move from play and active wakefulness to sleep. But disrupting these rituals can also make falling asleep longer and more difficult.

Older children may no longer deliberately go to bed if they are busy with something interesting. The child may also have difficulty sleeping due to large quantity impressions and new information received during the day.

Conditions for good sleep

In order for a child to sleep well, it is necessary to create suitable conditions.

The room must be ventilated.
Shouldn't be like loud sounds, and absolute silence.
The light needs to be dimmed.
The air temperature should be 20-22 C.
The child should be dressed in comfortable, not too warm clothes.

What to do if your newborn has trouble sleeping at night?

To ensure that your baby sleeps soundly at night, it is important to put him to bed as soon as you notice that your baby is tired.
If the baby wakes up at night, do not turn on bright lights.
Before going to bed, you can bathe your child in a bath with a decoction of soothing herbs: chamomile, hops, motherwort. Create a calming ritual that includes bathing, massage, and a lullaby, and do it at the same time.
To help your baby calm down and fall asleep faster, get a toy that will always be in his crib during sleep. Next to a familiar thing, the child will feel safe and comfortable.
Before going to bed, create a calming atmosphere: do not turn on loud music or TV, turn down the lights.

The cause of poor night sleep can also be long daytime sleep, when the baby “confuses day with night.” Then you will have to gradually change his routine, wake him up to reduce his nap time, play with him more. It is normal if the intervals of daytime sleep are 2-3 hours, this is what you should focus on.

In this case, it is important that parents adhere to the regime and differentiate between daytime and nighttime activities. More noisy and active activities should be planned for the day, and in the evening move on to quieter activities. During the day you don’t need to dim the lights or talk in a whisper, but at night, on the contrary, you need to create an atmosphere conducive to sleep.

What to do if your newborn doesn’t sleep well during the day?

Typically, newborns sleep for 3-4 hours straight during the day and then wake up. But sometimes the child falls asleep for only 40-50 minutes several times a day, and such cases become more frequent.

Sometimes the cause of poor daytime sleep is excessive activity mothers, when she starts cleaning, invite guests. If you want to lull your baby to sleep, calm down yourself. Take him in your arms, rock him, lie down with him.
In the first weeks, daytime sleep may be disrupted by the fact that the newborn has little contact with his mother, which is why he feels lonely and uncomfortable.
More good sleep Contribute to walks in the fresh air.
Put your baby to bed at the same time every day.
To calm a child during the day, you also need a small ritual, of course, not as long as before bedtime. For children, it is not so much the bedtime that is important, but the usual sequence of actions.

If the baby does not sleep at night, it is not recommended to specifically create a calming environment; if the daytime is bad, it can, on the contrary, help. Close the curtains, dim the lights, remove sources of loud sounds. To combat street noise, you can turn on “white noise” - the sound of a working vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, radio on an empty frequency, tap water, fan, etc.

Are sleep disorders dangerous in newborns?

If the newborn is sleeping poorly without any symptoms indicating bad feeling, in a comfortable environment and under normal conditions, there is a risk that sleep problems are caused by neurological disorders. In this case, you need to undergo examination by a neurologist.