Every caring mother is interested in the question: "How many children should sleep at 5 months?" There are generally accepted norms, but do not forget that every child is unique, individual, including the body, physiology and psychology. It is also important to be able to distinguish between the daytime phase of sleep and nighttime. Their duration varies considerably.
Baby at 5 months old
By this moment, the child already weighs about 6.8 kg with a growth of about 66 cm. Every day, the baby begins to gain less weight, as it leads a more active lifestyle.
Boys and girls at this age develop almost identically. At 5 months, the baby should not only utter individual sounds, but also begin to gradually add simple syllables, walk melodiously, looking at his favorite toys or listening to music.
At this age, kids are already showing interest in colorful pictures, books. To strangers they are treated with caution, restraint, to parents - with special trepidation and love, read in the eyes.
At this point, the child should independently entertain himself with toys for up to 10 minutes, take and throw small objects, roll on his stomach, try to sit down, lean on straightened arms.
5 months baby sleep rate
Accepted standards are not suitable for every child. So how many children should sleep at 5 months? The daily norm of the baby is from 15 to 16 hours. At 4 months, the child could sleep for 18 hours. Now his cognitive activity begins to gradually prevail.
In fact, the regimen of a child at this age should consist of three processes: eating, sleeping, and waking. The other two directly depend on each of them. How many children should sleep at 5 months in the afternoon? At this time of day, rest is allowed up to 6 hours. It turns out that between feedings the baby can only dream 1-1.5 hours. The rest of the time should take walks, gymnastics and games.
To the question “how many children should sleep at 5 months at night,” pediatricians still cannot give a unanimous answer. Some believe that a child can sleep up to 12 hours. However, most insist on a norm of 9-10 hours.
An important nuance of a good rest is laying time. It must be no later than 22.00 hours. Otherwise, sleep will not give the expected effect. The displaced regime entails a violation of the psychological state of the infant.
Why is sleep so important?
This process is extremely important for children under 3 years old. A full sleep allows you to avoid overwork and mental breakdown based on hyper-fatigue. Thanks to this process, the brain activity of the baby and all its internal systems are restored, accelerated cell growth occurs.
It has been proved that if a child sleeps badly for 5 months, then his mood noticeably worsens, his behavior becomes unpredictable. Also, scientists found that the duration of sleep directly depends on age criteria. The older the person, the less sleep he needs. Therefore, for the child's body, a full, long sleep is necessary.
No wonder the newborns sleep for days on end. For one-year-olds, the norm is a rest of about 13 hours. And for an adult, the optimal duration of sleep is almost two to two times less.
Determination of the norm of sleep
An individual daily and night schedule should be established for each child. Someone will have enough for an optimal relaxation at one time, and someone will need twice as much. Therefore, you should pay attention to the behavior of the child and various additional aspects.
If a child sleeps 5 months, is very naughty, easily irritated, cannot concentrate, often thinks or looks at one point, then most likely he has a serious lack of sleep. Such children are recommended to be more in a state of sleep.
If a child sleeps a lot for 5 months, and at the same time optimally adds weight and height, is sprightly, active and attentive to details, then he gets his portion of rest. In this case, you should not worry - the mode is selected correctly.
If the baby sleeps badly for 5 months, often wakes up and constantly wakes and yawns and rubs his eyes during wakefulness, the daily schedule should be radically changed. The cause of the problems is that the baby's body does not have time to recover during rest.
Causes of Bad Night Sleep
One of the main sources of insomnia is the character of the baby. If he is hyperactive during wakefulness, then sleep will be weak, sensitive. These children are easy to wake up.
How much does a 5-month-old baby sleep with a diagnosis of hyperactivity? On average, such children are enough for an optimal rest an hour more than the generally accepted norm. The fact is that the body of a hyperactive child requires a longer time to recover, since during wakefulness he exhausts the entire supply of vital energy.
Another common cause of restless sleep is illness. How much does a child sleep 5 months at night if he has a cold? It all depends on the presence and degree of complications of acute respiratory infections. You can relieve fever and chills with medication, but getting rid of a cold is almost impossible. In this case, the baby will be forced to suffer all night from a stuffy nose. Therefore, during a cold, a child can only sleep for several hours with long breaks.
Avoiding night awakenings
Often a 5-month-old baby does not sleep well due to hunger. That is why the baby should be laid on a night’s sleep only on a full stomach. It is important to exclude sweets from the diet, as saccharides negatively affect the general condition of the child.
To avoid frequent awakenings, a regular change of bed is recommended. Before laying the baby in the bed, the sheet and blanket should be warm. Also, a child of 5 months sleeps poorly due to a change in regimen. It is not recommended to shift the daily routine by more than 1 hour.
You can not interrupt a child’s sleep. If he wanted to sleep a little earlier laid, then you need to immediately put him to bed. This will eliminate the likelihood of subsequently developing chronic lack of sleep or insomnia.
Before a night’s sleep, the baby should be busy with active activities: swimming, crawling, playing, walking. This is necessary in order for the body to spend a large amount of energy. In this case, the baby will be asked to go to bed in a few hours.
Between evening and night sleep should pass at least 4 hours. Bedding before 20.00 is not recommended.
Night crying: reasons, recommendations
Every baby must be sure that during awakening, mom will be there. Therefore, during crying, you should immediately go to the crib and calm your child.
In the first seconds, you can try to lull the toddler with your voice. If this does not work, then you should approach him and let her know that his parents are nearby. It is not recommended to turn on the light, TV, scream or sharply raise the child. In most cases, just stroking his back, head, legs and quietly sing a lullaby.
If the baby often wakes up in tears, you need to determine the source of irritation. This may be the light from the window, and the creaking of the bed, and malaise. In any case, the baby should be reassured quickly and quietly, otherwise it will finally wake up.
Ill sleep associated with ailments
If a 5 month old baby does not sleep all night or often wakes up, then he may be worried about pain.
In the first place among the most common such causes are colic. Abdominal pain can occur in children up to 2 years. This is due to the restructuring of the digestive system, and with a change in nutrition.
Often, sleep can interfere with teething. This is a very painful process. At 5 months, most children begin to come out the first milk tooth.
Sometimes poor sleep occurs due to an acute allergic reaction to salicylates, which are found in large quantities in aspirin, citruses and some food additives.