Why does the child sleep poorly at night? What to do?

Faced at least once in their life with a sleep disorder in a child, parents begin to think about the cause of what happened and try to correct the situation. According to statistics, every sixth baby is disturbed by sleep. Why does this happen, why does the child sleep poorly at night? From the article it will be possible to learn about the causes of sleep disturbance and how to establish the ideal sleep of the child.

Research

Numerous studies in the field of sleep disturbance show that waking children at night is one of the most common problems in children under 4 years of age. Scientists say that approximately 25% of children from 1 to 3 years old are awake at night 5 or more times a week.

Psychologists, neurologists and pediatricians note that this is the most common complaint of parents. If the child does not have any neurological disorders and is completely healthy, he is diagnosed with insomnia, massage and soothing medications are prescribed. However, doctors note that these measures do not guarantee a solution to the problem.

Before looking for methods of how to deal with a problem, you need to find out the causes of its occurrence.

Baby sleep

Sleep is very important in the development of the child. A newborn baby sleeps a lot (up to 20 hours a day) and wakes up only for a short time in order to eat. At the same time, his sleep is an active process, he shudders in a dream, waving arms and legs. With these movements, he often wakes himself up - and this is the main reason why the child sleeps badly day and night, often wakes up and cries. This type of sleep is called active, and it is necessary for the development of the brain of the newborn, for the formation of hereditary and acquired instincts that are responsible for the formation of personality.

By the month, brain structures are formed that are responsible for biorhythms, the child begins to distinguish between night and day, he mainly does this by the level of illumination, silence and other factors. What to do: the child is a month old and does not sleep well at night, confusing the dark with the light? Parents need to emphasize the differences between night and day. For example, dark, calm, quiet - at night.

At 3 months, the child, if he woke up at night, he can stay awake himself and not wake his mother. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that he knows how to calm himself and feel safe. Only in this case, having "walked" at night, he will fall asleep on his own.

By 2 years, the child’s brain is practically developed, so the duration of active sleep decreases, and it becomes more calm.

The physiological type of sleep disturbance

The physiological types of sleep disorders include crying in a dream (sobbing) and shuddering.

Sobbing (sobbing or crying) of a child in a dream is considered the norm by doctors. This reaction of the body performs a number of functions:

1. In the first months after birth, the baby receives a large amount of information about the world, which is processed by the baby’s brain in a dream. All impressions for the day are reflected in a dream in the form of sobs and whimpers.
2. Crying has a “checking” function: it is very important for a child to feel safe at any age, to know that his mother is nearby. Whimpering, he checks to see if this is so. If there is no confirmation, then he wakes up completely and cries already in a state of wakefulness.

Recommendations what to do if the child does not sleep well at night and cries:

1. No need to actively and immediately respond to the baby’s nightly expressions. If he is overly patronized, he will never learn to calm down. The child needs to get used to being alone at night.
2. Awakening at night is a natural element of a child’s sleep, it occurs several times during the night and for various reasons (shuddering, poor sleep), and the child is able to calm himself and fall asleep again.
3. It is necessary to observe the baby and remember what time and how many times he wakes up at night. And at this time, try to be close and soothing actions to prevent him from waking up.
4. It is necessary to come up with a phrase for sleep and to teach a baby to it from the first days of his life. For example, “Sleep, baby. I'm near. All is well!"
5. If the child does not sleep well at night, cries and wakes up, it is necessary not to wake him completely. That is, do not turn on the light, do not give drink. You should give a pacifier, turn on soothing music if he is used to falling asleep under it.
6. Children older than 1 year old are helped to sleep by special sleepy associations (favorite toy, nipple, and so on).

Wince is a natural process associated with the transition from a stage of light sleep to a deeper one, it occurs after falling asleep after about 40 minutes to 1 hour. The child starts and wakes itself up. In young children, this manifests itself especially strongly, since the nervous system does not yet have inhibitory mechanisms. As a child grows older, the less jerking in a dream occurs.

What to do if the child does not sleep well at night, starts in a dream and wakes himself up:

1. If the child is under 6 months old, then you can try to swaddle him. This will keep the legs and handles from starting. In this case, there are various ways of swaddling: “Australian”, “only handles”, “free”. But it should be borne in mind that the legs should not be tightly brought together, otherwise this can lead to serious complications in the development of the hip joints.
2. After falling asleep, the child should stay with him for about an hour and hold his hands with his own hands. As soon as a start is felt, it is necessary to calm the baby.

Behavioral type of sleep disturbance

If the behavior of the child and parents is not properly organized, then behavioral sleep disorders occur.

Incorrect associations when falling asleep are conditions under which the child feels great and falls asleep.

Violations are situations where the child immediately after he cried, picked up and rocked. In the future, this is manifested in the inability of the baby to fall asleep on his own. That is, for him, the presence of an adult is necessary.

The child does not sleep well at night due to improperly organized behavior. What to do?

It is necessary from the first days of life to provide the baby with comfortable sleeping conditions. If he gets used to fall asleep on his hands, during motion sickness, then in the future he will insist on these conditions for sleep, because he is used to it.

Violation of sleep patterns. This disorder is characteristic of children after 1 year. These kids already know how to get up and cots.

A one-year-old child does not sleep well at night, because the wrong rules of behavior were established, namely:

1. He does not want to get to bed on time and comes up with a variety of occasions (he wants to eat, drink, on the pot, and so on).
2. He gets out of bed and runs into bed with his parents.
3. Having woken up in his bed, he arranges a tantrum because he wants to sleep with his parents.

Year of the child - sleeps poorly at night: what to do? Recommendations:

It is necessary to change the child’s attitude to the daily routine and strictly observe the sleepy ritual. A child at the age of one year does not have a sense of time, which is why the ritual before bedtime is so important, which will give him guidance that the baby understands and subconsciously prepare him for parting with his parents at night.

If a child does not sleep well at night in a year, it is necessary to think through the schedule of actions that the ritual will consist of, and observe this entire order about an hour before bedtime every day.

The child will develop a reflex, he will understand if they bathe him, read a fairy tale, feed him, dim the light - which means that he will soon have to sleep. Soon, all these sequential actions will cause him drowsiness.

It is important to consistently perform all actions. If you suddenly do not have enough time for some stage, you need to reduce its duration, but do not disrupt the order.

If the baby is yawning, then you need to forget about the ritual and quickly put him to bed, because if he overworkes, it will be difficult to make him go to bed.

In addition, it should be planned at the same time and daytime sleep, the only way to tune and earn the child’s internal clock.

Eating disorders are expressed in the fact that the baby woke up and can not fall asleep without food or drink. This is due to the fact that the child, when he woke up, was not given the opportunity to fall asleep on his own, but was immediately offered a bottle. Such custody leads to a reflex and a picture is observed when a child at 2 years old does not sleep well at night, wakes up and requires food. Doctors say that the child after 6 months does not need night feeding. In addition, such snacks lead to such negative consequences as caries, inflammation of the inner ear due to the fact that milk gets into it when feeding in a horizontal position, hormonal disorders.

The child does not sleep well at night and cries. The main mistakes of parents

Parents often have a sharp question: “How to put the child to bed?” Scientists have identified the 6 most common mistakes parents put in laying the baby. But even small changes in the mode of the child can lead to problems with sleep. So, the mistakes of parents that they make when laying:

1. Stacking too late. The more the child is overworked, the more difficult it is for him to fall asleep. Therefore, you should observe a strict sleep and wakefulness regime and put the baby to sleep at the same time. Doctors believe that the optimal time for going to bed is 21-22 hours.
2. Sleep in motion. Modern parents often resort to motion sickness of babies in a sling or in an electric swing. But this leads to bad consequences - the child does not sleep in a deep restorative sleep. This is a very superficial light sleep, after which he feels not enough sleep and tired.
3. A variety of distracting details. Do not put the baby in the bed with toys. They distract him from sleep and, if he still managed to sleep, he will often wake up.
4. Inconsistency in action. You must strictly adhere to the rules. If you decide that the child should sleep in his crib, then do not allow him to get into the parent's bed.
5. Violation of the ritual of falling asleep. Strictly observe all the actions of the ritual, and in a certain sequence. For example, bathing, eating, reading a fairy tale, a kiss at night.
6. Too early relocation of the child in a large bed. It should take into account the psychological readiness of the child to change his crib. Scientists believe that approximately this happens in three years. He must "mature" for a large bed.

Falling asleep

If the child does not sleep well at night, it is necessary to teach him to fall asleep correctly. The most important thing is to teach the child to go to bed independently, with minimal involvement of parents.

You can use modern baby monitors and baby monitors, while watching the baby from afar and not falling into his field of vision. The child learns independence and complacency.

You can teach your child to fall asleep with a soft toy. But it should be without buttons, ribbons, ropes. Immediately after falling asleep, it is better to remove the toy from the crib.

Rules for sound sleep

If the child does not sleep well at night (1 year and older), he should provide the following conditions:

1. Create for him in the afternoon all the conditions for the greatest activity.
2. A few hours before bedtime, take him out for a walk.
3. 40 minutes before bedtime - compulsory swimming.
4. 30 minutes before bedtime - a hearty dinner.
5. In the nursery, the air temperature should be 19-20 ˚C, and humidity - 70%.

If the problem arises not only with sleep, but also with falling asleep - you need to sing the same song to him, lay him with the same toy (and he should see it only during motion sickness). This will develop a good habit for him, and as soon as he hears the song’s motive and sees his “falling asleep friend”, he will easily go to bed.

Pillow for sleeping. Is there a need for it?

Doctors say that a pillow for children under 2 years old is not needed. If you put the baby on its side, you can see that its head lies on the bed and the neck remains flat, this happens because its head is large and its shoulders are short. And such proportions persist until about two years of age. Therefore, if the child does not sleep well at night and during the day, you should not think that this is due to the lack of a pillow.

Useful postures for sleeping

The pose for sleep is of great importance for children under the age of 1 year. Pediatricians around the world do not recommend infants to sleep on their tummy. This is life threatening, as it can lead to sudden death syndrome.

The reason for this terrible condition is respiratory arrest. Why this is happening is still not clear. But it is proved that children under one year old, who sleep on their stomach, die much more often. Pediatricians advise laying the baby on his back, and turn his head on his side. After a year, the sleeping pose does not matter - how comfortable the baby is, even if it is sleeping.

Instead of a conclusion

All parents should remember that it does not matter what age the baby is - a couple of months or several years. To sleep well, at any age, children need the same thing: to be active during the day, to be healthy, to be happy and loved. It is important for the child to be surrounded by happy people, positive and joyful impressions - in a word - a “happy childhood” that parents can give him from the very first day of his life.