From the first days of life, every young mother tirelessly asks the question: "When do children start to sleep all night?" Everything that books are written about, which the older generation talks about, which society obliges, relatives and friends to do, somehow it doesn’t work and even interferes. Someone is more lucky, and someone has to achieve a long and stubbornly desired result. Indeed, one thing is statistics, medical recommendations, and quite another is personal experiences and understanding that you are not alone in your quest. So, I will briefly list the main recommendations received and our conclusions.
The first and most important understanding that I discovered for myself is that all children are completely different. All these book phrases: "Children should eat so much, sleep then and so ...", - never managed to bring to life. If something is the norm for some, it is unacceptable for others. Therefore, you should not exhaust yourself and the child with attempts to change something. Trying to figure out your difficult situation is not unnecessary, but absolutely no one needs to consider yourself or your child different from everyone, that is, "abnormal", frantically trying to change everything.
It can be seen that in this era we live today, no matter how hard we try, we cannot find the right solutions anywhere. You consult with one pediatrician, get good advice, everything is reasonable and correct. You turn to another specialist - and you hear completely opposite opinions and recommendations. I think you are also familiar with this. For everyone, even the most intelligent authors, simply share their experience and knowledge gained from someone. But in fact, no one can know your child better than you. This is often said by experienced district pediatricians who come to the call. And now I’ll try to explain why.
Most books translated from European languages advise putting the child not just separately from the parents, but even in a separate room - the nursery. If the child does not fall asleep, screams, cries, then it is not necessary to pick it up, but you can only come in after 5-10 minutes, linger for a while and leave the child alone again. This is a vivid European and American experience, which is very difficult to take root in the post-Soviet space. The mentality is probably completely different. Our mother cannot calmly listen to how the baby is torn in another room. It is especially difficult to adhere to the advice of such psychologists in that it is possible to pick up a child and calm it down in cases if a strong cry does not stop within forty minutes. But, in my opinion, when the child becomes older, and there will be an opportunity to explain something or hear a response, then this method is reasoned. But to subject the baby to such tests, and even when there are health problems, the maternal heart cannot bear this.
When do children sleep all night? Yes, to be honest, never. Don't we adults wake up at night when something has been dreamed or when something hurts? Sometimes a dream does not go, you spin and get up. In children, everything is the same. But you personally do not start to wake up your household in such situations and do not force yourself to entertain. But we allow children to do this. Sometimes they look for help from us, then we must be around. But more often than not, we ourselves teach our children to act in a certain way, and then we get mad at them for that. Therefore, to the question: "How to teach a child to sleep at night?" - there is only one correct answer: "Teach your child to behave correctly when he wakes up at night." Only in this way will this question cease to be a problem.
In addition, doctors recommend that young mothers introduce a strict regimen of sleep and feeding, put the baby up to nine in the evening, reduce daytime sleep, introduce the usual ritual actions that will signal the baby that it is time to sleep. Often this really makes the situation easier. Often there are problems with sleep due to the health of the child, teething, excessive emotions for the day, a sharp change in the usual environment or even just mom’s fatigue. Pediatricians can recommend homeopathic remedies to your baby if it is possible to pinpoint the causes of poor sleep. Neuropathologists often prescribe herbal teas or bathing in special herbs before bedtime. It also calms the baby’s nervous system well without causing side effects. But to attribute any drugs on their own is strictly prohibited. Consult exclusively with specialists.
And here is another frequently occurring issue of breast and artificial feeding in the context of the problem posed. It is believed that infants wake up more often and require the attention of only their mothers and no one else. But it turns out that just the baby at night really does not wake up near her mother, she bites in her sleep and sleeps on. And on artificial feeding the baby not only wakes you up, but also wakes himself up completely. While they bring the bottle, then you need to eat well and do the rest. That's why, probably, he doesn’t want to wake up so often. He is simply already used to eating less often, but by the way, he just lives in other circumstances of his life.
Over time, I began to approach the issue from a different perspective. When do children start to sleep all night? Now I’d say: “From birth”. Fortunately, I was able to change my attitude, otherwise the question would be: "When do children start to sleep all night?" - would torment me still. My daughter is already five years old, but every night she jumps from one to five times. But this does not mean that I also jump up. Sometimes you have to scold, sometimes agree. But the child’s body is so arranged, it doesn’t even depend on her. Slowly taught that the pot is near the crib, and parents should not be awakened. On the other hand, our situation can be characterized with a big plus. After all, since a year and a half we have not used diapers, but the bed was never wet in the morning. My daughter always woke up just about this. Very rare exceptions occurred only when the child slept all night and did not wake up. Therefore, if a child wakes up at night, then this has its own explanations and reasons. I still don't know when the children start to sleep all night. But it ceased to bother me when I understood the needs of my child. Try to figure it out, and you are sure to find a solution for yourself. Good luck