You can hear from many mothers that their baby does not sleep well at night. What should parents do in such a situation, when and why does this happen?
Most absolutely healthy children sleep restlessly in infancy. This fact does not mean that the situation should be accepted. If your child is sensitive and restless, the night awakenings will most likely not stop soon. When they understand why this happens and what to do, parents will be able to correct some points and provide themselves and their baby with a more fruitful rest.
Classification of causes
The causes of nighttime restlessness can be divided into primary and secondary. Primary are those that arise on their own. Secondary are concerns that appear as a result of any disorders, symptoms, or diseases.
If, against the background of general normal behavior, any symptoms suddenly appear, and the child’s previously fairly prosperous sleep is suddenly disrupted, this is a reason to consult a doctor. Possible reason waking up frequently The infant may have pain associated with an underlying disease.
In this case, the actions of the parents should be aimed, first of all, at eliminating the primary problem.
Possible reasons
Why healthy baby may suffer from sleep disorders, and what to do about it? Periodically occurring sleep disturbances against the background of the child’s generally good behavior can be caused by conditions that are not related to the disease, but cause discomfort to the child. When the baby becomes restless, the feeling of discomfort intensifies at night.
Causes of concern may be:
- Intestinal colic, bloating.
- Teething.
- Allergic reactions.
Manifestation food allergies often occurs among children under one year of age. An allergic reaction can be characterized not only by skin rashes, but also provoke itching, eating disorders.
More often than not, these manifestations are not associated with true allergy, but arise due to immaturity digestive tract. The child’s enzymatic system does not yet cope with the digestion of food fully, and any large molecules that enter the baby’s esophagus with mother’s milk or as part of infant formula can provoke responses. Specific immunity to any food can be observed during the introduction of complementary foods.
During teething, the baby's gums swell. Often the baby has increased salivation. When a baby is teething, he tries to chew something all the time.
Infants often experience eating disorders due to gastrointestinal immaturity. Digestive system Your baby may react negatively to any sudden changes in diet.
If these factors during daytime wakefulness may have an insignificant effect on the baby’s behavior, due to the fact that the child is constantly distracted by something, then at night the baby begins to concentrate on his problems. He sleeps restlessly, constantly wakes up, screams and cries.
If these problems are determined to be the cause of the good sleep, and in their absence the child has no problems falling asleep and resting at night, then, first of all, it is necessary to deal with the symptoms that prevent the baby from sleeping.
During allergic manifestations relieves itching well antihistamines and special ointments. Chamomile infusion will help improve digestion. Dill water or medications to reduce bloating. Lidocaine-based gels reduce painful sensations in the gums when teeth begin to cut.
Before using any medicines You should consult your doctor.
Factors affecting sleep
It happens that a child constantly either long time has problems sleeping at night. And the reasons for this are not diseases or the above-mentioned conditions, but other factors, for example:
- Physiological characteristics of infant sleep.
- Lack of a clear regime.
- Low activity during the day (the child spends little energy).
- Overexcitement nervous system.
- Uncomfortable sleeping environment.
- Dramatic changes in the life of a baby.
These are just some of the reasons that answer the question of why a child sleeps poorly at night. In fact, there may be much more. Everything here is individual for each child. What can parents do? Try to discover the main factor that prevents their baby from resting peacefully, and do everything possible to make the child feel calm while sleeping.
A baby's sleep has its own characteristics. Like an adult, an infant has two main phases of sleep:
- Slow sleep.
- Quick sleep.
During the first phase, the body is more relaxed, breathing and heartbeat slowed down. A person is able to respond to external stimuli and wake up.
REM sleep is deeper. During it, an increase in heart rate and breathing is observed. There is arrhythmia. Muscle tone is reduced, body parts twitching and movement is observed eyeballs. A man dreams. The brain analyzes the information accumulated during daily activity.
Each phase of sleep in an adult lasts from 90 to 100 minutes, while in an infant they last no more than 40 minutes.
A baby's slow-wave sleep is more superficial and sensitive. A child experiences a greater number of sleep cycles per night. Unlike an adult, it is absolutely natural for a baby to wake up at night.
If a baby is characterized by increased nervous excitability, he will wake up easily and often at night. Physiology explains why infants often wake up at night. What can parents do?
Newborn baby most spends his life sleeping, up to 20 hours a day.
For him there is still no clear division into daytime and night sleep. He wakes up every time he wants to eat. And this can happen in 2 hours, or in half an hour, and even more often. By about 2-3 months, the baby will develop a certain pattern of alternating periods of activity and sleep. What should mom do until this moment?
Set up feeding
Helps make life easier for mother and baby during the newborn period co-sleeping. The feeling of a mother nearby gives the child a feeling of confidence and calm. It has been proven that during co-sleeping Children sleep more peacefully and wake up less often.
If the baby is on breastfeeding Feeding on demand, especially at night, will help get your baby to sleep faster.
You should not wait for the awakened child to begin to speak with all his might. It is best to offer the breast when the baby first begins to express anxiety. This will help get your baby back to sleep faster.
It will be easier to teach an artificial baby to sleep peacefully if you establish a feeding schedule. In this case, the intervals between night feedings should be made as long as possible. The child, getting used to rarely eating at night, begins to wake up less and sleep more peacefully. Over time, after 6 months, you can try to eliminate night feedings. However, you need to stop feeding your baby at night gradually.
Follow the regime
A well-established daily routine helps teach your child to fall asleep on time and quickly. You can build a routine by observing your baby’s biorhythms. During the day, the child alternates between periods of activity and rest. Having noted at what time the baby wants to sleep, what time he falls asleep better and at what hours his sleep is most sound, you can establish a certain regime that will need to be strictly followed.
If you teach your baby to fall asleep at the same time, it will be easier to put him to bed in the evening. By getting ready for sleep in advance, your baby will sleep more soundly and wake up less often at night.
Failure to comply with the regime leads to difficulty falling asleep. When parents try to get their child to sleep, the child may still want to stay awake and play. As a result of falling asleep for a long time, the baby becomes overtired and then often wakes up at night.
Ensure normal activity
According to one version, children who have spent little energy during the day sleep poorly. The child may refuse to sleep if he is not tired enough. Therefore, parents need to create conditions for the baby under which he will move the required amount of time during the day: do exercises with him, do gymnastics, active games, for a long time walk on fresh air.
It is also important to ensure that your child does not become overtired during daytime activities. For the strongest impressions, it is better to reserve the first half of the day.
Nervous overstimulation received during the day has a bad effect on night sleep. Having become overexcited, the baby often wakes up and cannot fall back to sleep for a long time.
Create an environment
A comfortable environment will help teach your baby to sleep peacefully. First of all, you need to remove all the circumstances that prevent the baby from sleeping: ventilate the room, make sure that the child is not hot or cold, straighten the bed linen, remove any wrinkles on clothes and diapers that cause discomfort to the baby, give him something to drink or eat before going to bed.
All active games should be completed long before bedtime. When laying the baby down, the mother herself should be in a calm, balanced state. Some babies sleep better in complete darkness, while others, on the contrary, feel calmer under the light of a night light. It is easier to teach a child to sleep through the night by creating the most comfortable circumstances for him.
Stop hysteria
When parents respond to their child’s requests in a timely manner, the child feels more confident. If you approach him as soon as he begins to be capricious, without allowing him to scream, over time the baby begins to behave calmer. He has confidence that his requests will not go unnoticed. The need to scream loudly and continuously disappears by itself.
The baby may experience stress from any sudden changes. A change of scenery, long road, abolition of breastfeeding, etc., affect his psychological state, including the state of night sleep.
Parents need to understand that waking up at night is for infant- This is fine. All they have to do is be patient and try to create comfortable conditions for the baby to fall asleep and sleep, wisely alternate periods of activity and rest for the child. daytime. And be sure to follow and adjust the regimen on time.
Most parents are faced with the problem of poor children's sleep. It is especially difficult for them at night. Why is this happening? In the first year of life, babies are often worried about hunger, abdominal pain, discomfort from teething, the desire to feel their mother’s warmth nearby, and much more. Often the reason why a baby does not sleep well is the lack of a daily routine.
Why does my child sleep poorly at night?
Waking up at night is quite normal for a child under one year old. He is just getting to know this world and adapting to it. There are many new, incomprehensible and disturbing factors around. The baby grows, changes, develops, absorbs the information received. Many children do not sleep well due to overstimulation from what they have seen during the day.
Reasons why a child sleeps poorly:
- Hunger. A newborn often wakes up due to the desire to attach itself to the mother's breast.
- Disease. At night, the baby begins to suddenly and loudly scream, and it is not easy to calm down.
Intestinal colic. Associated with the formation of a large volume of gases in gastrointestinal tract. In order to calm the pain, you can massage the tummy, stroking it clockwise, put a heated diaper on it, use a gas tube (extreme caution is required here) or give the baby a colic remedy based on simethicone.
Teething. They are cut from 3 months to 2 years. Some babies easily tolerate this period, while others experience painful sensations, they develop fever and diarrhea. To improve well-being, use special gels for the gums, antipyretic (children's Nurofen) and antidiarrheal (StopDiar) drugs.
Cold. Probably, the baby does not sleep well at night due to the fact that he is suffering from a sore throat, nasal congestion, and fever. Medicines are purchased only after consultation with a doctor who will prescribe accurate diagnosis and prescribe the correct treatment.
- The air in the house is too dry and warm. The baby is sensitive to temperature changes, tosses and turns and wakes up because he is stuffy.
- Wet diaper. The child wakes up due to a full diaper. True, some children do not care about this, and they sleep peacefully, even when the diaper leaks.
- Stressful situations. These are screams and quarrels of parents, moving to another apartment, the appearance of another child in the family, “moving” into a separate bed after sleeping with mom. The baby has trouble sleeping at night due to negative reaction body to the stress experienced.
There are other reasons why your baby may have difficulty sleeping at night. These include loud, sharp sounds (for example, the TV being turned on), uncomfortable clothing (getting in the way, pinching, pricking), etc.
Sleep and exercise
If nothing bothers the child, he is fed, healthy and in a dry diaper, then the reason why he sleeps poorly may be due to insufficient physical or emotional stress during the day. Regular physical activity guarantees sound sleep. If the child already knows how to sit up, crawl, or is already trying to walk, then you will have to sit and crawl with him, help him walk, encourage him to move.
If the baby is still too small to sit and crawl, then physical activity do massage and gymnastics.
Emotional stress includes educational games, communication with relatives and other children of the same age. Children react to such stress differently: some get tired and quickly fall asleep, while others, on the contrary, become overexcited, cannot fall asleep for a long time, and sleep poorly. Parents should watch their baby to find out exactly how he reacts to emotional stress.
There should not be many toys in the bed of a baby who often wakes up at night. Bright, shiny, luminous rattles will also be excluded. They distract attention and prevent you from falling asleep.
Rules for sound children's sleep
Dr. Komarovsky claims that healthy children's sleep ensures healthy sleep for all family members. The child needs to be accustomed to the daily routine that his mother and father adhere to. The baby needs healthy, rested and loving friend friend's parents.
The child is prepared in advance for a night's sleep. To do this, determine the most optimal sleep hours (for example, from 22.00 pm to 7.00 am) and try to teach the baby to go to bed according to them.
Komarovsky says that parents must decide from the moment they arrive from the maternity hospital where and with whom the child will sleep. It is best when the newborn sleeps in a crib in the same room as the parents. This will make it much easier for mom to get up to him at night, feed him, and lull him to sleep. This way the baby can sleep for up to 3 years.
It is not recommended to put a baby to sleep in a separate room for up to one year. In such a situation, it is more difficult for the mother to control his sleep, and the risk of sudden infant death syndrome increases.
Another option is when the baby sleeps in the same bed with his parents. Today, many families sleep this way, but pediatricians do not recommend doing this. The child gets used to the fact that he sleeps with his mother and father, and as he grows up, it is very difficult to accustom him to sleep in his own bed. In addition, adults may inadvertently crush him.
It is recommended to put a child up to one year old to sleep in a crib on his back, turning his head to the side so that he does not choke if he burps. Sleeping on your tummy increases your risk of sudden infant death syndrome. The baby can block the access of oxygen to the lungs by burying his nose in a pillow (if there is one) or a blanket.
In his books, Dr. Komarovsky wrote that there is no need to be afraid to wake up children during the day if they sleep too long, so that they can sleep well at night. To do this, find out daily norm baby's sleep. Children under 3 months of age sleep on average 16-20 hours, at 6 months - approximately 14.5 hours, and closer to a year - 13.5 hours. Don't forget that these figures are averages, and each child has his own sleep needs.
In order for your baby to sleep soundly at night, it is necessary to optimize feeding. The newborn wakes up every 2.5 hours to satisfy hunger. At the age of 3 to 6 months, the number of night feedings can be reduced to 1-2 times per night. After 6 months, the baby no longer physically needs to be fed at night. But he wants to lie close to his chest and rock in his mother’s arms. He will continue to demand all this, since his mother fulfills all his demands. At the same time, there can be no talk of healthy children's sleep. Perhaps the mother should consider weaning. This process does not have to be stressful for the baby. They wean off breastfeeding slowly, gradually reducing the feeding time, replacing the breast over time with a bottle of water.
Komarovsky advises monitoring the condition of the sleeping area. The mattress for the crib is chosen to be smooth and dense, not sagging under weight small body. It is not recommended to use a pillow for children under 2 years of age. You can only buy bed linen that is made from natural fabrics. It is washed with washing powder intended for washing children's clothes, and be sure to rinse thoroughly.
If the baby wakes up often, it is better to underfeed him at the penultimate feeding before bedtime, and to feed him as full as possible at the last feeding. But it is important not to overdo it: after overfeeding, your stomach hurts and sleep is disturbed.
The child should lead an active lifestyle, including daily walks, naps in the fresh air, physical exercise(no overload). After this he should sleep soundly. At night, activity is reduced. At this time, they read books, look at the pictures in them, watch cartoons and fall asleep to their mother’s lullaby.
The room should not be stuffy: the air temperature should not be higher than 20 degrees, and the humidity should not be lower than 50%. To do this, a thermometer and a hydrometer are installed in the nursery, the room is ventilated every day and wet cleaning is done.
If the child is already sitting independently, then he should be bathed in a large shared bathtub, and not in a baby bathtub or basin. This will make him more tired and hungry. Before swimming, you can indulge in massage and gymnastic treatments. A tired child after a bath should eat heavily and sleep soundly.
In his speeches, Komarovsky noted that one of the most important conditions good sleep- high-quality disposable diaper. Parents need to find a brand suitable for their baby. The diaper should not press or rub, it should not cause irritation or diaper rash.
The goal of parents is to make their baby comfortable and calm, so that he feels needed and loved. A happy and loved child will play more fun and sleep soundly.
You can hear from almost every parent that your beloved child does not sleep well at night. Healthy good sleep vital for the baby. It is in a dream that a child grows, strengthens and restores his body and health. However, for some reason, not all babies sleep soundly at night, often waking up and demanding the attention of adults. Why does a child sleep poorly at night, what to do and how to deal with it?
Sleep disturbances in a child can be caused by a variety of reasons. Very often, pediatricians and neurologists, even though infancy baby, restless sleep is classified as a variety nervous disorders, prescribing various treatments medications. You should not rush to take medications, because in most cases there is no good reason for this. You may be able to improve your baby’s sleep on your own without resorting to measures that are risky to his health. It is important to correctly determine the cause of his restless sleep.
Possible reasons why your child is not sleeping well.
Once born, the baby does nothing but sleep, as he gets tired quickly. Each child has his own sleep schedule and it differs significantly from the sleep of an adult. During the first months of life, the baby rests seventeen hours a day, waking up only when he gets hungry. Night feedings, if the baby needs them (usually up to 6-12 months, but sometimes later (except for artificial babies)), are mandatory. Therefore, parents must be ready to meet the baby’s needs at any time of the day. Usually, after the baby has eaten, he sleeps soundly until the next morning feeding. In the fourth month of life, sleep time is reduced to fifteen hours, and after six months the baby only needs fourteen hours of sleep.
Among the majority of young and inexperienced mothers, there is a widespread belief that if the baby is very little awake during the day, then night sleep will be restless, which is far from the case. We can say that everything happens exactly the opposite. Having rested well during the day, the baby falls asleep easier and better and sleeps at night. Flaw nap for the baby it results in fatigue, rapid excitability and whims. As a result, the baby is unlikely to fall asleep at the appointed time of bedtime, and at night his sleep will be anxious and restless.
Wet diapers and excessive wrapping can also disrupt a baby's restful sleep. Cold and uncomfortable conditions force the baby to wake up and call for his mother. Today, of course, most mothers cope well with this problem with the help of modern diapers, which make life much easier for the baby’s parents.
Another reason that can disrupt a baby’s sleep is an unventilated room. Very often, for fear of catching a child’s cold, parents do not open windows and vents at all to ventilate the room. Meanwhile, stale air in the baby’s room negatively affects the baby’s sleep, not only at night, but also during the day. Therefore, the baby’s room should be ventilated at least every two hours. In addition, to improve your baby’s sleep, you should definitely take him for evening walks in the fresh air. They will calm the baby's nervous system and help improve his health.
For some reason, it is generally accepted that babies sleep soundly all the time. However, there are very few such babies. Most babies under three to six months do not sleep well at night, which is due to the peculiarities of their sleep architecture. During this period, shallow sleep prevails over deep sleep in children, as a result of which they sleep restlessly at night and often wake up. In the future, depending on individual characteristics, some of the children may fall asleep on their own, while others still need help. However, if you and your child have had problems with night sleep in the first year of life, then it is not at all a fact that they will not appear at the age of one and a half to three years. This period is the second difficult stage in which sleep disturbances occur. This period is characterized by the emergence of various fears in children (fear of the dark, unrealistic book or cartoon characters, etc.), the manifestation of which also occurs in nightmares. At the age of five to seven years, children begin to have thoughts about death. As a rule, they do not talk about this openly with their parents, since this phenomenon appears to them as something incomprehensible and mysterious. But if during this period there is a loss in the family loved one, children experience everything on a deep level, although they do not outwardly express or show it. In some cases, falling asleep itself begins to be associated in children on a subconscious level with the moment of death. At an older age, children develop a fear of the elements, which intensifies even more against the backdrop of disaster films shown on TV about earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires, etc. At the age of seven, when school begins, children develop a different kind of fear: fear of an unsatisfactory answer in class, fear of teacher comments, negative attitude classmates, etc. The child is afraid of appearing funny, weak or stupid. If at this moment the parents do not help him in overcoming these fears, then the fear will become entrenched, against the background of which sleep problems will develop. He will subconsciously delay the moment (doing homework late, watching TV, etc.) when he needs to go to bed, because in the morning the school nightmare will await him again.
A child may sleep restlessly at night simply because he is tormented by nightmares, as a result of which he often wakes up suddenly. It has been proven that even in the womb, from 25-30 weeks of pregnancy, children see dreams. The reasons for the occurrence of such dreams are unknown, just as it is unknown what exactly they dream about and what impact this has on their development. According to one of the many theories, these dreams are genetic memory, which ensures that the brain is loaded with the necessary information and develops feelings and thinking. Poor sleep can cause physical and mental development child.
Problems with sleep at night may occur in a baby due to insufficient energy expenditure during the day, as a result of which he is less tired. All children, without exception, are very active and mobile. It will take a lot of effort to get them tired, and parents won’t get away with just playing with cars or dolls.
Very often, problems with night sleep occur in children with increased needs. Such children require a special approach, regardless of age. In the first year of life, they do not know how to relax and fall asleep on their own, and as they get older, they still sleep restlessly due to excessive impressionability and frequent nightmares.
Restless sleep in a baby may also indicate that something hurts. To do this, you need to establish the cause and try to eliminate it. The most common cause of restless night sleep in a child of the first year of life is abdominal pain that appears in the third week after birth. For some babies this will go away after about two months, and for some it will last up to four to five months. No one can pinpoint the exact cause of colic in babies. Presumably, cow's milk contributes to this. This usually applies to breastfed children, whose mothers consume more than half a liter of cow's milk daily. Another cause of infant colic is believed to be the composition of infant formula.
Other reasons for a restless night's sleep in a child may be teething, rickets or vitamin deficiency, neurological disorders, otitis media or ear disease, weather changes in weather-sensitive children, dysbacteriosis, influenza, meningitis, heat(38-40 degrees), pinworms (which poison the baby’s nervous system with toxins).
Sleep disorders can be congenital, which is caused by diseases of the nervous system (encephalopathy). Their development can be provoked gynecological diseases in women during pregnancy, bad habits, and constant stress and overvoltage.
Poor sleep in children at night may be a reaction to any serious changes in his life. In particular, this could be a change of place of residence, the appearance of another child in the family, or the child began to sleep separately from his parents. Experiences associated with such events can negatively affect the quality of sleep.
Mistakes made by parents themselves in the process of raising children can also cause restless sleep. For example, when parents put their baby to bed every day at different time(non-compliance with the regime), noisy games before bedtime, raising your voice at the child or shouting, etc.
Very often, a child’s sleep disturbances result allergic reactions to salicylates contained in aspirin, food additives(dye E 102) and some vegetables and fruits (tomatoes, citrus fruits, raspberries). Elimination this factor from the baby's or mother's diet (depending on age) very quickly restores sleep. However, before you change your own diet or introduce anything into your child’s diet, you should consult with your pediatrician.
Brain tumors may also cause bad sleep in children.
What to do?
The main thing that every mother needs to learn is to protect and protect the baby’s sleep. Don't wake up your baby just because it's feeding time. Believe me, nothing will happen to him if he is hungry for an extra thirty to forty minutes. But he will wake up on his own and be much calmer. Gradually, you will develop your own feeding schedule, focusing on the baby.
It is also worth noting that there is no need to remain silent while your baby is sleeping, walk on tiptoe, or talk in a whisper. The more extraneous noise there is in the room, the better and sounder the baby’s sleep will be. Speaking of noise, of course, we are not talking about beating drums, loud music, etc. You can simply go about your business as usual, talking in a low voice.
Before going to bed, the child should be fed, watered, clean and dry. After all, the presence of such problems does not allow the baby to sleep, he cries, gets nervous, and often wakes up. The absence of these factors will calm the baby and ensure good sleep.
Establishing and teaching a child to a certain regime is also the primary task of the parent. By about one and a half months, the baby begins to understand when it is day and when it is night. It is during this period that the correct regime should be established that will help him orient himself. In the first year of life, the baby wakes up at night for feeding, which is recommended to be done in complete silence, with dim lighting from a night light. There is no need to talk to the baby. But during the day, on the contrary, feeding time can be made more emotional. You can talk to the baby, stroke him, kiss him, tell him stories, etc. This will reinforce in the baby’s memory that he can play during the day and sleep at night. Also, the time you put your baby to bed should be the same. It cannot be violated. It is necessary to plan your daily routine in such a way that no matter what, the baby goes to bed on time.
The baby’s room, as noted above, should be thoroughly and constantly ventilated, always before bedtime. In addition, the room where the crib is located should be wet cleaned daily and monitored for cleanliness and freshness. It is recommended to remove foreign objects from the room, especially those that absorb a lot of dust. The crib, bed, night pajamas are of great importance - everything should be made from natural materials and have neutral and discreet colors. In addition, the room should also not contain any objects that irritate or form a “scary” shadow when illuminated at night. The immediate location of the room where the child lives is of paramount importance. Agree, if there is a night restaurant under the windows, and the elevator is constantly making noise behind the wall, then even an adult’s sleep is unlikely to be restful, not to mention children.
From the first days of life, teach your baby to fall asleep on his own. Many pediatricians do not recommend giving a pacifier, rocking them to sleep, carrying them in their arms, or putting them to sleep in their own bed. However, some are not at all against such methods of calming the baby. Each parent, of course, chooses their own tactics, but you should remember that the child gets used to everything. Therefore, when choosing a method to calm your baby, be prepared that you will have to do this constantly.
From the first days of life, develop in your child the correct associations for falling asleep, by which we mean the situations and conditions under which he is accustomed to falling asleep. You should develop the habit of calming down and falling asleep on your own when waking up at night. A favorite toy placed nearby and a dim night light can help him with this. If a baby learns to suck a pacifier or be held in his mother's rocking arms before going to bed, he will always demand this until he gets it.
To prevent the child from having sleep disturbances due to overexcitation, active games, watching TV, the computer, and any kind of emotional shock should be excluded two hours before bedtime. A new toy, news that everyone is going to the circus on their day off, etc. It’s better to put all this off until the morning so as not to worry him. Everything and everyone in the house should be conducive to sleep. No quarrels, punishing the baby before bedtime or showdowns. The child should go to bed in a good mood, in a relaxed state, and should not worry or worry about anything. If it so happens that you scolded your child for something or shouted at him for disobedience, you should definitely make peace with him before going to bed.
It is very important to always put your baby to bed in the same mood. Probably, many mothers have noticed that when they are excited, anxious or upset about something, the child takes a long time to fall asleep. This is a proven fact; children feel their mother’s condition and experience it with her.
Try to keep your evening bedtime routine the same every day. It happens that you urgently need to rush somewhere or you are just tired, so in your haste you missed something and did not do what you traditionally do before going to bed. The child will definitely catch this, and it is on this day that he will fall asleep for an infinitely long time. Therefore, it is very important to put the child to bed the same way every day: calmly, measuredly, strictly following the established sequence of actions.
Correct behavior of mommy at night also has great importance. If the baby wakes up at night and does not want to sleep, you should not shout at him, this has an exciting effect on the baby, as a result of which sleep disappears completely. Also, you should not run to him at the first rustle or call; he must independently learn to fall asleep again without your help. It is precisely because they were taught this way that the child wakes up several times a night and calls for his mother. To wean him off this, you can use one of the methods: when the child wakes up, do not rush and immediately approach him, wait a little time, and each time this time period should be increased. First, three minutes after the first call, then after five, six, seven, etc. In the end, he will understand that he should sleep at this time and not call his mother. According to experts, this will take approximately two weeks. But since all children are different, this method cannot suit everyone without exception. In any case, this method can be used no earlier than six months. In addition, it is necessary to make sure that the child is not wet and does not want, for example, to drink, whether he is cold or hot.
To improve sleep, it is not recommended to feed your child later than an hour and a half before bedtime. In this case, dinner should be light and consist of a non-protein dish. In addition, you should not give your child a lot of drinks at night, restful sleep in in this case definitely won't.
As for feeding babies, according to many pediatricians, already from three months a child can easily go without food or drink for six hours. Even waking up at night to feed, they easily fall asleep again. According to doctors, from the age of six months, the baby must be accustomed to uninterrupted night sleep, otherwise they will ask for the breast, a bottle with formula or water for a very long time. However, it is worth taking into account the individual characteristics of children. There are children who do not wake up at night because their body does not need night feedings. And there are children who in this way try to make up for the lack of maternal attention that they experience during the day.
Parents should help overcome children's fears and worries that disrupt sleep. If a child is afraid and needs you, you should not brush him off with the words “shame on you, you’re already big” and the like. Trust your child. If suddenly he asked you to lie down with him in his room, although before this there was no fear of being alone, help him survive all his fears, be there.
If the reason for poor sleep lies in the child’s illness, you should not be surprised. As treatment progresses, sleep will also be restored. If it's not a matter of common illness(flu, dysbacteriosis, rickets, colic, teeth) you should consult a doctor, since sleep disturbances may indicate nervous disorders.
Folk remedies that improve sleep.
Add a teaspoon of dill juice and the same amount of honey to a glass of milk. Give to children warm, a teaspoon after meals. Store the product in the refrigerator for no more than a day, when room temperature- no more than half an hour.
Place valerian root wrapped in gauze at the child's head.
Pour one dessert spoon of chamomile flowers into 200 ml of boiling water and let it brew overnight. Then strain the infusion and give the child a teaspoon after meals five to six times a day.
Chop fresh dill, take a tablespoon and add two glasses of water. You can use dill seeds. Infuse the mixture, strain and give the children a teaspoon at night.
In conclusion, I would like to note that it is normal for a child to wake up at night. The only thing that matters is the number of cases per night and how the baby falls asleep after that. Basically, if the child is healthy and the parents are doing everything right, there will be no problems with sleep. Health to your children and good sleep!
For an infant, sleep is one of the best helpers in stimulating growth and development. It is good if by the age of 8 months the child falls asleep on his own and does not wake up at night. But the completely opposite situation also happens. Then it is important to find out why he sleeps poorly or wakes up often. Dr. Komarovsky has his own thoughts. They are useful to know for any parent facing similar problems.
Natural causes
First of all, you need to find out physiological characteristics. You should build on them. 8 months is a rather difficult period. The baby wakes up for many reasons, the main ones are two.
- Specific “sleep architecture”. At 8 months, the baby's shallow sleep is much “stronger” than deep sleep. Waking up frequently at this age is normal.
- Need for feeding at night. Just at 8 months it is especially pronounced. All breastfed babies can wake up. This applies less to babies on artificial formula.
Above are only the so-called physiological reasons awakening. There are other situations that can lead to sleep problems. They can be called “situational”.
What can interfere with sleep
It is possible to name many situations when sleep becomes sensitive. According to Komarovsky, many of them can be eliminated fairly quickly and without significant effort. But parents must determine exactly what the problem is. If the described situation arises, Komarovsky advises paying attention to these most fundamental points.
- Absence correct mode sleep and rest. By the age of 8 months, the baby’s routine should be fully developed.
- Wrong place to sleep. The absence of parents near the baby worsens sleep.
- Excess sleep during the day. Some children get enough sleep during the day.
- Poor timing of feeding. It is not necessary to feed at night. If the baby wakes up to attach itself to the mother's breast, it is necessary to reconsider the diet.
- Lack of sufficient physical activity during the day.
- Uncomfortable conditions. The reason is also due to incorrectly selected humidity and inappropriate temperature in the room. The quality of the mattress and diapers used is also of great importance.
These are the main cases when the baby wakes up. Komarovsky's recommendations will help you teach your baby to sleep well.
What should parents do?
Rules healthy sleep for an eight-month-old child are understandable and easy to follow. Komarovsky asks parents to rely on the following recommendations.
- Before going to bed, the baby should be well fed. That way he won't get hungry at night.
- At 8 months, it is even better to place the child in the same room with his parents. It is harder to sleep in a separate room.
- Before going to bed, you should ventilate the room to avoid stuffiness. Optimal air humidity is 60%.
- It is necessary to provide the baby with daily exercise.
- It is not recommended to put your child to sleep during the day if he clearly does not want to. Otherwise, he will wake up frequently at night.
- The child must be taught to alternate periods of sleep and rest. Gradually he will get used to sleeping at night, the problem will disappear.
There is nothing difficult about following such rules. In general, Komarovsky recommends first of all paying attention to the presented aspects. It will be possible to survive the age of 8 months without any special nerves. Over time, sleep returns to normal. After a year of life, the baby will begin to sleep much more soundly, and mom and dad won’t have to put him to bed several times. The correct approach to such an issue will allow us to raise a full-fledged and developed person.
There are a lot of tips online for how to get your baby to sleep through the night as an infant, but not a lot for parents of kindergarteners who still wake up multiple times during the night.
At the age of 2-3 years, when the child is released from the “imprisonment” of a small crib and goes to sleep on a large bed, he can often come to his parents to find comfort and safety in their bed. Plus, there are always children who cannot fall asleep at 7-8 pm and wake up after 7 am. Moreover, one out of 5 children who had problems with sleep in infancy may experience similar difficulties later, worsening in childhood. teenage years. So sleep problems spanning several years of a child’s life are relevant to many parents.
Dr. Craig Canapari, father of a 2-year-old child, pediatric pulmonologist and sleep expert, answered the most common question parents have about childhood sleep and explained why it happens.
Why does my baby wake up at night?
Every parent woke up at 2 a.m., hearing the cry of the baby (or seeing him move on the baby monitor monitor), and waited, crossing his fingers, until silence reigned again (or the figure on the screen froze, falling asleep again) ... But if the expectations There were no excuses, everyone was ready to run very quickly to the nursery to give the baby a pacifier before he actually woke up.
Most babies are actually capable of long periods of sleep (6-8 hours straight) at night by the age of six months. But if you carefully care for your child, it may take a little longer to achieve this result. However, every 9-12 month old baby should already be sleeping through the night.
However, any child can sometimes stay awake at night. Night awakenings become a problem if they last more than a few minutes, occur several times during the night, or lead to a significant deterioration in behavior and well-being during the day—and this affects both the child and the parents.
There are several circumstances that often cause poor night sleep.
- “Inappropriate” sleep onset associations. This is a classic childhood sleep disorder described by the renowned Dr. Ferber. The child simply falls asleep in conditions that do not occur later in the night. For example, before going to bed you stroke his back or hold him in your arms; breastfeed him or give him a pacifier. At night, the baby enters a more deep sleep, sweats into a more superficial phase, and then may wake up for a minute or two every few hours. If there are no previous familiar conditions (for example, he is lying in bed, and not in his mother’s arms), the child will scream until he is picked up.
This problem can be eliminated by teaching your baby to fall asleep on his own, that is, leaving him sleepy but still awake. Sometimes make the process easier falling asleep independently It helps to shift your bedtime - at least 30 minutes later. Your baby may still wake for a night or two, but on average the night wakings should stop after a week.
- Hunger. This factor may be triggered if the baby is used to constantly drinking a bottle or two of milk at night or still suckles at the mother's breast several times a night. Such children wake up because they are simply hungry - a habit that took a very long time to form. If a child is older than one year, he is healthy, but is used to eating several times a night or requires changing his diaper, then this is most likely a problem for the parents. If a baby falls asleep with a bottle or mother's breast, he may have difficulty sleeping. Therefore, I recommend reducing the volume of the bottle by at least 40-50 grams or increasing the intervals between feedings by an hour so that the child actually eats when he is hungry.
- Medical pathologies. Very often, many common health problems are simply not taken into account when determining the cause of a child’s sleep disturbance. If your child coughs frequently at night, he or she may have asthma or allergies that need to be treated. Backup of acid from the stomach into the esophagus (reflux) can cause stomach pain, vomiting, and breathing problems at night. Obstructive sleep apnea is very common. by-effect snoring, and this can also disturb sleep. I strongly recommend that you meet with your pediatrician if at least one of these problems is relevant to you.
- Factors environment . As a rule, these reasons are obvious - they can be recorded by the senses. Is there a TV in the room? If yes, then please remove it from there!
Are there noisy neighbors who are night owls or a noisy road nearby? Does the child share a room with a sibling or parent who is used to making noise? If you cannot change such circumstances (change apartment), then a generator will help you white noise or fan.
But if the room is simply too dry, hot or too cold (more than 23.5 degrees Celsius or less than 15), then you can easily change such unfavorable factors by using a humidifier, heater or air conditioner. Even opening a window at night will make your child sleep more soundly.
Do you think these four explanations are appropriate for your little one? Have you done everything in your power to stop your child’s nightmarish awakenings?
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