Many parents are faced with the phenomenon when their baby, falling asleep, does not close his eyelids. Kids can roll their eyes or leave them ajar, much to the dismay and panic of their dads and mothers. But why do our daughters and sons sleep with open eyes, and is it worth the relatives to worry so much about it? What diseases can half-open eyes of a child testify to during sleep? All this will be discussed below.
Features of baby nap
The sleep of babies consists of two phases - fast and deep (or slow). During the second period, the sleeping baby completely relaxes, his breathing becomes even, the nervous system rests. To plunge into a deep sleep, a boy or girl needs to go through the phase of superficial slumber, when the brain is still awake. At this moment, the child can say something, twitch, and often then the children’s eyes are ajar.
Sleep phases in babies of the first months of life alternate very often. After all, being in a state of deep slumber, the baby cannot cry if it is cold, wet its pants, or his stomach hurts.
Features of sleep in children under one and a half years
Many parents care about this question: why is their one-year-old baby sleeping with ajar eyes? As the doctors say, this is a normal physiological phenomenon, which even has its own name - “lagophthalmos”. This condition is not a sleep disorder. And in it the baby does not only sleep with half-open eyelids, and sometimes cries out, twitches with legs and arms. Usually in children, after a year and a half, this goes away, so ajar eyes during sleep is a phenomenon that soon also stops.
After two years, this manifestation may be irregular in nature, mainly it can be observed due to overexcitation of the baby. The brain cells of the baby are overworked, as a result of which incomplete closure of the eyelids is possible.
If lagophthalmus does not go away after 2 years, then you need the help of an ophthalmologist who will prescribe the appropriate treatment and may even have to undergo surgery on the organs of vision.
Somnambulism
Another reason why our offspring sleep with their eyes open is the so-called somnambulism. This disease, popularly known as sleepwalking - a condition in which a person during sleep can perform unconscious actions. A temporary threshold for the onset of the development of an ailment is the age of a child from six years. The state of somnambulism in duration can be from several minutes to 1 hour, and in some cases even longer. Children suffering from this ailment very often go in a dream with their eyes open, perform incomprehensible actions (for example, hide or rearrange things). And in the morning, waking up, they do not remember anything.
The dangers of somnambulism
The main threat to this disease for children is the possibility of injuring oneself. Since the child is sleeping with his eyes ajar, but at the same time he unconsciously gets out of bed and begins to move, soon he may fall or hit some piece of furniture, cut himself or injure himself. There were even sad cases when in this state the children fell from stairs, windows, beds. Therefore, parents should not let this problem drift, because not only health, but also the life of their offspring depends on it.
Treatment of somnambulism
If a parent turned to a specialist for help about the fact that his child sleeps with his eyes ajar, walks at night unconsciously, then before making a diagnosis of “somnambulism” and prescribing appropriate therapy, the doctor wonders if there were any negative incidents in the baby’s life, was sick whether he had any diseases and how often. If the mother really remembers some negative episodes that could affect such a state of health of the crumbs, then the doctor prescribes treatment. Often, for patients with such a diagnosis, the doctor recommends an electroencephalogram and a dopplerography of the brain vessels. In addition, the specialist must give a referral for examination by an ophthalmologist who will examine the bottom of the eyeball of the child.
Treatment of somnabulism involves the following measures.
- Before going to bed, parents need to do a light massage for their son or daughter with vegetable oil (olive, almond, etc.). You can also add essential oils, which have a calming effect (mint, lavender, etc.).
- If the child is overstrained, then you need to give him a vegetable fee. Brew melissa, valerian, motherwort, mint and give a drink to son or daughter throughout the day.
- Above the offspring bed you can put grass in a pouch.
- Parents should pay attention to how much the child sleeps. After all, if their child does not have enough rest, then this can also affect the development of somnambulism.
- If necessary, the doctor can prescribe sedative and hypnotic drugs that control the facts of sleepwalking. For example, it can be preparations “Pros”, “Klonopin”, “Trazodon”.
- If the case is severe, tranquilizers are prescribed for the boy or girl.
Which doctors should I contact?
If parents are disturbed by their sleeping infant or older child, they are worried that their offspring sleeps with half-open or open eyelids, then they should seek the help of such doctors:
- pediatrician;
- oculist;
- neuropathologist;
- neuropsychiatrist.
Initially, of course, you should go to a consultation with a pediatrician and tell about your concerns. If the pediatrician suspects something bad in the baby’s condition, he can give a referral to a neurologist and oculist. These specialists must dispel all doubts and fears of their parents and answer their main question: why do their children sleep with their eyes ajar. If the boy or girl experienced some kind of fear, shock, then the doctor can also send mom and baby for consultation and possible further treatment to a neuropsychiatrist.
Normal length of night rest
From how much the child sleeps, his general condition depends. So, below we list the norms of children's daily rest by age categories:
- from 1 to 4 months - 18 hours;
- from 4 to 6 months - 16 hours;
- from six months to 9 months - 15 hours;
- from 10 months to 1 year - 13 hours;
- from 1 to 2 years - 12 hours at night and 2 times a day for 2 hours;
- from 2 to 3 years - 11 hours at night and 1-2 times a day for 2-3 hours;
- from 3 to 7 years - 10 hours and in the afternoon about 2 hours.
After 7 years, the child does not have to doze off during the day, and at night the child should rest for 8-9 hours.
After reading this article, parents will probably breathe a sigh of relief and will not worry about the fact that their child is sleeping with his eyes ajar. But if after 2 years this state of crumbs does not go away, then this is a cause for concern. In this case, mom and dad should show their child to the pediatrician and exclude diseases such as lagophthalmos or somnambulism. If the doctor made any of these diagnoses, then parents should do everything in their power to ensure that their child quickly gets rid of such an ailment and continues to live a calm and happy life.